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After standing for nearly four years, the record for the highest blitz rating on Chess.com (previously 3332) has twice been beaten by GM Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura posted new rating highs of 3334 and 3336 while streaming live on Kick on Monday and Tuesday, right before winning his 42nd Titled Tuesday crown in the double-tournament era.
📈 New Record Alert! 🚨
🇺🇸 GM Hikaru Nakamura broke his own record and set a new record with a rating of 3334 on https://t.co/vYueGWRlDW, breaking his own record of 3332 which he held since March 31, 2020. pic.twitter.com/yi2qrIM0gA
— Chess.com – India (@chesscom_in) November 14, 2023
Playing against Twitch streamer FM Liam Putnam, who is rated over 2900 in Chess.com Blitz, Nakamura won 15 games straight, arduously picking up a single rating point for each victory. A single loss in this matchup would have cost Nakamura up to of 16 points, wiping out all the gains, but he was too clinical.
The record-breaking game was a 23-move miniature where the American personality applied enough pressure to procure a blunder from his opponent.
Nakamura’s Journey to the Top
Think back to the year 2014. Chess.com had just passed the 10-million-member milestone. It was at this time that Nakamura opened his now-famous “Hikaru” account and started climbing the rankings. This climb did not take him long and he has now spent more time atop the leaderboards across blitz and bullet than any other player in the site’s history.
Highest Blitz Ratings In Chess.com History
| Username | Highest Rating | Date Achieved |
| Hikaru | 3336 | 2023-11-13 |
| MagnusCarlsen | 3322 | 2023-06-20 |
| nihalsarin | 3277 | 2023-05-27 |
| DanielNaroditsky | 3249 | 2023-05-08 |
| Sibelephant | 3239 | 2020-04-22 |
| Firouzja2003 | 3233 | 2020-01-31 |
| LyonBeast | 3212 | 2023-09-20 |
| GMValeduser | 3210 | 2022-06-29 |
| MrBean | 3206 | 2022-10-20 |
| Muisback26 | 3205 | 2023-08-10 |
The story does not actually begin here, though, as Nakamura was already an established top-10 player by 2014 and was also well-known in internet chess circles, having dominated the leaderboards of the Internet Chess Club in the early 2000s under the pseudonyms “Smallville” and “CapilanoBridge.”
More recently, Nakamura cracked 3300 for the first time in four years and showed how difficult it was to break his record after gaining a mere two points for a 10.5-1.5 score against a mystery GM rated close to 3000.
To put all this in perspective, let’s take a look at Nakamura’s highest-ever blitz rating (3336), up against GothamChess IM Levy Rozman‘s (2862). At their peaks, Nakamura’s expected score is a whopping 95.1/100 against Rozman, an opponent that would readily “adopt” more than 95% of the chess-playing population. An unfathomable statistic.
Unfinished Business
Don’t be shocked to see this record challenged again over the next few months. Naturally, pushing this rating higher requires consistent brilliance against some of the world’s best blitz players, a task that only the best of the best are capable of.
GM Magnus Carlsen’s blitz rating sits at 3295 as of press time, and best believe, this is the kind of target the five-time world champion would typically be motivated by. If going one point at a time is too laborious for Carlsen, a well-timed streak in a match between the two players at their peak would be the best way to extend the record for one player, and ultimately, help chess break the internet once again.
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