Hikaru Nakamura revisited a private blitz encounter with Magnus Carlsen that took place in Moscow following the Tal Memorial Tournament. The match came together on the tournament's final evening when Nakamura received an unexpected proposal. While enjoying dinner near the Ritz-Carlton Hotel with a friend involved in the Internet Chess Club, a chess journalist reached out with an intriguing question: would Nakamura be interested in facing Carlsen in blitz?

Nakamura was initially hesitant about disrupting his relaxation on his last night in Moscow. He had just finished a tournament and was winding down over dinner with drinks. Yet the prospect of testing himself against a player widely expected to dominate the chess world proved too tempting to resist. His reasoning at the time was straightforward: he considered himself an excellent blitz player, and the opportunity to measure his skills against such formidable competition seemed worthwhile.

The actual match delivered a humbling experience for Nakamura. Over 40 blitz games, Carlsen emerged victorious with a decisive score. The encounter revealed something that would shape Nakamura's later reflection on the decision. Through playing against Carlsen, he discovered that the Norwegian's technical foundation contained fewer weaknesses than he had anticipated going into the match.

In retrospect, Nakamura has characterized accepting the challenge as a mistake. His subsequent analysis uncovered not only Carlsen's exceptional consistency but also exposed certain gaps in his own play that had previously gone unrecognized. The private match served as an educational moment, demonstrating the depth of talent he was up against during this formative period in both their careers.