After Carlsen, Nakamura expresses disinterest in chasing chess world title, prefers Freestyle: 'Basically a lottery'

American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has recently expressed a candid viewpoint regarding the FIDE Candidates Tournament, suggesting that its outcome is similar to a “lottery.” Nakamura’s sentiment reflects the tournament’s unpredictable nature and the challenges players face in securing a spot to play against the World Chess Champion.

World No.2 Nakamura feels that the Candidates Tournament is an unpredictable affair where results can be as much about luck as skill. Nakamura seems unlikely to participate in the next Candidates Tournament, stating that the requirement of playing 40 qualifying games is not realistic.

Nakamura opts out of Candidates Tournament?

He emphasised that he will have to choose between Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour or classical tournaments, suggesting that other top players might also snub the Candidates Tournament and go for the new format.

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“As for the notion of playing 40 [required tournament] games is not realistic. I basically have to make a decision, do I want to focus on the Freestyle Chess or do I want to try and play 40 games?” Nakamura was quoted as saying by chess.com.

“Getting into the Candidates is very tough, winning the Candidates is basically a lottery. I don’t think anybody’s going to prioritise that over playing Freestyle,” he added.

If Nakamura decides to prioritise the Freestyle Chess Tour over the Candidates, he will be the next big player to opt out of the race to become the world title challenger. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen has already confirmed multiple times that he is not interested in challenging for the title .

Nakamura, Carlsen to set new trend in chess world?

It will also underline a trend of top players prortising private leagues over FIDE tournaments as the relationship between the top-ranked players including Carlsen and Nakamura and FIDE have turned pretty sour over the last few months since the launch of the Freestyle Chess tour.

The 2024 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player event held to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2024. It took place at The Great Hall in Toronto, Canada, from 3 to 22 April, 2024, alongside the Women’s Candidates Tournament. The event was won by Indian grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju , making him the youngest ever winner of a Candidates Tournament and the youngest ever World Chess Championship challenger.

Following this historic achievement, Gukesh went on to become the youngest undisputed World Champion by defeating Ding Liren in the 14th and last classical game of the world championship. Nakamura finished second in the standings. The next edition of the Candidates Tournament will be held in 2026. The dates have not been finalised yet but it will be played in the same 8-player double round-robin format.

Nakamura’s recent comments about the Candidates Tournament being a “lottery” come at a time when he is excelling in high-stakes tournaments outside of traditional classical chess. The five-time US Chess Champion has been showcasing his prowess in The American Cup 2025, where he recently secured a spot in the Open Champions Final against Fabiano Caruana.

Nakamura’s journey to the final was far from straightforward, as he had to overcome a tough challenge from 15-year-old prodigy Abhimanyu Mishra in a gruelling six-game playoff. Nakamura himself admitted that he made things unnecessarily complicated in the quarter-finals. Nakamura has also been a dominant force in Freestyle Chess.

Meanwhile, the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour is underway with the second leg of the event set to kick start in Paris from 8 to 15 April. Nakamura has qualified for the second leg by finishing fifth in Weissenhaus, where the opening leg took place from 7 to 14 February. Vincent Keymar won the first leg by defeating Fabiano Caruana in the final. Magnus Carlsen finished third.