Nakamura scores 5½/6 at Maritime Open in Canada

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
10/18/2025 – Hikaru Nakamura continued his bid to qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament by winning the Maritime Open Chess Championship in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Playing against much lower-rated opposition, the world number two scored 5½/6 to take first place outright. Though he lost a few rating points, the event brought him closer to fulfilling the 40-game requirement for the rating qualification spot. | Photo: Hikaru Nakamura's X account
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Five games away from qualification

US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura continued his unconventional campaign to qualify for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament by participating in the 2025 Maritime Open Chess Championship, held from 11 to 13 October at the Credit Union Place Convention Centre in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

The world number two, who is seeking qualification via the rating route rather than through the FIDE Circuit, the World Cup or Grand Swiss, used the event to add more classical games to his tally for the rating average requirement.

The tournament in Canada featured two sections - Championship and Challengers - both played as six-round Swiss events with a time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment. The organisers supplied all playing equipment. The Championship section schedule included two rounds per day: at 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday, and 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Monday.

Facing opposition rated between 1808 and 2366, Nakamura scored 5½ points out of 6 to win the tournament outright. His only draw came against IM Mike Imanov (2366), who successfully contained him from the white side of a Closed Sicilian system.

The eventual runner-up was IM Mark Plotkin (2353), who finished on 5/6, his sole loss being against Nakamura in round four. Although the US grandmaster was heavily favoured on paper, the event served its practical purpose: he gained six more rated classical games toward the 40 required for the Candidates qualification period.

Under FIDE's regulations, the player with the highest average rating - provided they reach the minimum of 40 classical games - will earn a direct place in the Candidates. With Fabiano Caruana already qualified through the 2024 FIDE Circuit and Magnus Carlsen not expected to participate, Nakamura is the leading contender for the rating spot.

He lost 3.4 rating points in Summerside due to the lower average rating of his opponents but remains securely in second place on the live world rating list. Having completed 35 rated games so far this year, he now requires only five more to meet the threshold, and his steady approach through smaller events appears to be keeping him firmly on course for another appearance at the Candidates Tournament.

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Topics: Candidates 2026, Hikaru Nakamura
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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