Nakamura expresses disappointment with Grandmasters in the Candidates Tournament due to lack of content.
Hikaru Nakamura has been giving a barrage of hot takes these past couple of days as we enter the Candidates Tournament phase. From his laid back attitude in chasing the world champion title to now urging his peers to create content, Nakamura constantly manage to stir up discussions. But his recent take on content creation among pros are not quite digested well by the community.
"Don't complain about [chess] conditions and prize funds if you're not going to do anything about it." - Hikaru Nakamura
Nakamura is the only prominent content creator among the world's top chess Grandmasters with millions of followers across the web. He consistently creates content both on Twitch and YouTube. During the significant Candidates Tournament, Nakamura continues to deliver to his audience, publishing daily recaps.
However, his peers in the Candidates Tournament is not so keen on creating content. Hikaru Nakamura directly expressed his disappointment at the lack of content from Grandmasters in the event .
"It's very disappointing that Fabiano or maybe some of the Indians aren't doing [YouTube] recaps. Would be nice if other players did this because it's possible to explain what's going on in the games without giving away preparation."
In a follow-up interview, Nakamura clarified that he doesn't think players have to create content. However they can't complain about the condition of chess tournaments if they are not doing anything to change it. This implies that if the players in the Candidates Tournament starts streaming and making content on their chess matches, Nakamura believes it can increase the conditions of competitive chess.
I don't think the players have to [create content], but just don't complain about conditions, don't complain about prize funds if you're not going to do anything about it.
Related articles
Naroditsky responds to Nakamura's statements
Popular chess commentator, Daniel Naroditsky, then called out Hikaru Nakamura for his bold statements. He called out Nakamura's indifference to the world champion title and his recent talk about YouTube recaps as a mechanism.
"I will call [Hikaru] out and say the whole 'I don't really care about this tournament, all I care about is making the recap vids' - that's just a mechanism. If it helps him manage his pressure levels, I'm all for it. I don't think anyone thinks that's actually the case!" Naroditsky stated.
Hikaru Nakamura is one of the favorites entering FIDE Candidates Tournament, but he has been struggling in the early phase of the event. Nakamura suffered a shocking loss on white against Vidit Gujrathi, knocking his points below other candidates. He currently holds 1.5 points and stands behind R Pragg, Fabiano Caruana, Gukesh Dommaraju, and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Keep up with the Candidates Tournament pairings and results on esports.gg!
