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Popular chess player Magnus Carlsen has gone viral for his comments about fellow Grand Master Hikaru Nakamura on his first stream back on Twitch. While interacting with the audience, someone brought up Hikaru, and Carlsen quickly shut down the comparison with a quip about the former being a streamer while he was the superior chess player.
Magnus Carlsen is undoubtedly one of the greatest chess players of this generation, having won the World Championship five times, the Rapid Chess Championships four times, and the Blitz World Championship six times.
The clip of him taking a dig at Hikari has gone viral, having accrued over 50K views within hours of it being posted.
"I'm a professional chess player and he is a professional streamer": Magnus Carlsen trolls Hikaru Nakamura on his first stream of the year
The online chess community has grown exponentially over the years, and creators associated with the game have made quite a splash in the streaming community. Many well-known streamers, such as the Botez sisters, have achieved mainstream popularity thanks to their regular game streams.
Hikaru Nakamura, with over 1.6 million followers on Twitch, is one of the top streamers on the platform. The Grand Master is a regular content creator and, according to Twitch Tracker, has an average concurrent viewership of about 10K.
Timestamp 1:15:20
Magnus Carlsen is markedly behind, with just around 227K followers, but his viewership numbers appear to be quite high, having matched Hikaru's 10K average viewership on his last stream. However, the current World Chess Champion took a humble tone while comparing their streaming stats:
"Shouldn't compare me with Hikaru. I mean, that guy is a full time streamer. If you didn't know, I'm not even verified on Twitch. How could I possibly have more viewers than him? That's not a fair competition."
However, he did close out his statement with a witty jab, sarcastically insinuating that comparing him and Hikaru on streaming is as unfair as comparing them in professional chess.
"It's like when we play in professional chess tournaments, and I'm a professional chess player and he is a professional streamer. Like, that's not fair."
Reddit reacts as Carlsen throws shade at Nakamura
Redditors of r/LivestreamFail had quite a lot to say about how the professional chess player cum streamer casually took a dig at Hikaru. Here are some of the reactions:
For those looking for some of their head-to-head stats, according to Chessgames.com, Magnus Carlsen has won 14 of his classic chess games against Hikaru Nakamura, having lost only one and drawn the rest.
