Hikaru Nakamura of White Plains, NY has broken the great Bobby Fischer�s record to become the youngest American Grandmaster (GM) ever. Hikaru was born December 9, 1987. At the age of 15 years, one month and 27 days, he earned his third and final GM norm at the Bermuda International Chess Festival on February 5, 2003 by defeating fellow American International Master (IM) Michael Mulyar of Westminster, Colorado. Bobby Fischer was born March 9, 1943 and earned the Grandmaster title at the Interzonal tournament in Portoroz, Yugoslavia on September 10, 1958 at the age of 15 years, six months and one day.

Nakamura started playing tournament chess in 1995 at the age of 7. Just three years later he earned the title of National Master. In February of 2001, Nakamura earned the International Master title and set his eyes on becoming a Grandmaster. He achieved his first GM norm last year at the 2002 Bermuda International Chess Festival in Southampton, Bermuda. He earned his second GM norm at the 2002 Los Inmortales IV tournament in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic. Nakamura earned his third and final GM norm by scoring 7 � -3 � (six wins, three draws and two loses) to finish in clear second place at the 2003 Bermuda International GM-B tournament, a category X, twelve player round robin held in Southampton, Bermuda, January 25 to February 5, 2003. GM Daniel Fridman of Latvia won the Bermuda International GM-B tournament with a score of 8-3.

�As a chess player I am awed by the magnitude of this achievement. As a parent, Carolyn and I are just so proud of our son,� comments FIDE Master Sunil Weeramantry, Nakamura�s father and coach.

Nakamura says that his best game of the tournament was his third round effort against Spanish IM Javier Moreno Carnero:

W: IM Hikaru Nakamura (2520)
B: IM Javier Moreno Carnero (2508)
Bermuda International, round 3
January 27, 2003

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 a5 11.bxa5 f5 12.Nd2 Nf4 13.Bf1 fxe4 14.Nb3 Nd3 15.Bxd3 exd3 16.Ne4 c5 17.Qxd3 h6 18.Bd2 Nf5 19.Rab1 g5 20.Nc1 Ra6 21.f3 Nh4 22.Ne2 Rf7 23.N2g3 Bf8 24.Rb5 Be7 25.Reb1 Qf8 26.Rb6 Ra8 27.R1b3 Qd8 28.Qb1 Bf8 29.Be1 Ra7 30.Ra3 Ra8 31.Nf1 Nf5 32.Ne3 Nd4 33.Nxd6 Bxd6 34.Qg6+ Rg7 35.Qxd6 Qe8 36.Qxh6 e4 37.fxe4 Qxe4 38.Qh5 Bf5 39.h3 Rf8 40.Bg3 g4 41.Rh6 Bh7 42.Nxg4 Nf5 43.Rf3 Rxg4 44.Rxh7 1-0

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