U.S. Chess Champion’s Best Performing Stocks

U.S. chess champion Hikaru Nakamura is seeing some strong gains in his TipRanks investment portfolio in the early weeks of 2026.

Let’s look at three big gainers – they are SanDisk Corporation (SNDK), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Intel (INTC).

Strategic Thinking

Chess and stock market investing share a number of characteristics. The need for both long- and short-term strategies, thinking two or three steps ahead of the opposition, keeping your cool during periods of adversity, being able to adapt strategies, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each piece/asset in your portfolio and continually learning from your mistakes and successes.

That is why we here at TipRanks are so excited to partner with and follow the investment strategies of Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.

As part of our strategic partnership, we have built a Stream Portfolio. Fans of Hikaru can track and follow it in real time on his popular video channels and social media streams, but they’ll also be able to contribute ideas from the stream chat and help shape the overall holdings. Working with TipRanks’ award-winning investment tools, Hikaru is detailing his investment moves while demonstrating the platform. All content will include clear disclosures and does not constitute investment advice. 

Hikaru is, according to Chess.com, a five-time U.S. champion, claiming the title in 2005, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2019. Nakamura was also a participant in FIDE’s 2004 World Championship tournament and a candidate for the world championship in both 2016 and 2022, qualifying for a third in 2024. He has over 2 million followers on Amazon (AMZN) – owned streaming platform Twitch.

Three Strong Gainers

Since September 15, 2025, Hikaru’s portfolio has seen an average return per transaction of 9.24%. He also has a success rate of 73%, with 11 out of 15 transactions making a profit.

Let’s look at some of the top gainers:

• SNDK – Hikaru has a holding gain of 43.95% on the stock. SNDK has an analyst price target of $371.53, implying a 23.47% upside. Its stock is up a remarkable 1192% over the last 12 months thanks to demand for AI memory and storage.
• GOOGL – Hikaru has a holding gain of 31.54%. GOOGL has an analyst price target of $366.30, implying a 10.50% upside. Its stock is up 70% in the last 12 months helped by demand for its huge range of services including Google Search and YouTube. It is also seeing strong AI and Cloud growth.
• INTC – Our chess guru has a holding gain of 19.75% on the stock. INTC has an analyst price target of $48.25, implying a 12.17% upside. Its stock is up 122% in the last 12 months, also driven by AI demand.