CHESS N.Y. boy, 16, wins U.S. championship

The teen receives $25,000 for winning the title.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
SAN DIEGO -- A 16-year-old from White Plains, N.Y., has won the U.S. Chess Championship, the youngest player to win the title since 15-year-old Bobby Fischer in 1957.
Hikaru Nakamura won the $25,000 prize Monday after beating Alex Stripunsky, 34, of Rego Park, N.Y., in two overtime matches.
The matches were the highlight of the 11-day tournament that began with 65 competitors and ended here Monday. It was viewed worldwide on the Internet.
Nakamura said he has not decided how to spend the money, his biggest prize in his chess career. "Basically, everything has been a blur," he said.
In a separate tournament for women, Rusudan Goletiani, 24, of Hartsdale, N.Y., beat Tatev Abrahamyan, 16, of Glendale, for a $12,500 prize.
"If chess is the 'game of kings,' these title-holders are the new royalty," said Erik Anderson, a Seattle entrepreneur and sponsor of the tournament.
Nakamura, who was born in Japan, was taught chess by his stepfather and began playing competitively at age 7. He is tutored at home by his mother; attending school, he said, would take too much time from chess.
His brother, Asuka, 18, also was a competitive chess player before turning his attention to music.
Aggressive player
When not moving pieces around the board, the younger Nakamura follows the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Bucks.
His heroes are Boris Spassky and the enigmatic Fischer. Does he see himself as the next Fischer, the phenom who dominated American chess for years?
"No," he laughed, "I think I'm a little bit more sane."
A veteran of numerous international tournaments, Nakamura has several tournaments lined up, after a trip to Mexico.
"I just want to keep getting better," he said.