Nagata Nasata: FIDE Grandmaster and Blitz Chess Surgeon
FIDE Grandmaster Nagata Nasata, known across the board as NagataNasata, is living proof that a chess career can have a sequel better than the original. The archive shows six quiet daily games in March 2015 near the 1300 mark, then years of silence. In July 2023 the machine switched back on: 218 games of blitz chess in a single month, 168 wins, and a rating that leapt from 1218 to 2817 before the calendar could file a complaint. Blitz has been home ever since, with bullet as the side project that also broke 3000.
The Rise: From 1218 to the Blitz Stratosphere
The climb did not stop at 2817. By October 2024 the ceiling touched 2952, the 3000 barrier cracked that December, and by late 2026 the peak had clicked up to 3147 (2026-10-02). Bullet offers opponents no refuge either: the peak there sits at 3012 (2025-11-25), set in November 2025. Along the way came a 26-game winning streak and a ten-game losing streak that is best described as a rounding error in an otherwise absurd trajectory.
Opening Repertoire: 1.Nf3 and the Barnes Defense of Confidence
White games begin with 1.Nf3, played 853 times in 2026 alone, usually drifting into the King's Indian Attack or the Wiedenhagen-Beta Gambit, with the London Poisoned Pawn Variation keeping the spice rack stocked. The Colle Rhamphorhynchus Variation also makes regular appearances, because apparently an opening named after a pterosaur needed to exist and needed to score over 54 percent.
The Black side is where the courage lives. The Barnes Defense, a line most theory books greet with a nervous cough, has absorbed 451 blitz games at nearly 55 percent, which is either a joke or a lifestyle. When respectability is required, the Caro-Kann Defense arrives and scores about 56 percent, and the Australian Defense patrols the d4 lanes. In bullet, the Amar Gambit wins about 69 percent of the time, the chess equivalent of bringing a water pistol to a duel and being right about it.
A typical evening: patient kingside fianchetto, no early captures, and an opponent slowly realizing the walls are on a schedule.
Playing Style: Endgame Grinding With a Zen Exterior
The statistical profile reads like a meditation retreat brochure. The endgame appears in about 85 percent of games, average wins stretch past 84 moves, and even the defeats average 80, because short stories are not on the menu. The first capture usually waits until move 8, vegetables before dessert. Losing a piece barely registers: the win rate after dropping material still sits near 55 percent, the overall comeback rate is 86.85 percent, and one-sided collapses happen just 0.63 percent of the time. Early resignation accounts for only 28 percent of losses, and the tilt meter reads a peaceful 10. The rook is the favorite checking piece, fitting for a player who wins by closing a door slowly and then standing in front of it. Most opponents resign long before checkmate arrives; the axe is mostly a formality.
There is also a supernatural relationship with midnight: the 00:00 hour produces a 68.75 percent win rate, the best of any hour, and Friday is the luckiest day of the week. Against higher-rated opposition the win rate dips to about 30 percent, the lone admission that even marathons have hills.
Rivalries, Nemeses, and a Perfectly Balanced Ledger
- PracticeMakesOK: the most played opponent by far at 59 games, with Nagata Nasata leading 39 to 16 with 4 draws. Familiarity has bred outright dominance.
- Alexander Rustemov: 57 games split perfectly at 25 wins, 25 losses, and 7 draws. At this point the tiebreak should be a coin flip or a pizza eating contest.
- Brandon Jacobson: the kryptonite file, 12 wins against 18 losses, the one ledger that refuses to be glossy.
- Daniel Dominguez (30-7-2), Daniel Motos Abellan (23-5-1), and Maksym Dubnevych (21-5-2): comfortable margins that suggest these pairings are less rivalry and more scheduled maintenance.
Quick Facts
- Title: Grandmaster, awarded by FIDE
- Preferred time control: blitz, with bullet as the overachieving side project
- Blitz record: 2857 wins, 1763 losses, 518 draws
- Bullet record: 1264 wins, 759 losses, 153 draws
- Daily record: 2 wins, 4 losses, the one format where gravity still applies
- Longest winning streak: 26 games
- Signature setup: 1.Nf3, a kingside fianchetto, and patience measured in geological epochs
In summary: patient, unflappable, nocturnally dangerous, and fond of openings with a sense of humor. Opponents are advised to bring snacks. It may be a while.