As you may have heard, ⁠GM Hikaru Nakamura made a surprise appearance ⁠at the Louisiana State Championship, as part of fulfilling FIDE’s World Championship qualification criteria. In return, the players he encountered gained memories and stories they’ll never forget. In this multi-guest special episode, I speak with several of Hikaru’s opponents, as well as the tournament’s organizer, to hear their firsthand accounts:

Senior Tournament Director Richard Campbell (13:00) – on why he and his team initially thought Hikaru’s registration was a prank, and how they realized it was real.
20-year-old college student Harry James (32:00) – on how being paired with Hikaru in Round 1 unexpectedly cured his hangover.
Tulane graduate student Nahum Villamil Garces (47:30) – on the lifetime memories he made after facing Hikaru in Round 3.
Five-time Louisiana State Champion FM Nick Matta (1:06:00) – on how he forced himself to play Hikaru with no fear, and how the opportunity to play him re-energized his passion for chess.

Baton Rouge-based NM Charles Campbell (1:34:00) – on the mixed feelings he had before his last-round showdown with Hikaru, as he vied for the state champion title.

It was so much fun hearing the stories of our guests, and I was touched by the galvanizing effect Hikaru’s visit had on the Louisiana chess community

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0:00-Introduction

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13:00- The first guest is Richard Campbell, the tournament organizer. How did he find out Hikaru was registered, did he think it was real? What did they do about security and cheat detection?

Mentioned: NM Jude Acers

32:00- Harry James joins me, he is a 20 year old Tulane University student who was Hikaru’s first round opponent. It is not often a 1563 USCF player gets to play a super GM!

Mentioned: Watch Hikaru’s recaps of his games vs. Harry and Nahum here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJCsHU4NVh8

47:30- Nahum Villamil Garces, Hikaru’s 3rd round opponent, joins me. Nahum is graduate student at Tulane University who was playing his first tournament in the U.S.

Mentioned: Gelfand-Nakamura 2010

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1567841

1:06:00- 5-time Louisiana State Champion FM Nick Matta joined me to reflect on an instructive loss, and to compare the experience of playing Hikaru to his clashes against IM Levy Rozman and GM Hans Niemann.

Mentioned:

You can see Hikaru’s recaps of his games against FM Nick Matta and NM Charles Campbell here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLWuOczem3I&list=PL4KCWZ5Ti2H48YIUpaiTp6jTlwflBLFjI&index=4

You can see Nick’s game with Hikaru in this chess.com article

https://www.chess.com/news/view/nakamura-wins-louisiana-state-championship-candidates

Also Mentioned:Thinking Inside the Box by GM Jacob Aagaard

You can reach FM Nick Matta via his Lichess coaches page:

https://lichess.org/@/Candychessmaster

1:34:00- NM Charles Campbell joins the podcast to discuss lessons from his 7th round showdown with Hikaru, and the chess scenes in Nigeria (his native country) and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (where he lives).

You can also see his game in the chess.com recap, or on Hikaru’s YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLWuOczem3I&list=PL4KCWZ5Ti2H48YIUpaiTp6jTlwflBLFjI&index=4

You can reach Charles Campbell via Chess.com or Lichess

https://www.chess.com/member/charlescandycampbell

https://lichess.org/@/Candychessmaster

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