The King's Gambit: The Story of Hikaru

[@GMHikaru]

Wow. Thanks for this incredible video! It's mind blowing to look back on everything. You guys really pulled out some OG history and clips here. There's a ton of good and there's a bit of bad. I feel badly that the only clips of the Botez sisters make them seem like enemies. We all got really busy with the chess boom, and we weren't communicating as well as we should have been and there were some small issues. We all realized we just needed to sit down and talk to each other, and our relationship is now stronger than ever. They are doing a great job representing chess on Twitch, and I have nothing but respect for both Alex and Andrea and all they've accomplished.

[@wanderingbishop]

The Story of the Botez Sisters when?

[@lizzosfatlmfao3597]

Thanks for what you do man. Keep up the good work!

[@BotezLive]

Thanks for saying that! We're really proud for your success so far and really appreciate you going out of your way to say this.

[@steezio777]

Tysm for bringing the chess hype 🙌

[@Leroni]

This is so wholesome

[@chess]

Great piece as usual, guys!

[@linusdohrn703]

Sheesh

[@vanillaplays6571]

Welp that punny

[@sleepycat9882]

Yoo it's him

[@toopro67]

Pog

[@matti3333]

Lichess is better

[@Vasu_Bhatnagar]

The golden “i don’t wanna overthink this” clip is the sole reason i love hikaru

[@chrisiver8506]

What makes it even better is he's only 5 moves into the game LUL

[@soakedbearrd]

Yeah that made me laugh when he just castles after all of that.

[@supreetsahu1964]

The "introduced to the game by older brother" meta also runs in chess apparently

[@ameame32]

Its funny coz my cousin (who I call my big brother) also introduced me chess

[@badoodstv2353]

@Pulzanicus pulzanic for Magnus Carlsen it was his father.

[@mudfightmaster4275]

the chosen one signs

[@Hummabubba]

Lmfaooo

[@inc0gnito590]

First step to be good at a game is to get an older sibling.... meanwhile me the only child:😔

[@panosts6178]

I'm a chess master from Greece. I have had an interesting interaction with Hikaru. And by interesting I mean getting destroyed by him in a simultaneous exhibition along with 9 more people in Bulgaria while the dude was barely 20 years old.

[@tutorialsimulator]

😯😯😯

[@calebvanlalrinngama9712]

🤣🤣

[@user-kun2147]

What a monster!

[@movecount]

If it makes you feel any better, I'd get destroyed by you if we were to play right now.

[@smmshoe]

I played Jozarov and got crushed like a bug

[@AArthreus]

" ITS THE WOODEN SHIELD. " - The Juicer, disciple of Hikaru.

[@ThatOneGuyWhoTalks2Much]

The Juicer is no match for Jesus and his throbber's mate.

[@adamnaqiuddin7786]

😂😂😂

[@samuelramos772]

Bong cloud opening is still the best opening in chess history.

[@4twenny]

facts

[@badoodstv2353]

true

[@horniiboi]

f3 g4 would like to speak with you

[@trocustar3450]

Fax

[@trocustar3450]

1.e4 e5 2. Ke2

[@maskingtape9828]

"as you can see, Hikaru sacrificed his king in round 1 so he can checkmate on move 42 in round 3. Truly amazing"

[@badoodstv2353]

The ''Kings Gambit''

[@abdhulhackul2620]

@@badoodstv2353 why are you being racist

[@shill2920]

@@abdhulhackul2620 they edited the comment lmao

[@mihirbiswas8884]

@@shill2920 what did he say?

[@shill2920]

@@mihirbiswas8884 I don't know but judging by the other comment accusing them of being racist and the editing sign they changed their comment to be something not offensive at all eh who cares its a youtube comment section anyways

[@duchi882]

*Everybody Gangsta* Until Hikaru moves the King on the 2nd move

[@iamjustice2877]

Ah yes, the Bongcloud Wasn't expecting an Inside Joke here lol

[@AngeloGene]

Bingcloud! 👍😂

[@제인-y9u]

This guy bongclouds

[@OnamazuKuuran]

Get money get money get money

[@normi1504]

Where's that music coming from?

[@abecascade]

One of the streamers that inspired me greatly. So entertaining and yet very educational. Don't think other GMs can get as high as him on Bong Cloud speedrun.

[@zklakay8509]

fact edit: ternyata sedulur ada yg suka bongcloud anjirr wkwkwkwkwk

[@mifshima8653]

anjang bang abe disini ugha

[@anselpierson5193]

@@mifshima8653 fheji anghu guru madaha supa lulop

[@kapii9857]

Wah ada bang abe

[@nandanabhaktikhaer4543]

lah ada bang abe

[@patrikmobil4197]

4:48 wow they cut out carlsens "decent".

[@gwynnfox9767]

haha. i know right. they shouldnt have

[@flortrupp]

comparing a human with a god wouldnt be fair ;)

[@maxkho00]

@@flortrupp I'd love for this "god" to play Hikaru in no-increment Blitz or Bullet. I can assure you this "god" would promptly gain human form :)

[@lmao-m3z]

​@@maxkho00Ah yes, let's remove "rules" for someone else to win. Pretty good

[@PrivateJoker0119]

Somewhere, Hikaru must be whispering: "but the king's gambit is a bad chess opening, why are they using that as title"

[@bed693]

It isnt bad its just gives up whites advantage but gets an aggressive double edged position

[@sub-harmonik]

I feel like the king's gambit kinda represents hikaru's chess personality, even tho he doesn't play it too often. it can be pretty tricky too, especially at relatively lower elos

[@GeneticallyEngineeredCatgirls]

@@bed693 According to Stockfish engine and Lichess database King's gambit is -0.5 on move 2, having 1.7% of playrate after 1...e5, raising the lose rate from 21% to 37% on average - these are some terrible stats for very high level classical games, the only way to play this is as a surprise being confident of your preparation over your opponent's.

[@7cmhg840]

True, I have like 100% winrate against the kings gambit lmao

[@Happylink75]

Queens gambit Ftw

[@johnnyhan6671]

as a chess player imo it's safe to say he's helped the chess community in so many ways. Truly an amazing man

[@kingtoad5329]

"i can also trade and take and take, and if takes i take and if takes takes takes, queen e2, queen h4, g3, knight g3, check, c6, queen b7, knight h1, king there, i don’t know whats going on I’m just going to castle, i don’t want to think too much"

[@vivekananddwivedi]

This is him thinking less.. 😂😂

[@shaunbang]

Hikaru is 100% the biggest and main reason why chess is becoming more and more popular. If he’s grabbing people like me to pay attention and suddenly find intrigue in learning a game I had absolutely no thought of trying to learn to get good at then there’s probably a million other people who actually know something about chess that Hikaru is really helping grow the game

[@grandmaashley]

grandma approved

[@FayeTheNerd]

Can I have some cookies please

[@oklemonn]

me too

[@neilpatil3438]

Me too

[@adeptness9615]

@love is trash bich need cash eh no disrespect or else we won’t get our appetizer of apple pie

[@adeptness9615]

@love is trash bich need cash ahh I see. Dw grandma prob has her meat pie ready by like 12 I’d say

[@ceePx]

when you're smurfing in chess

[@badoodstv2353]

He has like a million speedruns of blitz or bullet to 3000

[@herculet]

funny story, he met charlie randomly during one of his smurfing speedrun lol (while both are streaming as well, i believe the chance is super super slim)

[@Notsiphen]

Charlie wasn’t streaming

[@Notsiphen]

Yeah that’s what I was talking about I was just telling caesar that Charlie wasn’t streaming while getting slammed by hikaru

[@nicklawlor5257]

that's not smurfing

[@alexs5368]

Before watching: I bet the ben finegold "d**krider" clip is in here After the first minute: Yep

[@y8fpe]

Ben Finegold comes across as a wanker

[@THEZWOBB]

@@y8fpe That might have something to do with him really being a wanker

[@abrahamimmanuel2568]

The probabillity of that showing up is equivalent to the probability of simple falling awp clip showing up in other vids

[@228_anakagungngurahwibisan6]

@@abrahamimmanuel2568 or that faker zed 1v1 clip

[@Yes-kb5yv]

Hikaru is legit, the only reason I'm taking my time to play chess. No matter what other people say, I will always respect and thank him for continuing to not only inspire me to play chess, but also others to do the same.

[@needy3535]

yo honestly, the team behind these documentaries is fucking wild. These are literally the reason im subbed to this channel I dont even watch Esports

[@RobotSantaClaus]

Same. I’ve seen a bunch of “the story of..” for csgo, r6, and other esports that I’ve never watched, and they’re all interesting af

[@guidefordummies9173]

Trueeee

[@sebdot_]

[@nezunish-898]

This type of documentary is the type that you can't find on tv.

[@planetkc]

Except the Mika Daime videos, they are a bunch of simps.

[@glassofmilk7923]

"Chess is no different than Tic-Tac-Toe" Shiro - No Game No Life

[@standuser4206]

No Season 2 No Life

[@professionalloser.]

very nice still finding ngnl references in 2021

[@nanashizz]

God Speed

[@rammus4293]

There were too much pedo incest vibes in the anime

[@glassofmilk7923]

@@rammus4293 OK.

[@reiisee]

10:46 A normal person like MAGNUS CARLSEN lmao

[@mochiisntbad6762]

His definition of a normal theoretical physicist is Einstein

[@ghiaccio1384]

@@mochiisntbad6762 And His Normal Basketball Player - Michael Jordan

[@Kelvinllovejr]

@@ghiaccio1384 yeah I mean your average player like Air Jordan haha. Not trying to go into the greats or anything

[@alex2005z]

Wait, I thought Magnus was a Fantasy Football pro player

[@tyrannosaurusgaming6260]

4:50 I like how they removed Magnus Carlsen calling him decent

[@isbilen1000]

Imagine playing an ancient game, so big brain, but also so approachable. And not wanting your game to flourish because "you mingle with the masses". I've not been much in Hikaru's streams, but the clips and highlights show him as such a genuine guy who loves both chess and his community. That's a guy you wanna hang out with, and play games with, even if he stomps you all the way down to bedrock. He's just a cool dude.

[@alexhooper6625]

Hikaru's done some odds games and things with interviewers (like the one lady from the news crew they showed) and has thrashed them, without a major piece like the queen. It's kinda fun to watch them freak out at the end when he does.

[@EmmyAKAMilo]

yo why did they make the botez sisters look so mean, them and hikaru are in good graces

[@alternateimmaster2213]

Yeah look at the pinned comment

[@arafatzahan2082]

they are actually pretty mean

[@kissthefish2188]

and hikaru isnt just portrayed as the bad guy like the opening says, he is the bad guy. look at him now, abusing DMCA to hurt his twitch and youtube rivals. he might've rescinded it, but i still think those who were striked by him should pursue it legally.

[@ffhdyedq]

@@kissthefish2188 wdym by abusing DMCA?

[@randompotato8105]

@@kissthefish2188 what are u talking about i have no idea

[@opash5246]

He is the man that got me into chess, in my eyes hikaru is greater than other chess players, be it magnus Or any other and it's not only about gameplay, his personality, the way he talks, the way he interacts with his audience is just lovable to me, and of course, his godly skills is just cherry on top.

[@akashdeb5201]

*Nah FACEIT is better for online chess.....128 tick servers.*

[@LipColt]

Bullet chess players: real shit

[@zyor7020]

lol

[@adamismail2883]

If you really think about it CSGO is just chess with dysfunctional pieces

[@danieltrew5944]

Only reason he wins is because the best move is on the ceiling smh

[@aintijustthecutest3863]

Figures why Beth Harmon kept looking at the ceiling on Queen's Gambit.

[@arlissven1555]

he got stockfish on his ceiling

[@Dragon82657]

@@arlissven1555 So does Beth Harmon

[@historyinsight3928]

I like how on the part where the GMs are describing Nakamura with 1 word they cut the part where Magnus said "decent" lol

[@isabellam1936]

I love his presence on creating content online where most chess players don’t give back to the community like that. We do owe a lot to him and all that he does.

[@two7k328]

Imagine if chess was invented today, queen is to op, nerf knight, the map is unbalanced 😂😂

[@jayjaylates5749]

Chess is too perfect for a game.. So that's why we have openings like Sicilian, French, etc. so no need to update the traditional setting.

[@SiddharthBhandari_official]

@@jayjaylates5749 are you secretly Hikaru??

[@alex2005z]

There are videos on meme chess updates. FIDE had an april fools one too, to remove draws

[@jayjaylates5749]

@@SiddharthBhandari_official Lol no. Basic understanding of the game. No meta, no balance, just pure game like Poker, Scrabble, etc.

[@pennywise69]

Underated 🤣🤣

[@geniusforlife3932]

Really have been waiting for this!!

[@ethanarcher8239]

After this video I started playing chess and it’s one of the few things that really engage me, and I haven’t lost a chess game yet out of 15 games

[@andrewbreeden4027]

He’s done such a fantastic job of making Chess so much more accessible and mainstream, love this guy

[@manterloger9913]

The last time I was this early Hiko still played cs

[@Alexander-iq6bc]

INHUMAN REACTIONS!

[@plasmakitten4261]

that meme of math appearing around a person's face describes hikaru's entire existence perfectly and tbh every other GM out there too

[@jerichobenamer5446]

I've been waiting for this at this channel, finally🤩

[@xPqnda]

hikaru is such a chill dude. i respect him so much and wish him the best in his career

[@queensforever7498]

The clip of Hikaru going thru a series of moves and thrn just castles always has me dying

[@dumme5146]

I haven’t even finished the intro yet and I’m already smiling :). Love it!

[@mayankpm9417]

They removed the part where Magnus Carlsen calls him decent lol

[@admin7958]

Everyone else on the internet was playing checkers, Hikaru was playing chess.

[@WuvPain]

2:30 is the most melodramatic shit ever. 1500 years of chess and him playing with streamers is what shook it up the most 😂

[@crovax17]

I think he did more for chess then anyone ever has. As far as Intriguing people to play. He is a legend

[@branman49]

Looking from the outside in, it just seems like Hikaru is the villain you don't want to win, but ends up winning. And in my eyes, he doesn't seem like a villain at all.

[@botondlipka4665]

12:27 what you didn't show there is that hikaru premoved that entire game, that's why he was laughing, not just because he won

[@pet3r387]

That was edited btw not a real game.

[@Nexpeon]

@@pet3r387 it wasn’t a real game against magnus however it was a real game against mizkif, to which he said to him “I premoved all those moves so I already planned them” he wasn’t saying it to chat but mizkif

[@Nexpeon]

@Anna Svidler Hikaru could actually probably win against magnus, he’s done it before.

[@Nexpeon]

@Anna Svidler the way you said it would be he hasn’t one against him once as you said “Hikaru can’t win against magnus”

[@Cowtymsmiesznego]

@Anna Svidler Hikaru won full matches and tournaments against Magnus in the past. Yes, Magnus is better in every format (maybe except bullet where it's really close) - but he's definitely beatable. As for that clip, pre-moving the entire game like that is impossible regardless of who's playing. It being Hikaru vs Magnus with borrowed clips makes it funny (and highlights their not-so-dead-serious rivalry), but it's completely obvious that it's fake.

[@argonaut8560]

In the words of magnus carlsen ehmmpfm *"decent"*

[@rodrigodonascimentonunes3739]

At 5:00 they cut Magnus quote “decent” about Hikaru

[@trocustar3450]

Yes

[@totalhysteria]

lol bullet, unpredictable, weird, sharp, wild, aggressive, tricky. You could use the same words to describe Adam Lanza 😂

[@Blight1]

Sucks too because decent was the best comment, not because because Magnus meant Hikaru is only "decent" but to joke about their rivalry. Hikaru (and recently Wesley So) are the only people that really compete with Magnus in speed chess at this point.

[@DefinitelyNotaRower]

12:27 he wasn't actually playing Magnus in that clip xD

[@yonandojohan751]

Pure meme 🤣

[@yashs9502]

Yeah I think they should have actually clear it that it was a meme without context I find it a bit disrespectful

[@RandoSando]

The way they showed that without context kind of portrayed Hikaru a bit off. Just.. clarify the clip man.. smh

yeah so toxic and people think hikaru is chess god

[@jfan3049]

@ this is just a clip of hikaru looking at memes in his subreddit, nothing toxic about it. This channel using it out of context is a little disrespectful but thats it

[@ajmercado4128]

what i like about his content is that he is not just some random stranger. he's a super gm, one of the best out there. No better way to introduce the game than to have the skills to back it up. imo.

[@alexg3041]

9:57 Incomimg Mate in 1 while encouraging the opponent, Hikaru you are a beast😂

[@SDZ675]

He's doing great work, sharing his passion with people that aren't professionally in chess.

[@dmdm232323]

And it is in this video that theScore esports fails to account for agadmator as a major influential force in bringing chess back into the limelight, particularly online

[@ten_cents]

Obviously a lot of people helped in bringing back chess. This is just to center then documentary around the focus point, which is Hikaru.

[@ThePikeOfDestiny]

it is the story of hikaru and what he contributed to, not the whole story of the chess renaissance, that would probably have to be quite a lot longer than 15 minutes

[@pumaxDace]

i love agadmator but come on you cant compare him to hikaru

[@chessmasters9012]

@@pumaxDace why? agadmator had a much bigger influence

[@jetlee2644]

11:50 How can someone dislike him. I don't understand. Super charismatic guy. Always fun to watch.

[@kairegelean7551]

You know Hikaru made it when he's featured on an esports channel

[@gameguy1389]

for me, he made it a long time ago. when he got a title at age 10 then at age 15. sure its mediocre at international level but for us normal guys those recognitions at a local level is huge enough.

[@gameguy1389]

no hate. u just make it sound like life is meaningless until only at youtube famous level. 😂

[@dappy8116]

I mean he's already made it when he was a lot younger. But I guess in terms of the internet sides of chess he most definitely did

[@totalhysteria]

I guess you could say he made it in terms of fame and succees outside the chess bubble.

[@divagaciones1628]

Well isn't chess basically an esport now?

[@nickc3213]

Awesome video. I loved Queens Gambit, one of my favorite shows in the last year. Of course when I was a child my dad loved chess, so I tried playing. Even came to the school to play against other talented kids, learning I wasn't good at all and stopped playing lol. I do have a love for the game and would have a lot better understanding today than I did as a kid. Thanks for the info, I love learning about people like this.

[@ImperialBeachStoner]

Last time I came this early, my second child was born.

[@Linosek279]

This implies two very specific things, and I don’t like either of them

[@blankness8]

@@Linosek279 I'm really stupid lol, can you explain the two? Ik one (pretty obvious) but cannot for the life of me figure out the other one

[@Linosek279]

@@blankness8 Pregnancy sex

[@Linosek279]

@@blankness8 VERY late pregnancy sex

[@blankness8]

@@Linosek279 ahhhhhhh...thank you.

[@carljoshuadeveza702]

I was just watching this guy before this upload. What a great man.

[@eddiewawa]

I'm sure it's not only me that anticipates the Magnus "decent" burn clip.... Lol

[@joshuastephen9283]

When the shot of Old Mill Station and Pearson Airport remind you this is a Canadian channel... Keep up the great work, fellow Canucks!

[@erois6190]

The "villain" of chess chose the "villain" of Twitch as his protege.

[@user-vt7nv1od7b]

8:10 "Its more durable. It has more quality than a banana so why can't I sell this mouse for 200k dollars" Hahaha

[@KiraAsakura14]

"There's no time for fun and games." *uses the Bongcloud in official tournaments.*

[@GetBackYT]

what a wholesome video

[@orfeas2244]

Even the score has a Hikaru story

[@elielhedberg6515]

Have been waiting for this so long. TY

[@ardanpermana9536]

IMO, all that money talk from Benjamin is actually just pure envy

[@thonk7611]

i havent seen the context, but ben talks in 42069% sarcasm so im not sure

[@optimchs1]

@@thonk7611 I'm actually quite a fan of finegold, but he's rather well known to be a bit of a chess elitist and snob. If you watch his streams he's kinda got that salty old man demeanor haha

[@soakedbearrd]

@@thonk7611 yeah that’s true, he extremely sarcastic and actually pretty funny, but I can only take him in doses.

[@factory_enslavement]

I'm 100% sure that you never watched him You only saw the Critikal video regarding him

[@edwinwongso4257]

I mean, Ben was right

[@Dredgno]

Love that you guys are covering this!

[@bigchunk1]

"I don't know what's going on i'm just going to castle." LOL Man I love this guy.

[@malachi697]

as someone who doesn't know chess but got exposed to hikaru through ludwig, say what you want, but hikaru really spreads chess through interacting with big mainstream streamers (like xqc). because he collaborated with big gamer streamers, it brought chess to their viewers (like me) and then all of a sudden, chess gets recommended on youtube and you fall down the chess rabbit hole, whether slightly or deeply. he's a key person in spreading chess, and it works. otherwise my feed wouldn't even have chess on it. plus the fact that he's a gm and continues to blow people's minds really helps. like this dude will explain a position and i'll understand it but also be lost at the same time, it's great. he knows how to be educational and relaxed at the same time, this dude thrives in his niche. it's great to see.

[@yaknightooo5544]

4:49 THEY REMOVE DECENT FROM Carlsen

[@charliep726]

Dude I watch u alot in the past few years and never knew any of this stuff bro ur a legend

[@Narfu1]

Whoever thought of that title is a genius, nice job

[@Hollowdude15]

I knew chess can be so nice and amazing video man :]

[@AeroLMS]

It's good to see Chess getting all the recognition that it deserves

[@kabirjain9831]

Wasn't expecting this! keep it up man. You deserve respect

[@renz7910]

Where's the "decent" by Magnus Carlsen.

[@Markoshirzadapool]

Hikaru : I can also trade , take and take and if it takes I take it takes takes takes Queen E2 Queen H4 G3 Knight G3 Check C6 Queen B7 Knight H1 King there ! I don't know what's going on im just going to castle ! Me : I DO NOT KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON EITHER SO IM JUST GOING TO SAY CASTLING IS BEST OPTION !

[@joshuachan1731]

0:57 is the best moment in this entire video.

[@StephenSweat]

Guys, you are doing an incredible job upping your production values. Been watching for a few years now - pretty great to see your progression from few couple guys talking CS:GO (my main watch) to expanding into other esports and gaming topics. Keep it up!

[@vamu6272]

Wow, I wasn't expecting A Story Of a Chess God...

[@isakkarlstrm1419]

He is No chess god at all

[@GB_Monster]

@@ym276 he won scc

[@miomip]

Great video, I didn't even realize that I had hit the end before the thanks for watching message came up.

[@milotarik9208]

I was waiting they pulled Hikaru's knee injury, then he was given chess board by his brother.

Make some for Magnus, as he won the MOST money in 2020 in all ESPORTS and he is the current WC inall formats

[@krisztiandobos8644]

It doesn't matter... He literally doesn't even care!

[@misty_gg]

The clip where he is wearing Barca’s unicef kit instantly gives him my respect

[@keyshaoksanto]

Weebs (including me): "Hikaru is socialized cheerfull version of Souya Touji"

[@eRusty95]

Hope to see more videos presented in this way. I really enjoyed the format.

[@aaronchif]

If i ever play Hikaru (i won’t) and he gives me a "free pawn" I ain’t taking it.

[@dalocus3116]

I only found out about this guy few weeks ago. Now i play chess daily. Such an inspiring video. 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[@arfank199]

I hope we get the Story of the Botez Sisters next

[@chrysafisstamoudis9850]

Who in their right mind dislikes Nakamura?! I'm a mediocre chess player, even so I've dedicated a great many hours of my life studying, playing tournaments etc, and I have 1 thing to say... The vast majority of chess players are totally like that Finegold character was saying ... "If you are not good enough, they just ignore you". And this vid put it greatly .. "Hikaru was approachable". Yeah man .... I mean ... great ! He's a super-GM, one the the wordls best and he is approachable! Best news EVER for chess. Keep it up both you and Hikaru!

[@alex2005z]

He is known to be very narcisistic and toxic, this aint news. No hate on him streaming chess tho

[@darryl_daniel]

As a huge chess fan, I very much appreciate this.

[@niceteal]

I am fuckin psyched for this mainstream chess renaissance. I know chess never actually stopped being popular but it's definitely exploded since Queen's Gambit.

[@ShaunInce123]

I was hoping you'd do a story on Hikaru. He is a big part of the chess boom that happened in 2020.

[@MrEstebandido51]

Good video and professional as always!

[@andrew4462]

Why is there a random dramatic coronavirus clip spliced in? Mb. I didn't finish the video before I went to the comment section. But neither did all the people who upvoted this.

[@gavindiaz1]

I guess because the initial chess boom can be attributed to everyone having to quarantine

[@JusRed48]

A large reason of 2020 Chess popularity on Twitch was because people were looking for games to play together in quarantine. Other games like Fall Guys and Among Us also had these instances of timing where it's hard to say if they would've seen the same success outside of the pandemic.

[@ShaunInce123]

Like the others said, the game blew up during quarantine.

[@frozenthrone1060]

isn't it because of Queen's Gambit? I'm pretty sure if there is no Queen's Gambit or show related to chess last year it wouldn't have been this successful.

[@leadpoison7877]

@@frozenthrone1060 no, XQC and many other popular streamer participated in tournaments online before that came out

[@jnplnrvl9581]

YO.... Hikaru actually made me play chess with just watching 3-5 videos on his channel. I never saw myself playing chess. in fact, I really hated chess. nothing could have made me play it even if my life depended on it. But somehow Hikaru got me hooked and now im practicing everyday; although not much. like 2-4 games a day maybe less with strangers online

[@sava3786]

i love hikaru he actually explains the moves in the way that i myself as a non chess person can understand what's happening

[@jinku77]

Great video for a legend like Hikaru. It is good that chess is regaining popularity and interest.