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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider GM Nakamura holds fan meet ahead of bughouse tilt

GM Nakamura holds fan meet ahead of bughouse tilt

Published Jun 1, 2026 12:35 pm

At A Glance

  • Players and fans alike had to wait for long lines Monday, June 2, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in BGC, Taguig to get an autograph and a photo with the sports' second highest rated player.
Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura holds an autograph session ahead of the WR Bughouse Champiionship in Taguig.
Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura holds an autograph session ahead of the WR Bughouse Champiionship in Taguig.
Filipinos just can’t get enough of American chess star Hikaru Nakamura.
Players and fans alike had to wait for long lines Monday, June 2, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in BGC, Taguig to get an autograph and a photo with the sports’ second highest rated player.
“Everyone just wants to have his autograph and photo with him (Nakamura), including myself,” said a gushing Janelle Mae Frayna, the country’s highest woman chesser and first and only Woman Grandmaster to date.
“We also have a chance to play against him,” she added.
Frayna, of course, was referring to Nakamura seeing action in the inaugural WR Bughouse Championship that is set to start late Monday and would conclude on Tuesday, June 2, at the same venue.
Bughouse, or transfer chess, is a variant of the sport.
But as long as Nakamura is playing, the locals don’t mind.
“We love him (Nakamura),” said Francis Magpily, one of the few, if not the only, Filipinos who have been persistently holding bughouse tournaments in the country.
Almost a thousand showed up at the autograph session, which started at 10 a.m. and ended at 12 noon.
The queue was so long that organizers had to stop it by noon to give Nakamura a chance to take lunch and to rest.
Nakamura though didn’t look bothered as he kept signing and posing for pictures with a smile.

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Hikaru Nakamura WR Bughouse Championship Janelle Mae Frayna
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