Nakamura may refer to:

Places[link]

• Nakamura, Kochi, a city in Japan
• Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, a ward in Nagoya city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan

People[link]

• Nakamura (surname)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Hikaru Nakamura
Full name	Hikaru Nakamura
Country	United States
Born	(1987-12-09) December 9, 1987 (age 24) Hirakata, Osaka, Japan
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2775 (May 2012) (No. 7 in the May 2012 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating	2775 (May 2012)

Hikaru Nakamura (中村光, Nakamura Hikaru^?) (born December 9, 1987 in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan) is an American chess Grandmaster (GM). He is ranked among the top seven players in the world by FIDE as of May 2012, and is the current United States Chess Champion.

Nakamura's first supertournament victory came at Wijk aan Zee 2011, finishing clear first ahead of the four top-rated players in the world in a performance described by former World Champion Garry Kasparov as better than any tournament by Bobby Fischer, and the best by an American in more than 100 years.^[1]

Nakamura is the top USCF rated player at 2858, as published on 1 February 2012.

Early life[link]

Nakamura was born in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, to a Japanese father and an American mother. At the age of two, he moved with his parents to the United States. He began playing chess prior to the age of five and was coached by his Sri Lankan stepfather, FIDE Master and chess author Sunil Weeramantry.

Chess prodigy[link]

At age 10 years and 79 days, Nakamura achieved the title of chess master from the United States Chess Federation (USCF), becoming the youngest American ever to earn the title and breaking the record previously set by Vinay Bhat; Nakamura's record stood until 2008 when Nicholas Nip achieved master at the age of 9 years and 11 months. In 1999, Nakamura won the Laura Aspis Prize, given annually to the top USCF rated player under the age of 13. In 2003, at age 15 years and 79 days, Nakamura solidified his reputation as a chess prodigy, becoming the youngest American to earn the grandmaster title, breaking by three months the record of Bobby Fischer. This record has since been broken by Ray Robson.

Chess career[link]

Nakamura is generally regarded as an aggressive player who is reluctant to draw games early, having once said in an interview that "there is no point of taking draws".^[2] He prefers instead to exploit all prospective winning chances, giving him a style of play described by the U.S. Chess Federation as marked by "astonishing creativity...relentless determination...[the making] of unexpected moves and a will to win".

Formerly a resident of White Plains, New York, Nakamura often played in the weekly New York Masters chess tournament at the Marshall Chess Club, which he won several times. He currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

In April 2004 Nakamura achieved a fourth-place finish in the "B" group at the Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee.^[3]

Nakamura qualified for the 2004 world chess championship, contested in Tripoli, Libya, and reached the fourth round, defeating grandmasters Sergey Volkov, Aleksej Aleksandrov, and Alexander Lastin before falling to England's Michael Adams, the tournament's third-seeded participant and eventual runner-up.

On June 20, 2005, Nakamura was selected as the 19th Frank Samford Chess Fellow, receiving a grant of $32,000 to further his chess education and competition.^[4]

Nakamura won the 2005 U.S. Chess Championship (held in November and December 2004), scoring seven points over nine rounds to tie grandmaster Alex Stripunsky for first place. Nakamura defeated Stripunsky in two straight rapid chess playoff games to claim the title and become the youngest national champion since Fischer. Nakamura finished the tournament without a loss and, in the seventh round, defeated grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov, then the nation's top-ranked player.

Following that victory, Nakamura played a challenge match dubbed the "Duelo de Jóvenes Prodigios" in Mexico against Ukrainian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin and defeated his fellow prodigy, 4.5–1.5.^[5]

In November and December 2005 Nakamura entered the FIDE World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, seeded 28th (of 128 players) but failed to advance beyond the first round. He lost each of his two games to Indian grandmaster Surya Ganguly.^[6]

In 2006, Nakamura helped the U.S. team win the bronze medal in the International Chess Olympiad at Turin, playing third board behind Gata Kamsky and 2006 U.S. Champion Alexander Onischuk. In the same year he won the 16th North American Open in Las Vegas.^[7]

In January 2007 Nakamura shared second place at the GibTelecom Masters in Gibraltar.^[8] He placed joint first in the tournament the following year, finishing with five straight wins to tie with Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi, whom he then proceeded to beat in the rapidplay play off.^[9]

In October 2007 Nakamura won the Magistral D'Escacs in Barcelona^[10] and the Corsican circuit rapid chess tournament.^[11]

Nakamura won the 2008 Finite Chess960 Open (Mainz).^[12] In November 2008, he won the Cap d'Agde Rapid Tournament in Cap d'Agde, defeating Anatoly Karpov in the semifinals and Vassily Ivanchuk in the finals.^[13] In February 2009 he came joint third at the 7th Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar, again finishing strongly with 4½/5 to end the event on 7½/10.^[14]

2009: Second U.S. Championship and other tournament successes[link]

Nakamura won the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship (St Louis, Missouri, May 2009), scoring 7/9 to take clear first ahead of 17-year-old GM-elect Robert Hess, who shared second with 6½.^[15]

In July 2009, Nakamura won the Donostia-San Sebastian Chess Festival, tying with former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov with 6.5/9 before defeating Ponomariov in a blitz playoff to win the title over a field including former undisputed world champion Anatoly Karpov, former FIDE world champions Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Ponomariov, 2009 World Junior champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Peter Svidler among others.^[16] In August 2009, Nakamura became the 960 World Chess Champion, beating GM Levon Aronian 3.5–0.5 in Mainz, Germany.

In November 2009, Nakamura participated in the BNbank blitz tournament in Oslo, Norway. He reached the final by winning all 12 of his games. In the championship, he faced the world No. 2 and reigning World Blitz Champion Magnus Carlsen. Nakamura won the match 3–1, further cementing his reputation as one of the best blitz players in the world, despite having not been invited to the 2009 World Blitz championship.^[17][18]

Nakamura skipped the Chess World Cup 2009 in favor of the London Chess Classic in December 2009. Although he drew with the black pieces against eventual winner Magnus Carlsen and with white against former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, Nakamura failed to win a game during the tournament and ended in seventh place out of eight.^[19]

2010: Gold medalist and top-ten player[link]

Nakamura began 2010 playing first board for the United States at the World Team Chess Championship held in Bursa, Turkey. Nakamura's impressive performance, including a convincing win over world No. 6 and recent Chess World Cup winner Boris Gelfand on the black side of a King's Indian Defense won him the individual gold medal for board one, and led the U.S. to a second place finish behind only Russia.^[20][21]

Nakamura participated in the 2010 Corus chess tournament in Wijk ann Zee. Winning over Loek van Wely, Nigel Short, early leader Alexei Shirov, and drawing against world champion Viswanathan Anand and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, Nakamura was in second place after seven rounds.^[22] In the eighth round Nakamura faced former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, to whom he lost playing with the black pieces in a Dutch Defense.^[23] Nakamura had an up-and-down tournament the rest of the way, but finished with a long endgame victory over Sergei Tiviakov. Finishing with an overall +2 record, Nakamura tied for fourth with Viswanathan Anand, behind Carlsen, Shirov, and Kramnik.

In May, Nakamura participated in the 2010 United States Chess Championship in Saint Louis, Missouri attempting to defend his 2009 title. Seeded first, he scored 5/7 points to qualify for the round-robin stage against 1991 champion and current Candidates Player Gata Kamsky, 2006 champion Alexander Onischuk, and 2008 champion Yuri Shulman. In the round-robin stage, he drew Kamsky before losing to Shulman, with the white pieces in both games.^[24] The loss to Shulman eliminated him from defending his 2009 title.

Nakamura competed in the 39th Chess Olympiad, playing board one on the United States team featuring Gata Kamsky, Alexander Onischuk, Yuri Shulman, and Robert Hess. Although he defeated Le Quang Liem and drew Kramnik with the black pieces during the tournament, the U.S. team failed to medal.

From November 5 through 14th, Nakamura competed in the 2010 Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moscow; the field consisted of world No. 3 Levon Aronian, world No. 4 Vladimir Kramnik, world No. 6 Alexander Grischuk, world No. 8 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, world No. 9 Sergey Karjakin, Pavel Eljanov, Boris Gelfand, Alexei Shirov, and Wang Hao. The average Elo of the field was 2757, making it the third strongest tournament in chess history at the time. Nakamura finished at +1, defeating Eljanov and drawing every other player to finish in a tie for fourth place and missing out on a tie for first place by blundering into a draw in a winning position in the final round against Grischuk.^[25] Nakamura's round two win over Eljanov placed him in the world top-ten in the live ratings for the first time in his career.^[26] Nakamura's performance at this tournament, his first involving an entirely super-elite field allowed him to "force (the chess elite) to respect him", according to noted Russian commentator grandmaster Sergey Shipov.^[27]

From November 16 through 18th, Nakamura made his debut at the 2010 World Blitz Championship in Moscow. Despite a disastrous start and losing four of his first five games to Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Sergey Karjakin, he recovered to score 5/7 in the second half of the day and finished with a score of 7.5/14, 2.5 points behind coleaders Carlsen and Levon Aronian, whom he defeated in their individual games. On the second day, Nakamura avenged his earlier losses against both Carlsen and Kramnik and scored 8/14, for a total of 15.5/28, three points behind Aronian and a point and a half behind Carlsen.^[28] Nakamura finished with 21.5/38 for fifth place behind Gelfand, Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov and champion Aronian.^[29]

In December 2010 Nakamura finished fourth in the London Chess Classic, among a field including Anand, Carlsen, Kramnik, Michael Adams, Nigel Short, David Howell, and Luke McShane. This included a win with Black against Kramnik, evening their career head-to-head record at 2.5/2.5. The tournament was won by Magnus Carlsen.^[30] Nakamura's performance ensured that he would officially join the world top ten as of January 1, 2011.

2011: First superGM tournament championship and continued rise[link]

In the January 2011 FIDE rating list, Nakamura was ranked number 10 in the world with a rating of 2751, his highest ranking to date.^[31]

Nakamura began training with former world champion Garry Kasparov. The first of several training sessions was held in New York at the beginning of January,^[32] but the training ended in December 2011.^[33]

From January 14 through January 30, Nakamura competed in the Tata Steel Grandmaster A tournament in Wijk aan Zee among a field of world No. 1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen, world champion and world No. 2 Viswanathan Anand, world No. 3 and reigning World Blitz champion Levon Aronian, world No. 4 and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, world No. 7 Alexander Grischuk, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, reigning Russian champion Ian Nepomniachtchi, reigning Chinese champion Wang Hao, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexei Shirov, Anish Giri, Jan Smeets, and Erwin L'Ami. The average rating of the field was 2740, making this thirteen-round event a category 20 tournament. After twelve rounds, Nakamura was in clear first place with 8.5 points going into the final round, half a point ahead of Anand and a full point ahead of Carlsen and Aronian.^[34][35][36] In the final round, Nakamura drew against Hao with the black pieces in a King's Indian Defense. With the draw, Nakamura finished with 9/13 (+5), a tournament performance rating of 2879, and guaranteed at least a share of first place. With Anand's final round draw against Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura clinched sole possession of first place,^[37][38] making him the first American to win the Wijk aan Zee tournament since 1980. The win also guaranteed that Nakamura will join Carlsen (winner of the 2010 Pearl Spring chess tournament) as qualifiers for Grand Slam Masters Final 2011 in September 2011.^[39] Nakamura after the tournament stated that his goal was to reach a 2800 rating by the end of the year; the win raised his rating from 2751 to 2774 and from world No. 10 to world No. 7 on the unofficial live rating list.^[40] The rating of 2774 is within 11 points of Bobby Fischer's peak rating of 2785.^[41]

Former world champion Garry Kasparov, considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time, called Nakamura's victory the best by an American in more than 100 years:

In an e-mail, Kasparov said, "Fischer never won a tournament ahead of the world champion. He was second in Santa Monica", referring to the Second Piatigorsky Cup. "Of course, there were far fewer such events back then, and Fischer had several great tournament results like Stockholm 62", the interzonal qualifier for the world championship. "Reuben Fine only equaled Keres on points at AVRO in 38." Referring to the breakout performance of Frank J. Marshall, the United States Champion from 1909 to 1936, Mr. Kasparov continued, "Then you have Marshall at Cambridge Springs in 1904 ahead of Lasker, though Tarrasch wasn’t there. So unless you include Capablanca as an American player, I think you can go back to Pillsbury at Hastings 1895 for an American tournament victory on par with Nakamura’s."^[1]

Following his supertournament triumph, Nakamura was given the key to the city of Memphis, Tennessee on February 15, 2011.^[42] The victory also opened the door for Nakamura to receive invitations from other supergrandmaster tournaments for the first time, and increased his world ranking to a career-high number eight. In May he contested a six-game match in the United States against world No. 11 Ponomariov where he lost the first game but rallied to win the match 3.5–2.5, raising his rating to 2777 and ranking to world No. 6 on the unofficial live rating list, both career-highs to date. From June 11–21, he made his debut at the Bazna Kings Tournament in Romania in a field including Carlsen, world No. 5 Vassily Ivanchuk, world No. 6 Sergey Karjakin, world No. 13 Teimour Radjabov and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu; the tournament was a Category XXI event with an average ELO of 2760, making it the third strongest tournament in history; Nakamura finished 4.5/10; the tournament was won by Carlsen on tiebreak over Karjakin.^[43] Despite the disappointing performance at Bazna, he reached a new career-high world ranking of No. 6 in the July 2011 FIDE list with a 2770 rating.

From July 21–31, Nakamura made his debut at the Dortmund Invitational in Germany; the field comprised world No. 5 Kramnik, world No. 10 Ponomariov, world No. 27 Le Quang Liem, world No. 40 Giri, and Georg Meier.^[44] Nakamura had a second consecutive disappointing performance, beginning at −3 before winning his last two games, including a last-round win over tournament winner Kramnik on the black side of the King's Indian Defense, to finish at 4.5/10.^[45]

Nakamura competed in the Grand Slam Masters Final 2011 in September, after which he played in the Tal Memorial for the second consecutive year in a field comprising Carlsen, Anand, Aronian, Karjakin, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Hao, and Nepomniachtchi. He finished the year by participating in the London Chess Classic for the third consecutive time.^[46] Starting in 2012, he participated in the Reggio Emilia Tournament, tying for second with Alexander Morezvich of Russia, and Fabiano Caruana of Italy. Anish Giri got first place in the tournament, a half-point ahead of the field. He will next participate in the Tata Steel tournament in the Netherlands.

Other[link]

Nakamura is very skilled at blitz chess, and has been called "easily the best blitz player in America"^[2] and "one of the best blitz players in the world".^[47]

Nakamura is well known in the chess community for playing on the Internet regularly. He plays primarily on two chess sites: Internet Chess Club ('Smallville'(Which he does not use)) ('Capilanobridge'(His current account)) and Playchess ('Star Wars'). He is the strongest bullet, blitz and standard player on the server and he has set many rating records under different categories.^[48]

Nakamura has served as a commentator and game annotator, most prominently on the ChessNinja website, operated by chess author Mig Greengard.

Nakamura has been described as having an uncommon enthusiasm for chess and as being much more approachable than other players of his ability. For instance, just after winning his first U.S. Championship in 2005, he played numerous 1-minute games with all comers in the lobby of the hotel where the competition had taken place.^[49]

Nakamura attended Dickinson College for a short while in Pennsylvania as a member of the class of 2010. He is also an avid hockey fan, and frequently attends games of the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.^{[citation needed]}

Nakamura maintains a Twitter account under the username "GMHikaru".^[50] After what was to him a disappointing tournament at the 5th Edition of the Kings Tournament in Medias (although Nakamura placed third of sixth among a cadre of top Grandmasters),^[51] Nakamura tweeted that he was focusing on the 2011 World Series of Poker,^[52] in which he played, although busted out on the second day.^[53] Kasparov, who has been training Nakamura in chess, has publicly grumbled about his interest in poker.^[54]

Hikaru has set several "youngest-ever" records in U.S. chess history, including:^[55]

• Youngest to defeat an International Master in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 0 months); later surpassed by Praveen Balakrishnan at 9 years 29 days; Recently surpassed by Awonder Liang at 8 years 118 days;
• Youngest to defeat a Grandmaster in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 117 days; later surpassed by Fabiano Caruana at 10 years, 61 days);
• Youngest International Master (13 years, 2 months; later surpassed by Ray Robson at 13 years, 1 month).

Sample game[link]

Nakamura vs. Novikov, 2002

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Position after 34...Kd8. Typical of Nakamura's complicated and tactical style, Nakamura, only 15 years old at the time, finds a nice tactic to secure some material and the game.

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

The following game is Nakamura–Novikov, played in the 29th New York Masters 2002. Nakamura's annotations are given along with the text.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 Nb6 10. 0-0-0 Bb7 11. Nb3 Rc8 12. Na5 Ba8 13. a4!?

This rare line has only been played two times, both games were draws. (13.g5 Nfd7 14.a4 b4 15.Na2 Nxa4 16.Bxa6 Qxa5 17.Bxc8 Ndb6=/+ Perez–Novikov, Aosta Open Italy 2002.)

13... Nc4

13...d5 14.g5 Nfd7 15.exd5 Bxd5 16.axb5 Bb4 17.Nc6 Bxc6 18.bxc6 Rxc6 19.Bxb6 Rxb6 20.Qd4 0-0 21.Na4! Rb8 22.Qxd7 Qxg5+ 23.f4 Qxf4+ 24.Kb1+/− Andreev–Voitsekhovsky, 2000.

14. Nxc4 bxc4 15. Qd4 Qc7 16. g5 Nd7 17. f4

17.h4 e5 18.Qa7 Qxa7 19.Bxa7 h6 20.Bh3+/= De la Villa Garcia–Suba, Benasque Open 1995.

17... h6 18. g6!?

The idea behind sacrificing the pawn is to weaken the e6 and g6 pawns, and force Black to move his king to f7. (18.gxh6 Rxh6 19.f5 Rh7 [19...Rh4 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Bf2 Rh7 22.Bg3!+/=] 20.fxe6.)

18... fxg6

Novikov accepts the challenge. Perhaps f5 was better because once he takes on g6 his pieces get tied down, and Black ends up with a very passive position. (18...f5!? 19.Bg2 Nf6~~.)

19. Rg1 Kf7

19...e5?! 20.Qd2 g5 (20...exf4 21.Bxf4 Qb6 22.Rxg6 Rb8 23.b3 cxb3 24.Re6+ Kf7 25.Bc4+/− ; 20...Qb7 21.Qd5! Qxd5 22.Nxd5+/=) 21.fxg5 hxg5 22.Nd5+/=.

20. f5 gxf5

20...exf5 21.exf5 gxf5 22.Bh3→.

21. exf5 e5 22.Qh4?!

Missing a chance to get a winning position. (22.Qg4! Nf6 23.Qg6+ Ke7 24.Bg2+/−.)

22... Nf6 23. Be2 Ke8 24. Rg6 Qf7 25. Qg3 Rb8 26. a5! Bc6 27. Bb6 h5

This is the only move which makes any sense here, but it allows White to win the exchange. Maybe Novikov felt like giving up the exchange to get some counterplay because if he does not play h5 White has all the play.

28. Qh4 d5 29. Qg3 Qe7 30. Bd4! Rxb2 31. Kxb2 exd4 32. Rxd4 Qa3+ 33. Kb1 Bd6?

33...Qb4+ 34.Kc1 Bd6~~ After the game, when I analysed with Novikov, he suggested this line. I did not find anything which was winning for White, and I think that Black is at least even in this position if not better.

34. Qe3+ Kd8 (see diagram) 35. Nxd5!!

Clearly Novikov did not see this brilliant tactical shot as he used up most of his time trying to come up with a good move. In the end he had to settle for a losing endgame down an exchange.

35... Qxe3

35...Bxd5 36.Qxa3 Bxa3 37.Bxc4 Bc5 38.Rd3+−; 35...Qxa5 36.Nxf6 Qe1+ 37.Qc1+−; 35...Nxd5 36.Qxa3 Bxa3 37.Rxc6+−.

36. Nxe3 Kc7 37. Rxg7+ Nd7 38. Nxc4 Rb8+ 39. Nb6 Re8 40. Bf3 Re1+ 41. Ka2 Ra1+!

Desperation.

42. Kxa1 Be5 43. c3 Bxg7 44. Bxc6 Bxd4 45. cxd4 1–0

45.cxd4 Kxc6 46.d5+ Kd6 47.Nxd7 Kxd7 48.f6+−.

Head-to-head record versus top players[link]

(Rapid, blitz and blindfold games not included; listed as +wins −losses =draws as of January 9, 2012.)^[56]
Players who have been World Champion in boldface

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hikaru Nakamura

• Hikaru Nakamura's Official Website
• Hikaru Nakamura's Live Chess Rating Statistics
• Hikaru Nakamura player profile at ChessGames.com
• Hikaru Nakamura player profile at the Internet Chess Club
• Play through Nakamura's 2005 U.S. Championship Games

Vladimir Kramnik
Kramnik at the 2005 Corus chess tournament
Full name	Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik
Country	Russia
Born	(1975-06-25) 25 June 1975 (age 37) Tuapse, USSR
Title	Grandmaster
World Champion	2000–06 (Classical) 2006–07 (Unified)
FIDE rating	2801 (May 2012) (No. 3 in the March 2012 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating	2809 (January 2002)[1]

Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. He has also won the two strongest tournaments (by rating strength) in chess history: the 2009 Mikhail Tal Memorial and the 2010 Grand Slam Masters Final. He has won three team gold medals and three individual medals at Chess Olympiads.^[2]

In October 2000, he defeated Garry Kasparov in a match played in London, and became the Classical World Chess Champion. In late 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title against challenger Péter Lékó in a drawn match played in Brissago, Switzerland. In October 2006, Kramnik, the Classical World Champion, defeated reigning FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in a unification match, the World Chess Championship 2006. As a result Kramnik became the first undisputed World Champion, holding both the FIDE and Classical titles, since Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993. In 2007, Kramnik lost the title to Viswanathan Anand, who won the World Chess Championship tournament ahead of Kramnik. He challenged Anand at the World Chess Championship 2008 to regain his title, but lost.

Kramnik qualified for the Candidates Tournament which determined the challenger to face World Champion Anand in the World Chess Championship 2012. He advanced to the semifinals before losing to Alexander Grischuk.

Early career[link]

Vladimir Kramnik was born in the town of Tuapse, on the shores of the Black Sea. His father's birth name was Boris Sokolov, but he took his stepfather's surname when his mother (Vladimir's grandmother) remarried. As a child, Vladimir Kramnik studied in the chess school established by Mikhail Botvinnik. His first notable result in a major tournament was his gold medal win as first reserve for the Russian team in the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila. His selection for the team caused some controversy in Russia at the time, as he was only sixteen years old and had not yet been awarded the grandmaster title, but his selection was supported by Garry Kasparov.^[3] He scored eight wins, one draw, and no losses.

The following year, Kramnik played in the very strong tournament in Linares. He finished fifth, beating the then world number three, Vassily Ivanchuk, along the way. He followed this up with a string of good results, but had to wait until 1995 for his first major tournament win at normal time controls, when he won the strong Dortmund tournament, finishing it unbeaten.

In 1995, Kramnik served as a second for Kasparov in the Classical World Chess Championship 1995 match against challenger Viswanathan Anand. Kasparov won the match 10½-7½.

In January 1996, Kramnik became the world number-one rated player; although having the same FIDE rating as Kasparov (2775), Kramnik became number-one by having played more games during the rating period in question. This was the first time since December 1985 that Kasparov was not world number-one, and Kramnik's six month stretch (January through June 1996) as world number-one would be the only time from January 1986 through March 2006 where Kasparov was not world number-one. By becoming number-one, Kramnik became the youngest ever to reach world number-one, breaking Kasparov's record; this record would stand for 14 years until being broken by Magnus Carlsen in January 2010.

Kramnik continued to produce good results, including winning at Dortmund (outright or tied) ten times from 1995 to 2011. He is the second of only six chess players to have reached a rating of 2800 (the first being Kasparov).

Ironically, during his reign as world champion, Kramnik never regained the world number-one ranking, doing so only in January 2008 after he had lost the title to Viswanathan Anand; as in 1996, Kramnik had the same FIDE rating as Anand (2799) but became number-one due to more games played within the rating period. Kramnik's 12 years between world-number one rankings is the longest since the inception of the FIDE ranking system in 1971.

Playing style[link]

Garry Kasparov described Kramnik's style as pragmatic and tenacious, in the latter similar to Anatoly Karpov.^[4] He is one of the toughest opponents to defeat, losing only one game in over one hundred games leading up to his match with Kasparov, including eighty consecutive games without loss.^[5][6] Kasparov was unable to defeat Kramnik during their 2000 World Championship match, partly due to Kramnik's use of the Berlin Defence of the Ruy Lopez.

World championship results[link]

Early setbacks[link]

In the mid- and late-90s, Kramnik, although considered one of the strongest players in the world, suffered several setbacks in his attempts to qualify for a World Championship match. In 1994, he lost a quarterfinal candidates match for the PCA championship to Gata Kamsky 1½-4½, and later that year, lost a semifinal candidates match for the FIDE championship to Boris Gelfand with the score 3½-4½. In 1998, Kramnik faced Alexei Shirov in a Candidates match for the right to play Garry Kasparov for the Classical World Chess Championship, and lost 3½-5½. In 1999, Kramnik participated in the FIDE knockout championship in Las Vegas, and lost in the quarterfinals to Michael Adams 2-4.

2000 World Championship[link]

Suitable sponsorship was not found for a Kasparov-Shirov match, and it never took place. In 2000, sponsorship was secured for a Kasparov-Kramnik match instead. This was somewhat controversial, making Kramnik the first player since 1935 to play a world championship match without qualifying.

In 2000, Kramnik played a sixteen game match against Garry Kasparov in London, for the Classical Chess World Championship. Kramnik began the match as underdog, but his adoption of the Berlin Defence to Kasparov's Ruy Lopez opening was very effective. With the white pieces, Kramnik pressed Kasparov hard, winning Games Two and Ten and overlooking winning continuations in Games Four and Six. Kasparov put up little fight thereafter, agreeing to short draws with the white pieces in Games 9 and 13. Kramnik won the match 8½-6½ without losing a game (this was only the second time in history that a World Champion had lost a match without winning a single game). This event marked the first time Kasparov had been beaten in a World Championship match.

Kramnik's performance won him the Chess Oscar for 2000; this was the first time he had received the award.

After London[link]

In October 2002, Kramnik competed in Brains in Bahrain, an eight game match against the chess computer Deep Fritz in Bahrain. Kramnik started well, taking a 3 - 1 lead after four games. However, in game five, Kramnik made what has been described as the worst blunder of his career (a blunder that pales in comparison to his loss against Deep Fritz 10 in 2006), losing a knight in a position which was probably drawn. He quickly resigned. He also resigned game six after making a speculative sacrifice, although subsequent analysis showed that with perfect play, he might have been able to draw from the final position. The last two games were drawn, and the match ended tied at 4 - 4.

In February 2004 Kramnik won the Tournament of Linares outright for the first time (he had tied for first with Kasparov in 2000), finishing undefeated with a +2 score, ahead of Garry Kasparov, the world's highest-rated player at the time.

2004 title defense[link]

From 25 September 2004 until 18 October 2004, retained his title as Classical World Chess Champion against challenger Péter Lékó at Brissago, Switzerland, by barely drawing the match in the last game. The 14-game match was poised in favor of Lékó right up until Kramnik won the final game, thus forcing a 7 - 7 draw and ensuring that Kramnik remained world champion.^[7] The prize fund was 1 million Swiss francs, which was about USD $770,000 at the time. Because of the drawn result, the prize was split between the two players.

2006 Reunification match[link]

When Garry Kasparov broke with FIDE, the federation governing professional chess, to play the 1993 World Championship with Nigel Short, he created a rift in the chess world. In response, FIDE sanctioned a match between Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman for the FIDE World Championship, which Karpov won. Subsequently, the chess world has seen two "champions": the "classical" championship, claiming lineage dating back to Steinitz; and the FIDE endorsed champion.

When Kramnik defeated Kasparov and inherited Kasparov's title, he also inherited some controversies because he was handpicked to play for the title after he had just lost the qualifying match against Alexei Shirov in 1998.

At the next FIDE world championship (FIDE World Chess Championship 2005), Kramnik refused to participate, but indicated his willingness to play a match against the winner to unify the world championship. After the tournament, negotiations began for a reunification match between Kramnik and the new FIDE World Champion — Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

In April 2006, FIDE announced a reunification match between Kramnik and Topalov — the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006. The match took place in Elista, Kalmykia. After the first four games, Kramnik led 3-1 (out of a maximum of 12). After the fourth game, however, Topalov protested that Kramnik was using the toilet suspiciously frequently, implying that he was somehow receiving outside assistance whilst doing so. Topalov said that he would refuse to shake hands with Kramnik in the remaining games. The Appeals committee decided that the players' toilets be locked and that they be forced to use a shared toilet, accompanied by an assistant arbiter.

Kramnik refused to play the fifth game unless the original conditions agreed for the match were adhered to. As a result, the point was awarded to Topalov, reducing Kramnik's lead to 3-2. Kramnik stated that the appeals committee was biased and demanded that it be replaced. As a condition to continue the match, Kramnik insisted on playing the remaining games under the original conditions of the match contract, which allows use of the bathroom at the players' discretion.

The controversy resulted in a heavy volume of correspondence to Chessbase and other publications. The balance of views from fans was in support of Kramnik.^[8] Prominent figures in the chess world, such as John Nunn, Yasser Seirawan, and Bessel Kok also sided with Kramnik.^[9][10][11] The Russian and Bulgarian Chess Federations supported their respective players.^[12]

After twelve regular games the match was tied 6-6, although Kramnik continued to dispute the result of the unplayed fifth game until the end of the match. On 13 October 2006 the result of this disputed game became irrelevant as Kramnik won the rapid tie-break by a score of 2½-1½.

Kramnik's victory helped him win the Chess Oscar for 2006, the second of his career.

2007 world championship tournament in Mexico[link]

Kramnik, winner at Dortmund 2007

When Kramnik won the 2006 unification match, he also won Topalov's berth in the 2007 World Championship as the incumbent FIDE champion. Although the rationale behind his (and Garry Kasparov's) "classical" title is that the title should change hands by challenge match rather than by tournament, Kramnik stated that he would recognize the winner of this tournament as being the world champion.^[13]

In the tournament, held in September 2007, Kramnik finished in a second-place tie with Boris Gelfand. The tournament, and the world championship, was won by Viswanathan Anand.

2008 match[link]

Kramnik was granted a rematch to challenge Anand for the world title in 2008 in Bonn. He fell victim to Anand's superior preparation and was convincingly outplayed, losing three of the first six games (two with the white pieces). Kramnik's play gradually improved, and although he managed a 29 move victory in game 10,^[14] he was unable to win any others, and lost the match to Anand by a score of 6½ to 4½ (three wins to Anand, one win to Kramnik, seven draws).

2009[link]

Kramnik had exceptionally good results in 2009, winning once again in Dortmund and then winning the Category 21 (average Elo = 2763) Tal Memorial in Moscow with 6/9 and a 2883 performance rating ahead of world champion Anand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, Peter Leko, Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich. At the time, the average Elo rating of the field made it the strongest tournament in history. Following this result, Kramnik stated that his goal was to regain the World Championship title.^[15]

He also participated in the London Chess Classic in December, finishing second to Magnus Carlsen, losing their head-to-head encounter on the Black side of the English Opening. Kramnik's performance in 2009 allowed his rating (average of July 2009 and January 2010 ratings) to be high enough to qualify for the Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012.

2010[link]

Kramnik began 2010 at the Corus chess tournament in the Netherlands, during which he defeated new world number-one Carlsen with the Black pieces in their head-to-head encounter, ending Carlsen's 36-match unbeaten streak.^[16] A late loss to Viswanathan Anand knocked him out of first place, and Kramnik finished with 8/13, tying for second place with Alexei Shirov behind Carlsen's 8½ points.

In May 2010 it was revealed that Kramnik had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov. Anand won the match 6½-5½ to retain the title.^[17]

In April–May 2010 he tied for 1st–3rd with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Gata Kamsky in the President's Cup in Baku and won the event on tie-break after all finished on 5/7.^[18]

Kramnik also participated in Dortmund, but had a subpar showing, losing to eventual champion Ruslan Ponomariov and finishing in joint third place with 5/10.^[19]

He then participated in the Grand Slam Chess Masters preliminary tournament in Shanghai from September 3 to 8, where he faced world #4 Levon Aronian, Alexei Shirov, and Wang Hao; the top two scorers qualified for the Grand Slam final supertournament from October 9 to 15 in Bilbao against Carlsen and Anand.^[20] Scoring 3/6, Kramnik tied for second place with Aronian behind the winner Shirov's 4½/6. In the blitz playoff, Kramnik defeated Aronian to qualify along with Shirov for the Grand Slam final.^[21]

Shortly after qualifying for the last stage of the Grand Slam, Kramnik played on board one for the Russian team in the 2010 Olympiad. He played 9 games of which he won 2 and drew 7.

Following the Olympiad, Kramnik participated in the Grand Slam Chess Masters final in Bilbao where he competed against Anand, Carlsen and Shirov. The average rating of the field was 2789, surpassing the 2009 Tal Memorial to become the strongest tournament in history. After defeating world #1 Carlsen for the second consecutive time, and then Shirov in his first two games, Kramnik drew his final four games to finish in clear first with 4.0/6. This gave Kramnik the distinction of having won the two strongest tournaments in chess history.

Kramnik will next attempt to defend his 2009 title at the Tal Memorial in Moscow, followed by playing in the London Chess Classic in England for the second consecutive year.

2011[link]

2011 brought varied results. Kramnik won the third London Chess Classic with 4 wins and 4 draws, and a rating performance over 2900 elo. Hikaru Nakamura came second.^[22] However in the earlier 6th Tal Memorial 2011 Moscow he came 8th out of 10, with 2 losses (to Nepomniachtchi and Svidler) and 7 draws, with Magnus Carlsen winning the overall tournament on tiebreak from Levon Aronian.

Deep Fritz match[link]

Kramnik played a six-game match against the computer program Deep Fritz in Bonn, Germany from 25 November to 5 December 2006, losing 2-4 to the machine, with 2 losses and 4 draws. He received 500,000 Euros for playing and would have received another 500,000 Euros had he won the match. Deep Fritz version 10 ran on a computer containing two Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs. Kramnik received a copy of the program in mid-October for testing, but the final version included an updated opening book.^[23] Except for limited updates to the opening book, the program was not allowed to be changed during the course of the match. The endgame tablebases used by the program were restricted to five pieces^[24] even though a complete six-piece tablebase is widely available.

On 25 November the first game ended in a draw at the 47th move.^[25] A number of commentators believe Kramnik missed a win.^[26] Two days later, the second game resulted in a victory for Deep Fritz, when Kramnik made what might be called the "blunder of the century" according to Susan Polgar, when he failed to defend against a threatened mate-in-one.^[27] (see also Deep Fritz vs. Vladimir Kramnik blunder). The third, fourth and fifth games in the match ended in draws. In the last game Fritz with the white pieces impressively defeated the World Champion,^[28] winning the match.

There is now speculation that interest in human vs. computer chess competition will plummet as a result of the Bonn match and other recent matches involving Kasparov, Kramnik, Adams, and various chess programs. According to McGill University computer science professor Monty Newborn, for example, "the science is done".^[29]

Private life and health[link]

Kramnik has been diagnosed with an uncommon form of arthritis, called ankylosing spondylitis. It causes him great physical discomfort while playing. In January 2006, Kramnik announced that he would skip the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee to seek out treatment for his arthritis.^[30] He returned from treatment in June 2006, playing in the 37th Chess Olympiad. He scored a +4 result, earning the highest performance rating (2847) of the 1307 participating players.

On 30 December 2006 he married French journalist Marie-Laure Germon. He has a daughter named Daria who was born 28 December 2008.^[31]

Notable tournament victories[link]

World championship matches and qualifiers[link]

• PCA Quarterfinals, June 1994, New York, Kramnik-Gata Kamsky (1½-4½).
• FIDE Semifinals, August 1994 Sanghi Nagar, Kramnik-Boris Gelfand (3½-4½).
• Classical WCC Candidates Match, 1998, Cazorla, Kramnik-Alexei Shirov (3½-5½).
• FIDE WCC Knockout Quarterfinals, July 1999, Las Vegas, Kramnik-Michael Adams (2-4, including rapid playoff).
• Classical World Chess Championship 2000, London, Kramnik-Garry Kasparov (8½-6½)
• Classical World Chess Championship 2004, Brissago, Kramnik-Péter Lékó (7-7), Kramnik retains.
• FIDE World Chess Championship 2006, Elista, Kramnik-Topalov (6-6, 2½-1½ rapid playoff), Kramnik unifies the title
• FIDE World Chess Championship 2007 Runner up, Mexico City, (loses the title to Anand, joint second Gelfand).
• World Chess Championship 2008, Bonn, Kramnik-Anand (4½-6½), Anand retains
• World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates Match Quarterfinals, April 2011, Kazan, Kramnik-Radjabov (2-2, 2-2 rapid playoff, 2½-1½ blitz playoff), Kramnik advances
• World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates Match Semifinals, April 2011, Kazan, Kramnik-Grischuk (2-2, 2-2 rapid playoff, ½-1½ blitz playoff), Kramnik eliminated

See also[link]

• List of chess games between Anand and Kramnik
• List of chess games between Kasparov and Kramnik

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vladimir Kramnik

• Official website
• Interview with Vladimir Kramnik
• Vladimir Kramnik player profile at ChessGames.com
• OlimpBase
• Interview from Linares 2000
• Interview by Chessbase
• Edward Winter, List of Books About Anand, Kramnik and Topalov
• Kramnik's Community (Russian)

Shunsuke Nakamura is not to be confused with Shinsuke Nakamura, the Japanese professional wrestler/MMA fighter

Shunsuke Nakamura

Nakamura playing for the national squad
Personal information
Full name	Shunsuke Nakamura
Date of birth	(1978-06-24) 24 June 1978 (age 34)
Place of birth	Yokohama, Japan
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Yokohama F. Marinos
Number	25
Youth career
1991–1993	Nissan Junior Youth
1994–1996	Tōkō Gakuen High School
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–2002	Yokohama F. Marinos	176	(45)
2002–2005	Reggina	81	(11)
2005–2009	Celtic	128	(29)
2009–2010	Espanyol	12	(0)
2010–	Yokohama F. Marinos	56	(9)
National team‡
2000–2010	Japan	98	(24)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 November 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 1 July 2010

Shunsuke Nakamura (中村 俊輔, Nakamura Shunsuke^?, born 24 June 1978 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese footballer who currently plays for Yokohama F. Marinos in J. League Division 1. He is one of the most prominent and successful Asian players to have played in Scotland and on 13 September 2006 became the first Japanese player to score in the UEFA Champions League and the fourth Asian player after South Koreans Cha Bum-Keun and Park Ji-Sung, and Iranian ALi Daei.^{[citation needed]} He is also well known for his free kick-taking abilities. Asteroid 29986 Shunsuke is also named in his honour.

He has won the Asian Cup in 2000 and 2004 with the Japanese national football team, and was named Most Valuable Player in the 2004 competition. He has also appeared in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, and the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the Japanese Under-23 team.

In his first season with Celtic, Nakamura helped the club win the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup. He has scored 23 goals for Japan. His former clubs include Espanyol and Reggina, for whom he scored 38 and 12 goals respectively before moving to Celtic on 25 July 2005 for a fee of around £2.75 million.

Early years[link]

Born and raised in Yokohama, Japan, Nakamura began playing football competitively at age 5, playing with the local youth club side Misono FC until he entered junior high school. In fifth grade, he was selected for Yokohama's city all-star team's tour of the former Soviet Union, even though the team was only meant to include sixth graders.^{[citation needed]}

In 1991 at age 12, he joined Nissan FC Junior Youth, the youth division of Nissan Motors' club side, which would become Yokohama Marinos when J. League began play in 1993.

However, Nakamura was not promoted to the Nissan FC Youth team in 1994, and he enrolled at Tōkō Gakuen High School in Kawasaki. There, Nakamura was named the most valuable player of Japan's national high school football tournament in 1995, and led the school to the tournament final in 1996.

After graduation from Tōkō Gakuen in 1997, Nakamura signed with the local club, Yokohama Marinos.

Club career[link]

Yokohama Marinos (1997–2002)[link]

In 1997, 19-year-old Nakamura joined Yokohama Marinos of J. League Division 1 (later merged with Yokohama Flügels and renamed "Yokohama F. Marinos"), a club whose youth side he had played for when it was known as Nissan Motors FC. He made his début with Marinos on 16 April of that year against Gamba Osaka. Nakamura finished the season with 27 appearances and 5 goals.

In 2000, Nakamura had his best season in Yokohama, recording 5 goals and 11 assists, and winning the J League Most Valuable Player award.

Nakamura left Marinos during the 2002 season to join Reggina of Serie A, after the clubs agreed to a US$3.5 million transfer fee following a 6-month loan period.^[1]

Reggina (2002–2005)[link]

Following the disappointment of being omitted from Japan's final World Cup squad, Nakamura joined Italian club Reggina, newly promoted to Serie A. Expectations for Nakamura were high, as he was given the prestigious number 10 shirt from the start, and he responded by scoring in three consecutive matches early in the season.

However, Nakamura struggled with injuries, appearing in just 18 matches in the 2003–04 season, while the club struggled to avoid relegation all three seasons he played there. After three seasons in Italy, he felt it was time to move on.

Celtic (2005–2009)[link]

Nakamura expressed interest in playing in Spain and media reports linked him to Atlético Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña of La Liga as well as Bundesliga teams Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer of 2005,^[2] but Nakamura ultimately chose to join Scottish Premier League Giants Celtic.

Nakamura warming up ahead of Celtic's clash with Dundee United on 5 August 2005

He made an immediate impact at Celtic, and was named Man of the Match in his début against Dundee United on 6 August 2005.^[3] His creativity, as well as his work ethic and composure under pressure has won praise from teammates, manager Gordon Strachan and Celtic supporters.^[4][5]

In his first season with Celtic, Nakamura won his first major club titles, the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup.^[6] On 13 September 2006, he played his début Champions League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He scored from a free kick to bring the game level at 2–2, although Celtic eventually lost 3–2. On 14 October 2006, in a league game against Dundee United at Tannadice Nakamura scored the first hat-trick of his Celtic career and won the Man of the Match award. The game ended 4–1 in Celtic's favour.

On 21 November 2006, Nakamura scored perhaps the most important goal of his career to date with a 30-yard free-kick against Manchester United at Celtic Park in a crucial Champions League game. The goal resulted in Celtic progressing to the Champions League knockout stage for the first time.^[7]

On 26 December 2006, Nakamura chipped the ball over Dundee United's goalkeeper Derek Stillie at Celtic Park (He won the Goal of the Season award by this^[8]). It was Nakamura's performance in the final 20 minutes of the game which allowed Celtic to escape with a point, prompting Gordon Strachan to proclaim him "a genius".^[9]

On 25 February 2007, during the Scottish Cup quarter-final between Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Nakamura broke a bone in his left hand after an Inverness player stepped on it. However, Nakamura played in the next game on 3 March against Dunfermline Athletic.^[10] Hoops manager Gordon Strachan insisted that Celtic couldn't play the second leg of the Champions League match against A.C. Milan in the San Siro without him.^[11] He played in both legs of the fixture, the first of which was a 0–0 draw at Celtic Park, with Milan going on to win the tie 1–0 after extra-time at the San Siro.

On 22 April 2007 Celtic won their 41st league championship, and second in a row. The title was won in dramatic fashion by an injury time free-kick from Nakamura in a 2–1 victory against Kilmarnock.^[12] The result left Celtic 13 points clear of Rangers with four matches remaining. Quite fittingly, later that day Nakamura was recognized by his peers by him winning the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association's player of the year award for 2007.^[13] This was followed in May by the Scottish Football Writers' Association player of the year award^[14] and both Players Player of the Year award and the Fans Player of the Year award at Celtic's own end of season awards ceremony. He was also awarded SPL goal of the season for his goal against Dundee Utd.^[8]

Nakamura featured little in the first part of Celtic's 2007–08 campaign due to a knee injury which was picked up in a Champions League qualifying match against Spartak Moscow in August 2007 and repeatedly aggravated, including in a match against Motherwell on 27 October 2007,^[15] after which Nakamura sat out for nearly three months. Nakamura returned to play on 12 January 2008, for Celtic's Scottish Cup match against Stirling Albion, in which he scored a goal.^[16]

On 16 April 2008 Nakamura scored his first goal against Glasgow rivals Rangers in a 2–1 victory for Celtic. This goal made him the first ever Japanese player to score in an Old Firm game. He later had a goal bound effort illegally cleared off the line by Carlos Cuéllar in the same match.

On 1 July, it was reported that newly-promoted Serie A side Bologna were interested in acquiring Nakamura's services from Celtic. However, the player has reiterated his desire to see out the remaining years of his contract until he returns to Yokohama F. Marinos to end his career.

On 13 September, Nakamura played his 100th Scottish Premier League match in a 4–2 victory against Motherwell.

On 28 February 2009, he scored a hat trick against St. Mirren in a 7–0 win.

Espanyol (2009–2010)[link]

Many media have speculated that Nakamura returned to his hometown club Yokohama F. Marinos after the four year contract with Celtic. In June 2009, just before a medical checkup in Yokohama, the negotiation broke down due to unknown reasons. On 22 June 2009, it was announced that Nakamura had agreed terms with Spanish Primera Division side Espanyol.^[17] He agreed to join on a two-year contract, subject to a medical examination.^[18] He made his debut with "Los Pericos" in the first league match of the 2009–10 season against Athletic Bilbao, playing the entire game. However, he did not have as much first team action as he wished with the majority of his appearances being as a substitute.

On 1 February 2010, Nakamura told the Spanish press that he was going to stay at the Barcelona-based side. However, on 12 February a statement was released which admitted that both Espanyol and Nakamura himself had decided upon the player's return to Japan.^[19] Nakamura was transferred to Yokohama Marinos on 26 February.

Yokohama F. Marinos (2010–2012)[link]

Nakamura became an instant influence at the club, scoring a fantastic goal in his debut. His second and third goals came in August 2010, both long range efforts, and one a classic free-kick. He has helped Yokohama remain in contention for the title.

National team[link]

Nakamura playing for the national team.

Youth national teams (1996–2000)[link]

Nakamura's national team career with Japan started in 1996 as the only high school player selected to the Under-19 team for the Asia Youth Championship. The following year, he was a member of Japan's Under-20 team that finished in the final 8 of the FIFA World Youth Championship.

In 1999, Nakamura was selected a member of Japan's Under-23 team that won all its Asian qualifying matches in the run up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Nakamura formed a lethal combination in the attacking midfield with Shinji Ono on a team that would form the core of the Japanese national team, and included Atsushi Yanagisawa, Junichi Inamoto and Naohiro Takahara. In Sydney, Japan reached the quarterfinal round.

Under Troussier (2000–02)[link]

Nakamura made his senior national team debut on 13 February 2000, in an Asian Cup qualifier match against Singapore. He scored his first national team goal against Brunei in the very next match on 16 February 2000, also in Asian Cup qualifying.

After helping Japan win Asian Cup 2000, Nakamura appeared to have cemented his place in the national team, having played every match of the tournament. However, his national team career took a sharp turn in a friendly match on 25 March 2001, a humiliating 5–0 loss to France. He did not play for the team led by manager Philippe Troussier again until almost a year later, in a friendly match against Ukraine on 21 March 2002.

Although Nakamura played in four friendly matches leading up to the 2002 World Cup Finals, he was left out of the 23-man squad to the disappointment of fans. In the second to last warm up match for the World Cup against Honduras, he scored two goals, one of them a curling shot made directly from a corner kick.^[20] However, he picked up a knee injury against Honduras and did not play in the final warm up match, a 3–0 loss against Norway, and was ultimately not picked for the World Cup squad.^[21]

Despite Nakamura's talents, Troussier could not find a place in his rigid, defensive-minded system. He believed Nakamura lacked the physique and stamina to play either the center or the left of the midfield, and had a surplus of players at both positions.^[22]

Under Zico (2002–06)[link]

After the World Cup, Troussier resigned as manager of Japan, and was replaced by former Brazil and Kashima Antlers star Zico. The new coach immediately brought the talented player back to the national team, starting Nakamura in his début against Jamaica.

Zico has lauded Nakamura's improvement since 2002, especially his physical development, stating, "Unquestionably, he has improved a great deal since his move to Serie A. He is the soul of our midfield."^[23] Nakamura has flourished under Zico's attacking style and earned his place as the central playmaker. He led Japan to the championship at Asian Cup 2004, where he was named Most Valuable Player, and qualification for the 2006 World Cup Finals.^[24] Nakamura also starred for Japan in the 2003 and 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, scoring a total of 4 goals in 6 matches.

Nakamura was suspended for the World Cup qualification match against North Korea on 8 June 2005 that clinched Japan's place in the 2006 Finals,^[25] he nonetheless played a key role in the qualifying run and has replaced Hidetoshi Nakata as the main playmaker in Japan's attack.^[26]

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup Nakamura scored the controversial opening goal in Japan's first game against Australia, which Australia came back to win 3–1.

After the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Nakamura retired from international football.^[27]

Honours[link]

Club and national team[link]

• J. League 1st stage: 2000
• J. League Cup: 2001
• AFC Asian Cup: 2000, 2004
• Scottish Premier League: 2006, 2007, 2008
• Scottish Premier League: 2009 (Runner-up)
• Scottish League Cup: 2006, 2009
• Scottish Cup: 2007

Individual[link]

• J. League Best Eleven: 1999, 2000
• J. League Most Valuable Player: 2000
• Japanese Footballer of the Year: 2000
• Selected to AFC All Star Team: 2000
• FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Shoe Award: 2003
• AFC Asian Cup Best Eleven: 2000, 2004
• AFC Asian Cup Most Valuable Player: 2004
• SPFA Players' Player of the Year: 2007
• SFWA Footballer of the Year: 2007
• Scottish PFA Goal of the Season: 2007
• Scottish PFA's Team of the Season: 2007^[28]
• Scottish Premier League Player of the Month: 2007 (February)
• Celtic Player of The Year: 2007^[29]
• Celtic Fans Player of the Year: 2007^[29]

Achievements[link]

• Nominated for Ballon d'Or: 2007

Career statistics[link]

As of 1 November 2011

National team career statistics[link]