Magnus Carlsen

Hikaru Nakamura

408 games · Head-to-head

Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura: Head to Head Record

Magnus Carlsen leads 144–82 with 182 draws in the 408 games of the two in the Rama Chess archive, 2005 to 2025. Every game can be replayed move by move.

408

Games

144

Magnus Wins

182

Draws

Nakamura Wins

Magnus

144

35.3%

Draws

182

44.6%

Nakamura

20.1%

Quick answer · Updated October 2026

Magnus vs Nakamura head to head

Magnus Carlsen leads Hikaru Nakamura 144–82, with 182 draws, in 408 games (2005–2025). In classical events Carlsen has won 14, Nakamura has won 1 and 26 were drawn.

Type of event	Games	Carlsen won	Drawn	Nakamura won	Carlsen score
Classical	41	14	26	1	65.9%
Rapid	137	46	68	23	58.4%
Blitz and bullet	209	76	78	55	55.0%
Armageddon	5	3	0	2	60.0%
Other events	16	5	10	1	62.5%
All games	408	144	182	82	57.6%

First gameHikaru Nakamura vs Magnus Carlsen · GM · 17 July 2005 · ½-½

Latest gameMagnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura · Titled Tue 23rd Dec 2025 · 23 December 2025 · ½-½

Nakamura's latest winMagnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura · 1st 3-0 Thu 27th Nov 2025 · 27 November 2025 · 0-1

Carlsen's latest winMagnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura · Titled Tue 16th Dec 2025 · 16 December 2025 · 1-0

With White / BlackCarlsen with White: 91–85–34 · with Black: 53–97–48 (won–drawn–lost)

Busiest year2023, with 89 games

Replay all 408 games Hikaru Nakamura profile Magnus Carlsen profile The same games from Nakamura's side All Magnus opponents

Source: the Rama Chess database of 7,484 Magnus Carlsen games, 2001 to 2025. It holds many of his games, not every game the two have ever played. The type of event (classical, rapid, blitz) is read from the event name; knockout tie-breaks are counted on their own.

Nakamura's wins

Nakamura's 10 most recent wins against Carlsen (of 82)

Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 0-11st 3-0 Thu 27th Nov 2025 · 27 November 2025 · Blitz and bullet · Nimzo-Indian Defense · 52 moves
Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 0-1Titled Tue 18th Nov 2025 · 18 November 2025 · Blitz and bullet · Italian Game · 51 moves
Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 0-1Titled Tue 4th Nov 2025 · 4 November 2025 · Blitz and bullet · Flank Openings · 40 moves
Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 0-1Clutch Chess: Champions · 27 October 2025 · Other events · Indian Defenses · 34 moves
Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 0-1Titled Tue 23rd Sep 2025 · 23 September 2025 · Blitz and bullet · English Opening · 62 moves
Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 0-1Esports World Cup 2025 · 31 July 2025 · Rapid · King's Indian Defense · 39 moves
Hikaru Nakamura vs Magnus Carlsen, 1-0Esports World Cup 2025 · 31 July 2025 · Rapid · Catalan Opening · 39 moves
Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 0-1Titled Tue 10th Jun Late · 10 June 2025 · Blitz and bullet · English Opening · 35 moves
Hikaru Nakamura vs Magnus Carlsen, 1-013th Norway Armageddon · 27 May 2025 · Armageddon · Grünfeld Defense · 44 moves
Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 0-1Titled Tue 25th Mar Early · 25 March 2025 · Blitz and bullet · Flank Openings · 37 moves

Carlsen's wins

Carlsen's quickest wins against Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura vs Magnus Carlsen, 0-1Bullet Chess Winners 2023 · 21 July 2023 · Blitz and bullet · Scandinavian Defense · 20 moves
Hikaru Nakamura vs Magnus Carlsen, 0-1chess.com Blitz Final 5m+2spm 2016 · 27 October 2016 · Blitz and bullet · Queen's Indian Defense · 22 moves
Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, 1-0FTX Crypto Cup KO 2021 · 27 May 2021 · Rapid · Queen's Gambit Declined · 23 moves

Results by year

Magnus Carlsen vs Nakamura, year by year (2005–2025)

Carlsen wonDrawnNakamura won

Key position

How their latest decisive classical game ended

Final position of Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura, Croatia GCT 2019 2019, chess board diagram — This is the most recent decisive classical game between them in our database: **Magnus Carlsen vs Hikaru Nakamura** at the Croatia GCT 2019 (1 July 2019), Magnus Carlsen won in 43 moves (classical). This is the position after the last move in the score; Hikaru Nakamura resigned here or lost on time.

Replay the whole game move by move

Photos

Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura

Magnus Carlsen, chess world champion 2013-2023 — Magnus Carlsen, world champion from 2013 to 2023.Photo: Miroslav.vajdic, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hikaru Nakamura, chess grandmaster.Photo: ChessKelly, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Magnus Carlsen against Hikaru Nakamura at Tata Steel Chess 2013.Photo: Stefan64, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Head to head · Updated October 2026

Magnus Carlsen vs Nakamura: the record

Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura have met 408 times in the games collected here, from 2005 to 2025, across 155 events and all time controls (classical, rapid and blitz). Carlsen has won 144, Nakamura has won 82, and 182 ended in a draw. That gives Carlsen 235 points out of 408, a score of 57.6%.

In 401 of these games, with the white pieces, Carlsen scored 89 wins, 85 draws and 33 losses in 207 games. With Black he scored 52 wins, 97 draws and 45 losses in 194. Nakamura took 45 games with White and 33 games with Black.

The earliest game is from 2005 at the GM; the most recent is from 2025 (Titled Tue 14th Jan Early). The busiest year was 2023, with 89 games. The opening seen most often is the Ruy Lopez.

Replay the 408 games Magnus Carlsen profile Hikaru Nakamura profile All Magnus opponents

By colour

Results with White and Black

Carlsen played	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	Score
White	207	89	85	33	64%
Black	194	52	97	45	52%
All 408 games	408	144	182	82	58%

White and Black rows count 401 of the 408 games; the last row counts all 408.

Year by year

Carlsen vs Nakamura, 2005–2025

Year	Games	Carlsen won	Drawn	Nakamura won	Carlsen score
2005	2	0	2	0	50%
2008	1	0	1	0	50%
2009	8	2	2	4	38%
2010	3	2	1	0	83%
2011	9	5	4	0	78%
2012	6	0	6	0	50%
2013	7	3	4	0	71%
2014	8	5	3	0	81%
2015	4	2	2	0	75%
2016	30	13	9	8	58%
2017	8	0	7	1	44%
2018	29	15	11	3	71%
2019	12	4	8	0	67%
2020	62	21	27	14	56%
2021	25	10	11	4	62%
2022	32	8	15	9	48%
2023	89	27	39	23	52%
2024	17	4	12	1	59%
2025	49	20	18	11	59%

Years of 401 of the 408 games.

By Opening

Openings in this matchup

Ruy Lopez72 Sicilian Defense50 Queen's Gambit Declined37 Flank Openings25 Réti Opening23 Slav Defense20 English Opening19 Nimzo-Indian Defense16 Modern Defense16 Italian Game14 Queen's Pawn Game13 King's Indian Defense12

Games

All 408 games: Magnus Carlsen vs Nakamura

Year

Game

ECO

Result

2005