"How does the knight move?": Andrea Botez draws flak from GMHikaru after asking GM Magnus Carlsen an "important" question 

Twitch chess streamer Andrea "BotezLive" Botez is known to be the life of the party during the Botez sisters' live streams, along with being a very high-ranking chess player.

The 19-year was invited to the FIDE World Championship press conference when she began to joke around while speaking to Grandmaster chess player Magnus Carlsen. Reactions to the comment are divided as not everyone thought it was appropriate.

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GMHikaru disapproves of Andrea Botez's comment at FIDE World Championship 2021

During the 2021 FIDE World Championship press conference, Andrea "BotezLive" Botez was invited to ask a question to the attendees. She chose to direct her question to Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, who is the current World Chess Champion.

Andrea Botez began by introducing herself to all three, saying that she was reporting from BotezLive. She then turned her attention to Magnus, and said,

"Magnus, I bet you're really tired of getting a lot of really complicated chess questions, but I've been dying to ask you. How does the knight move?"

Magnus began to laugh, and the person seated next to him, GM Maurice Ashley, could be seen coyly smiling at her joke. Magnus answered her sincerely, replying,

"That's a good question. It generally moves like an 'L' and sometimes, in blitz games, it can be very unpredictable."

Andrea thanked him for responding to her, exclaiming that "only (he) could answer (her) question," which made both Magnus and Maurice smile.

However, not everyone thought it was a funny joke to make at the time. Hikaru "GMHikaru" Nakamura, unabashedly voiced his uneasiness at Botez' "inappropriate" joke.

"I mean, it's a world championship match, I mean, there's a place for content. I'm going to be honest, like, in a world championship match, that should not happen. Joking aside, it's one thing making content, but for a world championship match or press conference for the most serious event that we have for the chess world, that should not be happening. I'm just going to say that and maybe that will start some drama or something, but I'm going to be honest, that just should not happen."

Several people in Hikaru's chat came to Andrea's defense, exclaiming that Magnus Carlsen had in fact asked her the same question during her own live stream, which is why she said repeated it back to him.

Others said that Magnus had been informed beforehand that she would be asking this question, although there is no confirmation yet on whether this is true or not.