On 5th October 2026, Hikaru Nakamura reached a blitz rating of 3500 on Chess.com.The first ever person to hit 3500 Elo, rank one, a full 100 points ahead of Magnus Carlsen's 3400. The top two are the only players at or above 3400; third-placed Sina Movahed is on 3351.

What an achievement by Hikaru | Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE

Nakamura was rated 3342 on 15 September. Over the next 18 days he played 253 rated blitz games - 231 wins, 12 draws and 10 losses - reaching 3490 on 3 October and 3500 two days later. At this level a win against a 2900-rated opponent earns a single point, while one loss costs about 15. On 3 October he won his first 34 rated games of the day, gaining exactly 34 points. The same week brought a separate record: on 3 October he won his 20th Bullet Brawl title of 2026, the most by any player in a calendar year.

Chess.com live blitz top 10

  1. Hikaru Nakamura - 3500

  2. Magnus Carlsen - 3400

  3. Sina Movahed - 3351

  4. Ediz Gurel - 3336

  5. Jan-Krzysztof Duda - 3331

  6. Nihal Sarin - 3310

  7. Alireza Firouzja - 3310

  8. Parham Maghsoodloo - 3308

  9. Denis Lazavik - 3304

  10. Wesley So - 3298

India's Nihal Sarin is sixth on 3310; just outside the top 10 are Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (3297) and Hans Niemann (3295).

Pretty sure that this achievement of Nakamura is going to inspire Magnus to break the 3500 barrier

Hikaru's last 3 games to reach 3500 Elo: