diamondsinmymouth

Hi Hikaru. I have a question regarding fame in chess.

In the April 2013 issue of Chess Life, there is a review of "Fighting Chess with Hikaru Nakamura," written by Jamaal Abdul-Alim, in which he writes,

"There are times when the chess champ sounds wistful, complaining that while players such as Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian are treated as "superstars" ... in their home countries ... He gets no such fanfare at home.

"when I go back to the US, I am essentially just an ordinary citizen, I'm not anything special," Nakamura laments in the interview.

"It is quite difficult sometimes to reconcile that with the fact that these other really strong players get so much attention and their own countries."

Do you feel that this is more due to your results or the popularity of chess in America? It is easy to be a superstar when you're the first world champ from your tiny country, but in the US, any minor celebrity is in competition with Peyton Manning, Miley Cyrus, Brangelina, et al.

As an avid chess player living in Maryland, it is exceedingly difficult to find a game or anyone to talk about the game with outside of the chess club. I never see anyone reading Chess Life, or training tactics on their phone. I am left wishing that another closet patzer will recognize my chessboard in its carrying case and challenge me to a game.

Thanks for taking the time to do this AMA. If I ever see you, I hope we can play a quick game and get a photo in.

I feel like people who do AMAs of this ilk are just bragging. Yeah it sucks this happened to you, but what are people going to ask you about?