Hikaru Nakamura

World's No. 2, streamer

“A media career is more important to me than classical chess. Nothing’s going to change my view on that. Perhaps if I were to win the Candidates and win a World Championship match, maybe that could change some things.

But in general, if I’m being blunt, the amount of impact I’ve had being able to reach so many people over the internet vastly outweighs anything that I can accomplish personally at this point in my career.

If I look at a couple of the kids very specifically — players like Faustino Oro or Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus — these are players who are going to be great in the future, who knows if they’ll compete for World Championships. But I do know that during the pandemic times, you go back four or five years, they were players who were watching my streams or watching my chess content, and I think they’re players who look up to me.

Having that kind of impact on the next generation, or even casual fans, is far more important than personal accomplishments.”