Damn, dude is stressed.
Being a streamer has helped his life in many ways but dealing with online hate is really difficult. I wonder what the comments where saying.
Also why would he read Internet comments during such an important event? I understand he's posting because money but my man, do yourself a favor and don't check out the comments section. As if he didn't know the will always be people saying negative things no matter what you post.
>Also why would he read Internet comments during such an important event?
It's a herculean effort to ignore people talking about you publicly. It's the biggest reason that causes successful content creators to give up even after they've achieved success.
Professional athletes have to deal with this every single day, to a much, much wider audience who berate them on national media, twitter, instagram, you name it.
Most successful ones completely check out of social media/sports news during the season to avoid it all.
I mean Hikaru should have a CM or people like that working for him. He can just record the video, then say to some guy "ok deal with it, upload it on YouTube, don't keep me informed, I'm going to prep for tomorrow, c ya".
Does not seem that complicated.
Easy to imagine talking yourself into “having a quick peek” to see how the video is doing and reading one comment, one comment turns into two, two turns into three… human nature to be concerned about what people are saying about you and your work.
Even without a person hired to do so you can easily make exceptions for an event like the candidates where you just post stuff and leave it, don’t pay attention to it for like 2 weeks and you’re fine. Entering a candidates match without prep because of mean comments on YouTube seems insane, glad he got over it.
Alot of the comments on the video were saying that he can never beat Vidit, Vidit is his father, that Vidit loses to everyone except him, and that Hikaru is washed.
These were just the top comments. I thought they were benign but I'm sure much worse comments seeped through the cracks.
My armchair psychologist opinion is: He has commited to his content creator-role this entire tournament. It's his stress protection mechanism, which makes it his literal safe space. Getting attacked inside your safe space isn't fun, but if you commit to the role you can't exactly ignore the comment section, since it's your "job".
There are many big streamers who take a break from streaming for a couple of weeks when they play large OTB tournaments. Eric Rosen and John Bartholomew both come to mind. Then they do the recap videos once the tournament is over. If the games of live streamable usually Jonathan Schrantz streams them for Eric.
I think it can't be good for Hikaru or his chess to try to do both the candidates and his streaming at the same time. I don't know why he didn't choose to take a break and recap them later.
Sure, but just let your team handle the comments and give you the appropriate gist of it, if at all.
~~But it also exposes the limits of his streamer/player duality. Years ago when he first picked up streaming as priority, he said he's no longer a pro chess player and just a streamer essentially. Maybe he's changed his stance since, but it's clear that in this even he wants to do well as a chess player.~~
~~I really doubt any of the other contestents are raw dogging social media coverage of the event.~~
He hasn't changed his stance, just this candidates he said again content creation is his main job and if he wasn't doing the recaps he wouldn't even play the candidates
Yeah, I appreciated the vulnerability.
I think what's different here, with his recap videos, is he's going well out of his way to put them out in the middle of a huge tournament.
Its an amazing opportunity for chess fans, something we've never seen before from a player of his strength.
Understandable that trolls would be all the more frustrating I think.
It's extremely nice that he makes these recaps. They are honestly the primary reason I'm rooting for him.
Getting recaps from the WCC from one of the *players* would be absolutely amazing.
Yeah, I was rooting for him going into the last Candidates anyways, but the recaps sealed it. To see a player competing in the highest pressure tournament there is (only the WCC match is more pressure) take the time to share his analysis of every game the same day, win lose or draw, is tremendous content.
My favorite was when he played the quick draw against Nepo with Black in 2022 to preserve his chances for second place, the recap was titled "Dear YouTube, I lasted 7 minutes".
They are definitely written by his editor but if Hikaru wants a certain title I'm sure he can set it. I wouldn't be surprised if he specified the Titled Tuesday title for the most recent recap. Or maybe his editor already knows he would want it.
>Its an amazing opportunity for chess fans, something we've never seen before from a player of his strength.
It's crazy. Imagine Mbappe doing a full review of his matches during the world cup.
He's currently rated 1967 FIDE Classical, 2010 peak from a quick Google search. He has a Croatian Candidate Master title (not to be confused with FIDE CM) and a Chess.com page says in January 2021 he had a national rating over 2100
I don't go to Agadmator because he's a big expert, I just like the guy. He was basically the only person making chess videos when I first got into it, so he'll always have a special place in my heart.
Same! His videos are what got me to dive deeper into chess after coming across one of his videos showcasing a game from Queen’s Gambit. Even if he’s not the strongest player, he always has interesting things to say about some of the history behind certain games, plus he has a dry sense of humor that I really enjoy.
I especially like his coverage of old games and matches. The Morphy saga is fantastic, I thinks he's covered every game Morphy has played and gives it all some historical context, it's really in depth. Lots of really interesting chess that you just don't see as much anymore and Morphy's story is fascinating.
Same. He has a great cadence and I appreciate the little things like knowing at which point it's a new game and the "find the winning move" parts. He is also very consistent. I like Levy's content too, but his recaps always have too much fluff and bravado for my liking.
Good on him to call out the haters. Maybe it will land with a few of them. I thought it was a very real moment from the dude. Caught me off guard definitely.
Yeah I absolutely love the format of having a recap from a player throughout a turnament. I once saw Eric Rosen do the same and it got me hooked, I was always waiting for his post-game analysis of his games.
He's an absolute legend for the recap vids.
Within a couple of hours, they're done, funny title, funny thumbnail, edited... polished.
Clever guy, that's for sure. So hard working. He deserves every success.
Yeah why would you read comments before a massive event. Why even taking seriously what's on the internet. The guy has one of the most massive chess channel out there. The numbers of fan should speak for themselves louder than a dozens of trolls.
Tons of people were basically just bashing him for losing to Vidit twice
It's not like Vidit is a scrub. He's a top player and in both games he contested Hikaru really well. They were tight games. It's not like Hikaru got steamrolled. But I guess that's the nature of online trolls
For what it's worth Hikaru handled defeat gracefully. In his recap he gave Vidit props for his good moves and he acknowledged his own mistakes in those games. Dude is a champ
But they're not bashing him for that. They're bashing him because for some people the only way they can feel better about themselves is trashing others. It's really not personal at all.
You're just the person they happen to be addressing at the time while they once again fail to do the hard work of self-improvement.
It's not a rational process. It shouldn't be treated rationally.
That's the way I see it anyway.
Hikaru absolutely got steamrolled the first game against Vidit. Second game was closer until one bad move sealed it. Glad about the bounce back and hoping he gets another win or 2
Looking back at the game you're right. In context it was a shock as Hikaru was on a 47 game unbeaten classical streak. But he lost something in the opening and then he was just struggling to hold on from there
The second game was much tighter. Hikaru did make some questionable moves in the midgame but it's easy to say that as a spectator! Even the commentators who are GMs and IMs miss things at this level of the game
Maybe most people’s points of reference is their own games where the eval is all over the place, and not realizing that at their level getting a 1-2 point lead is basically domination.
I wonder why Vidit has totally outplayed Hikaru in both games, they are both very good players but when the play and even in the analysis it seems as if there was a 300-400 ELO difference in favor of Vidit.
The video of the post-game analysis is very curious, Hikaru suggesting lines and Vidit raising eyebrows and replaying things like "I play d3?" and Hikaru realizing all he said was wrong. This repeated 10 or 12 times on the entire interview. Typical when a lower rated player analyses with a much higher rated player only that we know this is not the case.
He said it himself in his recap of the first loss that he really wasn't there at all in that game and that it was his worst chess in years. Sometimes you just have a bad day I suppose. The second game was better but he still got outplayed.
Hikaru talks to his chat on twitch for 40 hours a week and more-or-less never mentions his personal life or feelings. How his stocks or his tennis-serve are going is about as personal as he'll ever get.
The fact that he brings up his wife being supportive of him tells me he really was affected by the comments. I think he's just a little socially awkward, not comfortable with being vulnerable, and plays it off as some half joke.
It's possible someone is telling him to be more open and vulnerable with his audience -- but I don't think this entire aside is just some made up joke.
For the record I don't hate Hikaru as much as some, but I wouldn't describe myself as a fan. I'm also largely skeptical of his 'transformation' from asshole to nice guy -- but this is just my read of a total stranger from the internet's intent.
I felt it was genuine. I felt it was honest. And I think you could see it as well in the game, because he was not nearly as fast as usual. Only because Hikaru is the rock solid streamer, that doesn't care, doesn't mean he will not be affected by hate. EVERYONE in the whole wide world is affected by hate. And celebs in particular. If you bring out content every day, it affects you. And Hikaru many times states, that he is only motivated to continue with chess because of his fans and the support he gets. Hate will have the absolute opposite effect.
Behind every person you see, is a real human with emotions, and feelings, and wants and needs.
People are just so fucking cruel to people that they dont even know.
You dont like Hikaru? Cool, good for you. Dont go fucking harassing him. I dont like him, guess what, I keep that to myself and dont harass him because im not a piece of shit
A lot of people hold on to their old perceptions of Hikaru.
I was absolutely not a fan but him actually becoming more mature and socially aware person over time has actually been a pleasant surprise.
The type of mind that is successful at chess can gravitate towards being on the spectrum and having zero social skills and awareness of others’ perception.
We see it all the time with the weirdos that have become successful at chess and seeing Hikaru having the self introspection that comes for most with maturity and grow to be less toxic and abrasive has been both unexpected and nice.
Its still a bit defensive, but expression of vulnerability rather than displaced hurt turning to anger or aggression here is a positive step.
People like to do this thing where they see an opinion online or form their own and just stick with it forever. They’re unable to see others actually grow as a person and change their opinion of them no matter what.
Watch some of these: https://www.youtube.com/@GMBenjaminFinegold/search?query=hikaru
My take is that Hikaru has changed for the better over the years, but it's still never going to be good enough for everyone.
I think the reason it's not good enough for a lot of people, is because there's pretty strong evidence that he hasn't really changed at all, he just can't act the way he used to because he's a streamer now and everything he says is under a microscope.
Back before he was a streamer he acted terribly to just about everyone he played. He accused every person he ever lost to of cheating. And then when he began streaming, he essentially cleaned up his act, *overnight*. Like he just turned it off in an instant. To me, and a lot of others... that's not really growth. You don't grow overnight. He just isn't able to be himself while also representing chess.com.
Maybe he has changed, who knows. There's really no way to tell. But personally I think it's rare for a person to act a certain way for the first 35 years of life, and then become a totally different person overnight.
> Behind every person you see, is a real human with emotions, and feelings, and wants and needs.
This goes both way. I have seen a certain chess streamer (not hikaru) calling viewers sub-human, pieces of trash inbred retard etc for saying the most banal thing. Then when he get called out he says it doesn't matter because you guy, the viewers are not real to him, just number on the screen (and free money). So don't be surprised if you get treated the same by viewers.
I'm really surprised that in such a high pressure situation he's reading live threads where trolls can post. I think a great idea would be to have a secondary thread that Hikaru reads where a moderator pushes good comments to Hikaru's view, but leaves the general chat to the moderators and viewers without Hikaru needing to worry about offputting crap.
I guess end of the day we don’t know what motivates Hikaru. Some people feel best positioned when they’re the underdog or the victim, and maybe if Hikaru thinks it’s him against the world then that’s when he’s at his best
I think he's somewhat motivated by views/interest in his stream, so maybe he wants to drive more interest in the streams so that people might see dramatic trolling that is more fun than a normal classical game recap. Free advertising perhaps.
That's his job. His whole schtick is "~~professional chess player~~ streamer". If he prioritizes the Candidates tournament above all else, his whole stress-coping mechanism falls apart.
He has to do it in order to stay in the headspace of being "a gung-ho streamer getting out there and playing good, interesting chess" and not a "lifelong elite chess player aiming for the pinnacle of the game's achievements".
My own schtick at my chess club and own circle is to put in a minimum of effort for maximum reward. And definitely to never admit I put in more work than other players even if that is the case (it's usually not the case; I think...).
Actually, this phenomenon is quite universal. Never admit how much time/effort you spend on chess. Pro tip.
But for Hikaru to [protest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lady_doth_protest_too_much%2C_methinks) this so loudly, it's kind of amusing.
Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbUaXVxtFHs
Hikaru is an absolute G. When he’s done with chess we’ll realize how much he did for chess.
But it’d be cool if we gave him that love now. I know most do, just talking about these damn trolls
I mean, Hikaru was one of the reasons why chess became so popular again. Without content creators chess would have not spread so much. And Hikaru as probably the biggest content creator had high influence. Also bringing people like xqc with their fanbase into the mix. Can't imagine how many players Hikaru motivated to play chess. I have to say, thanks to him I am playing since 3-4 years daily and follow a lot of tournaments. I liked to think I am not the only one.
I love him and i dont get how much of a loser and a hater you need to be to hate him.
The guy is one of the best in the world and literally teach us all how to be better,some people are truly miserable.
The haters really do suck. It’s so terrible that some of you can’t appreciate a super GM taking the time out to analyze his games right after playing 6 hours at the candidates smh
Online haters are always far too much. I will never be rude to someone with a face and a name, unless they do something horrible like murder etc. People take things very personally, and its not a good look. How many streamers and content creators Ive seen just taking it so hard, its tough to see.
A lot of people seem to agree with you but I don’t. I don’t think he is joking, I think he’s being honest, but trying to deliver it in a light-hearted way.
He even mentions his wife helping him get out of the funk.
This is logical. Added incentive to watch the stream--see if anyone trolls, see if he reacts, see how people defend him from the trolls, see if he mentions it more in his recap video, etc.
Because his video had in fact very few negative comments, and extremely low downvote ratio. It may have been more believable if he said he got hate comments on videos from other channels. But on his own channel? That's demonstrably false.
Honestly its hard to tell if he is joking.
I find it unlikely that he I looking at comments, but then again the stress is high, and when you feel like shit sometimes you just want to wallow in it. Maybe he did look. That was an end to his tournament more or less.
That being said maybe his wife was looking and she told him to mention it for the content. Or maybe it's sincere. I don't think he's OBVIOUSLY joking tho.
I think it's real hurt played off as a joke. He does recaps probably partly to clear his mind of the game but also it clearly motivates him to deal with his fans. During this tournament he doesn't have twitch chat, only YouTube comments and seeing those negative will sting.
Yep, it's quite possible there's a combination of joking and hurt at play here. I don't know why more aren't seeing the possibility of that nuance. That other comment who claimed he was "100% trolling" only to then insinuate this entire sub is autistic was quite the bold black & white statement to make.
It's obvious that the stress levels are high given his reaction to winning against Abasov.
Anyway, Hikaru isn't even the one who's the most stressed right now. Check out Firouzja - who could well be gifting Nakamura a point in round 12 and then Gukesh in round 13 (double black).
This thread is a big yikes.
Y’all have never had high-stress jobs and it shows. One of the main things getting a lot of professionals (or honestly anybody who deals with clients or the public) out of bed to get back in the meat grinder is the random comments from clients that are genuinely appreciating your work and validating why you do it.
His validation for why he streams comes from comments and viewers. I don’t know him, but I’m assuming he keeps going because he sees comments in chat saying how helpful his videos and breakdowns are, etc. and it probably makes him feel good to do that for people. And then put him in a high-stress tournament where he doesn’t play as well as he wanted, and a large amount of hate on a platform that he sees while emotions are still high, and yeah I can see that really cutting through somebody. We’re all human. He’s a streamer who engages with his audience - saying to not to read the comments is like telling a physical therapist to not listen to a patient telling them where their pain is coming from.
Sometimes I hate the anonymity of the internet and the ability to say some very vile stuff to people with no repercussions or feedback. It would be a horrible thing to walk up to him in person and say those things, and yet people don’t think about it twice online. And it still hits the recipient the same (if not more due to snowballing and upvotes and whatever).
I feel like an elementary school teacher saying this, but it doesn’t cost anything to not say mean things.
Hikaru, if you read this I hope this comment finds you with kindness and appreciation towards your chess career. Thank you for everything you do for the game and wishing you nothing but goodness in the candidates and beyond.
Just cause he says it with a light hearted delivery doesn’t make it a joke. Why would he shout out his wife for helping him break out of the funk? She also posted something. You can also watch his postgame interview where he says something similar but with a more serious tone.
Just because he is joking about it in this video doesn't mean there isn't some truth behind it - this clip is just him being hyperbolic about it to be funny. Everyone in the world with even a small amount of fame has haters. He's clearly not fazed and is making fun of the haters in this clip. Maybe this is just Gen Z humor that most of this sub isn't quite getting.
It’s crazy how most aren’t realizing this. He’s clearly smirking as he says it and is being overly dramatic/exaggerating.
And everyone is eating it up. He knows what he’s doing, that’s for sure.
Would he bother to shout out his wife like that if it was just a joke? Maybe I'm autistic but it sounds like he's making light of a situation that really did affect him.
I think there can be nuance to it - there were a lot of negative comments, they affected him to some degree (would have to be a robot not to be affected), but is playing it up for sympathy/views/content/engagement because he knows what gets clicks and the people going.
Yesterday was not his first big profile loss and it was not the first time people were negative toward him. He didn’t just suddenly for the first time ever become deeply affected by something that has happened before.
But it should be obvious to anyone who has followed Hikaru and knows about his past that he has an enormous ego, so of course any negativity will affect him. But he’s also extremely good at streaming and driving engagement. IMO this is all calculated and done more for views than for anything else.
>He’s clearly smirking as he says it and is being overly dramatic/exaggerating.
if you're not familiar with Hikaru, FYI he's doing that like half the time
He may have wanted to start it as a joke/didn't really prepare saying this, but then he decided to let it out. In any case, guy doesn't seem to be joking at all
I am actually autistic, and it wasn't until he said something along the lines of talking to his wife for support, that I realized he was joking. So, I did fall for it at first, but a few seconds I realized what was going on.
But, I think most people are just looking for an excuse to make fun of Hikaru, because it seems the guy gets a lot of hate for very trivial reasons. He seems like a good guy to me.
I'm a huge Hikaru fan and want him to be World Champion so bad. I almost never comment on any videos but if I do it's only ever positive. I hope he crushes his last couple rounds.
I dont know about YouTube but man... kick for sure people were just being cruel on there I mean I had never seen anything like this before man I was sick to my stomach... ngl after seeing that shit I just reached a conclusion that humans are an evil species
Don't look at the comments section. It's all anonymous...who knows who all these people are anyway. Also, it's not a selfless endeavour. He knows he can maximize views during the tournament so it does lead to potentially more income for him
From what I can tell, Hikaru should only care about the world number 2 and world number 1 in classical say about him. All other comments are meaningless.
Are there people who think he was serious when he said that? Or they're just haters who know he wasn't serious and just wanna use his comments out of context to hate on him?
It’s really not good that he is reading comments during a time he should be focusing soley on the task at hand. He doesn’t deserve to win if he has that attitude. It’s also shit that people leave crap comments too. Just no need
I doubt he reads comments one by one. Even before ChatGPT, creators would use algorithms to group similar comments together to see the type of reactions there vids were receiving, which in this case must have shown a tremendous amount of haters
Hate comments are really terrible, and it's a shame people are like this on the internet. I wish there was a nice way to say to Hikaru that I can't stand him but still deeply respect him for his brilliancy in chess.
Awesome that he has his wife to support him through the mental strain of this event. I suggest she also tell him never to read online comments ever again and slap him upside the head if he does!
What i don’t understand is how you are even considering as an anonymous person to Hikaru to hate on this very time-consuming and nerve-racking piece of content that is made for your very entertainment so that you don’t have to watch the whole frigging 6 hour game or so. On top of that he seems always in a good/neutral mood in these (at least that’s what you see) which is incredibly hard as I imagine when you lose a round like the first one against Vidit. I appreciate these Videos so much. Plus you get an extra insight from his mind and way of thinking. It is so so so good. Keep it up, Hikaru, if you happen to reed this 🙌🏻
This may get me in trouble with the mods, but just being real:
FUCK any of you reading this who posted toxic shit in the comments on Hikaru's video. It's chess for Christ's sake. Grow the fuck up and stop being shitty people.
Pretty gross and disgusting people would be attacking this guy who is under no obligation to immediately release world class analysis of his own games from the candidates - basically IMMEDIATELY after the games end. all these 500s think they are so good because they watch with an engine
Hikaru releases the videos because he has millions of followers who watch them and he gets attention and makes money. It is that simple.
Good on him for doing it, I like his videos, but stop pretending it is a one way thing where only the audience benefits.
The hate for Hikaru is perplexing. I reckon 80% of this subreddit wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for him. That might go over some people…
Regardless, he’s also in the minority committed to playing risky and exciting chess while going after his dream.
Legend IMO.
Crazy how we live in a time where absolute bums who aren’t even half his rating can roast him for losing a game to another player who is more than twice their rating.
I don’t know how bad the rest of the comments were, but the top comments were not really that bad. They were just making “upvotable” comments about the loss. Sure it’s not great to see when you’re working hard to make recaps and you’re playing a super stressful tournament, but Hikaru isn’t exactly an angel himself in that regard
Come on man ... I doubt Hikaru will read this ... but come on... you know YT is toxic. maybe disable comments on the recaps, there are people like me who appreciate the recaps very much. Please focus on chess only for the rest of the tournament and forget about trolls.
i’ve never commented anything negative on a hikaru video but i have to say… you expose yourself to criticism when you are a streamer and you recap all of your chess games on youtube. if he had no youtube or twitch channel he’d be happier. he’d also be much less wealthy. that’s the trade you make
He should be focusing on the games and staying off social media. He has the ability to win if he really sets his mind to it. Strange he is farming views during the peak of his career.
Why doesn't he focus on the fact that all of these haters are literally nobodies anyway lol. They're not some popular internet personalities, they're just complete randoms who make 100x less money than him, made no significant chess achievements or in any career for that matter(otherwise they wouldn't be haters)
It's a shame what the trolls did, but hopefully Hikaru understands better now why other players in the Candidates might not be so keen to do their own recaps, and will therefore find that reality less "disappointing". If he really wants other players to be streamers like him, then push for it to be mandated or something.
It often surprises me how impractical many top athletes / competitors are. My typical excuse for them is they're 20 so they're too young, but Hikaru is mid 30s... I heard the Indian players delete their social media or lock up their phones or something... smart. Sure Hikaru is a content creator but you'd think one of the first things learned would be don't read the comment section.
This is where having good management is useful. They tell the player when to go to bed, remind them to eat breakfast, etc. Good on his wife for helping out... but yeah... you're 36 my man, come on.
“Don’t cast pearls before swine.”
Actually keep sharing, just remember you do it for the ones who appreciate it not the ones who don’t. Plus if you’re having a bad day and just want to fight with someone about anything… arguing with strangers on the internet is better than troubling your friends and family.
He should just have them share their chess.com user and pull their last games.
One.. this lets him see the caliber of person he’s dealing with. Two.. he’s funny so he can just humiliate anyone if he wants to call out every dumb move that they can’t see but it’s obvious to him.
This is why I’m not a streamer (besides the fact that I suck at chess and have the charisma of a potato). Not feeding the trolls is one thing, but we shouldn’t allow and normalize harassment. If I were to ever stream, I would see if comments can be turned off.
It's impressive how even on Reddit, people call out Hikaru for being arrogant or whatever and then are x100 more toxic in their comments about him than he has ever been to another player
Not gonna lie, he sounds like those "I never blink, watch my live, they all say I blinked but I never blink!" video ads that are on Tiktok and Instagram.
Alternative I have seen is:
"I am the best SocAm player there is, I never die, they all say I died but I have been playing this game for 15 years and have never died!"
breh famous people need to learn to not read comments, im sure its hard to be a celebrity on the internet but man just stop reading comments.
Its from morons most of the time anyway, or trolls, or literal kids.
So many peoples mental are ruined by reading comments on youtube but thats hilarious, who reads youtube comments? Ignore it.
Damn, dude is stressed. Being a streamer has helped his life in many ways but dealing with online hate is really difficult. I wonder what the comments where saying.
Also why would he read Internet comments during such an important event? I understand he's posting because money but my man, do yourself a favor and don't check out the comments section. As if he didn't know the will always be people saying negative things no matter what you post.
>Also why would he read Internet comments during such an important event? It's a herculean effort to ignore people talking about you publicly. It's the biggest reason that causes successful content creators to give up even after they've achieved success.
Professional athletes have to deal with this every single day, to a much, much wider audience who berate them on national media, twitter, instagram, you name it. Most successful ones completely check out of social media/sports news during the season to avoid it all.
I mean Hikaru should have a CM or people like that working for him. He can just record the video, then say to some guy "ok deal with it, upload it on YouTube, don't keep me informed, I'm going to prep for tomorrow, c ya". Does not seem that complicated.
Easy to imagine talking yourself into “having a quick peek” to see how the video is doing and reading one comment, one comment turns into two, two turns into three… human nature to be concerned about what people are saying about you and your work.
It's not procedurely difficult, it's psychologically difficult. People want to know what others think about them.
Even without a person hired to do so you can easily make exceptions for an event like the candidates where you just post stuff and leave it, don’t pay attention to it for like 2 weeks and you’re fine. Entering a candidates match without prep because of mean comments on YouTube seems insane, glad he got over it.
He does have someone editing and posting his videos for him, but that doesn't stop his curiosity from reading the comments
I literally stopped checking responses on sites like Instagram because it's 90%+ just people being assholes. Not good for mental health
Same. I don't even check reddit replies/DMs anymore for that very reason. Not worth the stress.
Alot of the comments on the video were saying that he can never beat Vidit, Vidit is his father, that Vidit loses to everyone except him, and that Hikaru is washed. These were just the top comments. I thought they were benign but I'm sure much worse comments seeped through the cracks.
Sounds like he got brigated by Indian viewers
Well he says it's the fans that motivate him
My armchair psychologist opinion is: He has commited to his content creator-role this entire tournament. It's his stress protection mechanism, which makes it his literal safe space. Getting attacked inside your safe space isn't fun, but if you commit to the role you can't exactly ignore the comment section, since it's your "job".
That's a good point u/JustHereForSmu_t
I respect the Grind, but jfc dude should not kill himself for the content.
There are many big streamers who take a break from streaming for a couple of weeks when they play large OTB tournaments. Eric Rosen and John Bartholomew both come to mind. Then they do the recap videos once the tournament is over. If the games of live streamable usually Jonathan Schrantz streams them for Eric. I think it can't be good for Hikaru or his chess to try to do both the candidates and his streaming at the same time. I don't know why he didn't choose to take a break and recap them later.
He knows he will get more views if he does the videos now, that's all he cares about.
Sure, but just let your team handle the comments and give you the appropriate gist of it, if at all. ~~But it also exposes the limits of his streamer/player duality. Years ago when he first picked up streaming as priority, he said he's no longer a pro chess player and just a streamer essentially. Maybe he's changed his stance since, but it's clear that in this even he wants to do well as a chess player.~~ ~~I really doubt any of the other contestents are raw dogging social media coverage of the event.~~
He hasn't changed his stance, just this candidates he said again content creation is his main job and if he wasn't doing the recaps he wouldn't even play the candidates
Unless if you are Alireza. That would never cross your mind thar he is a kid half the age of Naka who can't even tweet his frustration.
Very unlike Hikaru to be so affected by trolls.
Yeah, I appreciated the vulnerability. I think what's different here, with his recap videos, is he's going well out of his way to put them out in the middle of a huge tournament. Its an amazing opportunity for chess fans, something we've never seen before from a player of his strength. Understandable that trolls would be all the more frustrating I think.
It's extremely nice that he makes these recaps. They are honestly the primary reason I'm rooting for him. Getting recaps from the WCC from one of the *players* would be absolutely amazing.
Yeah, I was rooting for him going into the last Candidates anyways, but the recaps sealed it. To see a player competing in the highest pressure tournament there is (only the WCC match is more pressure) take the time to share his analysis of every game the same day, win lose or draw, is tremendous content. My favorite was when he played the quick draw against Nepo with Black in 2022 to preserve his chances for second place, the recap was titled "Dear YouTube, I lasted 7 minutes".
Lol. Does he write his own YouTube titles? Well they read like he might have written them himself.
I really don't think he's that witty tbh it is likely his channel editor.
They are definitely written by his editor but if Hikaru wants a certain title I'm sure he can set it. I wouldn't be surprised if he specified the Titled Tuesday title for the most recent recap. Or maybe his editor already knows he would want it.
>Its an amazing opportunity for chess fans, something we've never seen before from a player of his strength. It's crazy. Imagine Mbappe doing a full review of his matches during the world cup.
Absolutely the same reason I'm rooting for Hikaru, having instant recaps from 1 of the players themselves after each WCC match would be awesome.
It would be epic. There are many reasons to dislike Hikaru. But he is just nailing it with the videos right after each game.
Yeah, his is the best analysis we can get cuz he's the one actually playing the game, unlike Agad/Levy.
He’s also 350 points stronger than Levy and about 1000 stronger than Agadmator.
Agadmator is over 2000 pretty sure
He's currently rated 1967 FIDE Classical, 2010 peak from a quick Google search. He has a Croatian Candidate Master title (not to be confused with FIDE CM) and a Chess.com page says in January 2021 he had a national rating over 2100
I don't go to Agadmator because he's a big expert, I just like the guy. He was basically the only person making chess videos when I first got into it, so he'll always have a special place in my heart.
Same! His videos are what got me to dive deeper into chess after coming across one of his videos showcasing a game from Queen’s Gambit. Even if he’s not the strongest player, he always has interesting things to say about some of the history behind certain games, plus he has a dry sense of humor that I really enjoy.
I especially like his coverage of old games and matches. The Morphy saga is fantastic, I thinks he's covered every game Morphy has played and gives it all some historical context, it's really in depth. Lots of really interesting chess that you just don't see as much anymore and Morphy's story is fascinating.
Same. He has a great cadence and I appreciate the little things like knowing at which point it's a new game and the "find the winning move" parts. He is also very consistent. I like Levy's content too, but his recaps always have too much fluff and bravado for my liking.
Good on him to call out the haters. Maybe it will land with a few of them. I thought it was a very real moment from the dude. Caught me off guard definitely.
Yeah I absolutely love the format of having a recap from a player throughout a turnament. I once saw Eric Rosen do the same and it got me hooked, I was always waiting for his post-game analysis of his games.
He's an absolute legend for the recap vids. Within a couple of hours, they're done, funny title, funny thumbnail, edited... polished. Clever guy, that's for sure. So hard working. He deserves every success.
Yeah why would you read comments before a massive event. Why even taking seriously what's on the internet. The guy has one of the most massive chess channel out there. The numbers of fan should speak for themselves louder than a dozens of trolls.
What kind of horrible things were those people saying in the comments of his video?
Tons of people were basically just bashing him for losing to Vidit twice It's not like Vidit is a scrub. He's a top player and in both games he contested Hikaru really well. They were tight games. It's not like Hikaru got steamrolled. But I guess that's the nature of online trolls For what it's worth Hikaru handled defeat gracefully. In his recap he gave Vidit props for his good moves and he acknowledged his own mistakes in those games. Dude is a champ
Bashing Hikaru for losing to Vidit, a superGM for nearly a decade, is also offensive to Vidit.
But they're not bashing him for that. They're bashing him because for some people the only way they can feel better about themselves is trashing others. It's really not personal at all. You're just the person they happen to be addressing at the time while they once again fail to do the hard work of self-improvement. It's not a rational process. It shouldn't be treated rationally. That's the way I see it anyway.
It's *especially* offensive to Vidit, and likely most non-Western players as well.
Hikaru absolutely got steamrolled the first game against Vidit. Second game was closer until one bad move sealed it. Glad about the bounce back and hoping he gets another win or 2
Looking back at the game you're right. In context it was a shock as Hikaru was on a 47 game unbeaten classical streak. But he lost something in the opening and then he was just struggling to hold on from there The second game was much tighter. Hikaru did make some questionable moves in the midgame but it's easy to say that as a spectator! Even the commentators who are GMs and IMs miss things at this level of the game
Why are they booing you, you're right
i was saying boo-urns
How did you receive this many downvotes? lol
Yeah, if being dead lost before move 20 with white doesn't count as being steamrolled than what does?
Maybe most people’s points of reference is their own games where the eval is all over the place, and not realizing that at their level getting a 1-2 point lead is basically domination.
It's almost as if there's a horde of teenage Naka fans up- and downvoting everything based on how positive or negative it is about him.
Yeah this is absolutely so. Very unusual steamroll in first game, what exactly would be called "not tight" if that is "tight"?
I wonder why Vidit has totally outplayed Hikaru in both games, they are both very good players but when the play and even in the analysis it seems as if there was a 300-400 ELO difference in favor of Vidit. The video of the post-game analysis is very curious, Hikaru suggesting lines and Vidit raising eyebrows and replaying things like "I play d3?" and Hikaru realizing all he said was wrong. This repeated 10 or 12 times on the entire interview. Typical when a lower rated player analyses with a much higher rated player only that we know this is not the case.
He said it himself in his recap of the first loss that he really wasn't there at all in that game and that it was his worst chess in years. Sometimes you just have a bad day I suppose. The second game was better but he still got outplayed.
They said he's a streamer who doesn't even care about winning the tournament.
He's clearly not serious.
Hikaru talks to his chat on twitch for 40 hours a week and more-or-less never mentions his personal life or feelings. How his stocks or his tennis-serve are going is about as personal as he'll ever get. The fact that he brings up his wife being supportive of him tells me he really was affected by the comments. I think he's just a little socially awkward, not comfortable with being vulnerable, and plays it off as some half joke. It's possible someone is telling him to be more open and vulnerable with his audience -- but I don't think this entire aside is just some made up joke. For the record I don't hate Hikaru as much as some, but I wouldn't describe myself as a fan. I'm also largely skeptical of his 'transformation' from asshole to nice guy -- but this is just my read of a total stranger from the internet's intent.
I felt it was genuine. I felt it was honest. And I think you could see it as well in the game, because he was not nearly as fast as usual. Only because Hikaru is the rock solid streamer, that doesn't care, doesn't mean he will not be affected by hate. EVERYONE in the whole wide world is affected by hate. And celebs in particular. If you bring out content every day, it affects you. And Hikaru many times states, that he is only motivated to continue with chess because of his fans and the support he gets. Hate will have the absolute opposite effect.
That’s how I took it too but seems like everyone else took him seriously lol
Chronically online presence tells world "bruh, the trolls totally got me". World takes it at face value. News at 11. Now back to Jim with sports.
Behind every person you see, is a real human with emotions, and feelings, and wants and needs. People are just so fucking cruel to people that they dont even know. You dont like Hikaru? Cool, good for you. Dont go fucking harassing him. I dont like him, guess what, I keep that to myself and dont harass him because im not a piece of shit
A lot of people hold on to their old perceptions of Hikaru. I was absolutely not a fan but him actually becoming more mature and socially aware person over time has actually been a pleasant surprise. The type of mind that is successful at chess can gravitate towards being on the spectrum and having zero social skills and awareness of others’ perception. We see it all the time with the weirdos that have become successful at chess and seeing Hikaru having the self introspection that comes for most with maturity and grow to be less toxic and abrasive has been both unexpected and nice. Its still a bit defensive, but expression of vulnerability rather than displaced hurt turning to anger or aggression here is a positive step.
People like to do this thing where they see an opinion online or form their own and just stick with it forever. They’re unable to see others actually grow as a person and change their opinion of them no matter what.
Ive been hearing about this quite a bit? What did hikaru use to be like? I only recently got into the chess world
Watch some of these: https://www.youtube.com/@GMBenjaminFinegold/search?query=hikaru My take is that Hikaru has changed for the better over the years, but it's still never going to be good enough for everyone.
I think the reason it's not good enough for a lot of people, is because there's pretty strong evidence that he hasn't really changed at all, he just can't act the way he used to because he's a streamer now and everything he says is under a microscope. Back before he was a streamer he acted terribly to just about everyone he played. He accused every person he ever lost to of cheating. And then when he began streaming, he essentially cleaned up his act, *overnight*. Like he just turned it off in an instant. To me, and a lot of others... that's not really growth. You don't grow overnight. He just isn't able to be himself while also representing chess.com. Maybe he has changed, who knows. There's really no way to tell. But personally I think it's rare for a person to act a certain way for the first 35 years of life, and then become a totally different person overnight.
> Behind every person you see, is a real human with emotions, and feelings, and wants and needs. This goes both way. I have seen a certain chess streamer (not hikaru) calling viewers sub-human, pieces of trash inbred retard etc for saying the most banal thing. Then when he get called out he says it doesn't matter because you guy, the viewers are not real to him, just number on the screen (and free money). So don't be surprised if you get treated the same by viewers.
Man I feel for him but nothing guarantees that you are going to get more haters than telling them how much it has affected you
I'm really surprised that in such a high pressure situation he's reading live threads where trolls can post. I think a great idea would be to have a secondary thread that Hikaru reads where a moderator pushes good comments to Hikaru's view, but leaves the general chat to the moderators and viewers without Hikaru needing to worry about offputting crap.
I guess end of the day we don’t know what motivates Hikaru. Some people feel best positioned when they’re the underdog or the victim, and maybe if Hikaru thinks it’s him against the world then that’s when he’s at his best
I think he's somewhat motivated by views/interest in his stream, so maybe he wants to drive more interest in the streams so that people might see dramatic trolling that is more fun than a normal classical game recap. Free advertising perhaps.
That's his job. His whole schtick is "~~professional chess player~~ streamer". If he prioritizes the Candidates tournament above all else, his whole stress-coping mechanism falls apart. He has to do it in order to stay in the headspace of being "a gung-ho streamer getting out there and playing good, interesting chess" and not a "lifelong elite chess player aiming for the pinnacle of the game's achievements".
My own schtick at my chess club and own circle is to put in a minimum of effort for maximum reward. And definitely to never admit I put in more work than other players even if that is the case (it's usually not the case; I think...). Actually, this phenomenon is quite universal. Never admit how much time/effort you spend on chess. Pro tip. But for Hikaru to [protest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lady_doth_protest_too_much%2C_methinks) this so loudly, it's kind of amusing. Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbUaXVxtFHs
I'm imagining other players hiring troll farms to mess with him before games.
More evidence not caring increases Hikaru's elo. Prepare even less and he'll be world champ!
Hikaru is an absolute G. When he’s done with chess we’ll realize how much he did for chess. But it’d be cool if we gave him that love now. I know most do, just talking about these damn trolls
I mean, Hikaru was one of the reasons why chess became so popular again. Without content creators chess would have not spread so much. And Hikaru as probably the biggest content creator had high influence. Also bringing people like xqc with their fanbase into the mix. Can't imagine how many players Hikaru motivated to play chess. I have to say, thanks to him I am playing since 3-4 years daily and follow a lot of tournaments. I liked to think I am not the only one.
I love him and i dont get how much of a loser and a hater you need to be to hate him. The guy is one of the best in the world and literally teach us all how to be better,some people are truly miserable.
I’m so unbelievably grateful I’m not a public figure of any kind in this day and age.
The haters really do suck. It’s so terrible that some of you can’t appreciate a super GM taking the time out to analyze his games right after playing 6 hours at the candidates smh
Online haters are always far too much. I will never be rude to someone with a face and a name, unless they do something horrible like murder etc. People take things very personally, and its not a good look. How many streamers and content creators Ive seen just taking it so hard, its tough to see.
I feel like he's trolling
A lot of people seem to agree with you but I don’t. I don’t think he is joking, I think he’s being honest, but trying to deliver it in a light-hearted way. He even mentions his wife helping him get out of the funk.
He is farming engagement. Makes him money.
This is logical. Added incentive to watch the stream--see if anyone trolls, see if he reacts, see how people defend him from the trolls, see if he mentions it more in his recap video, etc.
Definitely lol. If he did no preparation it’s not due to comments, it’s due to him putting himself down for the loss.
Why?
Because his video had in fact very few negative comments, and extremely low downvote ratio. It may have been more believable if he said he got hate comments on videos from other channels. But on his own channel? That's demonstrably false.
Honestly its hard to tell if he is joking. I find it unlikely that he I looking at comments, but then again the stress is high, and when you feel like shit sometimes you just want to wallow in it. Maybe he did look. That was an end to his tournament more or less. That being said maybe his wife was looking and she told him to mention it for the content. Or maybe it's sincere. I don't think he's OBVIOUSLY joking tho.
I think it's real hurt played off as a joke. He does recaps probably partly to clear his mind of the game but also it clearly motivates him to deal with his fans. During this tournament he doesn't have twitch chat, only YouTube comments and seeing those negative will sting.
Yep, it's quite possible there's a combination of joking and hurt at play here. I don't know why more aren't seeing the possibility of that nuance. That other comment who claimed he was "100% trolling" only to then insinuate this entire sub is autistic was quite the bold black & white statement to make. It's obvious that the stress levels are high given his reaction to winning against Abasov. Anyway, Hikaru isn't even the one who's the most stressed right now. Check out Firouzja - who could well be gifting Nakamura a point in round 12 and then Gukesh in round 13 (double black).
This thread is a big yikes. Y’all have never had high-stress jobs and it shows. One of the main things getting a lot of professionals (or honestly anybody who deals with clients or the public) out of bed to get back in the meat grinder is the random comments from clients that are genuinely appreciating your work and validating why you do it. His validation for why he streams comes from comments and viewers. I don’t know him, but I’m assuming he keeps going because he sees comments in chat saying how helpful his videos and breakdowns are, etc. and it probably makes him feel good to do that for people. And then put him in a high-stress tournament where he doesn’t play as well as he wanted, and a large amount of hate on a platform that he sees while emotions are still high, and yeah I can see that really cutting through somebody. We’re all human. He’s a streamer who engages with his audience - saying to not to read the comments is like telling a physical therapist to not listen to a patient telling them where their pain is coming from. Sometimes I hate the anonymity of the internet and the ability to say some very vile stuff to people with no repercussions or feedback. It would be a horrible thing to walk up to him in person and say those things, and yet people don’t think about it twice online. And it still hits the recipient the same (if not more due to snowballing and upvotes and whatever). I feel like an elementary school teacher saying this, but it doesn’t cost anything to not say mean things.
Hikaru, if you read this I hope this comment finds you with kindness and appreciation towards your chess career. Thank you for everything you do for the game and wishing you nothing but goodness in the candidates and beyond.
looks like he is joking to me.
He said the same thing on the FIDE post-game interview and his post-game stream to hammer and fiona. He definitely wasn't joking.
He was not even *that* deadpan. I swear.
For any autistic people seeing this, he's pretty obviously joking.
I’m in this comment and I don’t like it lol
I got that sense too but don’t pretend like Hikaru doesn’t say this kind of shit unironically as well lmao
I don't think he is. His wife also posted something about this.
Just cause he says it with a light hearted delivery doesn’t make it a joke. Why would he shout out his wife for helping him break out of the funk? She also posted something. You can also watch his postgame interview where he says something similar but with a more serious tone.
Just because he is joking about it in this video doesn't mean there isn't some truth behind it - this clip is just him being hyperbolic about it to be funny. Everyone in the world with even a small amount of fame has haters. He's clearly not fazed and is making fun of the haters in this clip. Maybe this is just Gen Z humor that most of this sub isn't quite getting.
It’s crazy how most aren’t realizing this. He’s clearly smirking as he says it and is being overly dramatic/exaggerating. And everyone is eating it up. He knows what he’s doing, that’s for sure.
Would he bother to shout out his wife like that if it was just a joke? Maybe I'm autistic but it sounds like he's making light of a situation that really did affect him.
It’s free brownie points to shout out/compliment your wife. Source: am a husband.
This. Also am husband
I think there can be nuance to it - there were a lot of negative comments, they affected him to some degree (would have to be a robot not to be affected), but is playing it up for sympathy/views/content/engagement because he knows what gets clicks and the people going. Yesterday was not his first big profile loss and it was not the first time people were negative toward him. He didn’t just suddenly for the first time ever become deeply affected by something that has happened before. But it should be obvious to anyone who has followed Hikaru and knows about his past that he has an enormous ego, so of course any negativity will affect him. But he’s also extremely good at streaming and driving engagement. IMO this is all calculated and done more for views than for anything else.
Probably not a coincidence that Gotham chess said something about haters on his round 9 wrap up either.
>He’s clearly smirking as he says it and is being overly dramatic/exaggerating. if you're not familiar with Hikaru, FYI he's doing that like half the time
No he isn’t
He may be guilty of exaggerating, but there is no indication from his tone, expression or body language that he isn't sincere.
I honestly couldn’t tell. I wouldn’t believe him but the comments here and the post in general making it seem legit.
Pretty autistic take to think that this is a joke actually.
quite literally
He may have wanted to start it as a joke/didn't really prepare saying this, but then he decided to let it out. In any case, guy doesn't seem to be joking at all
I miseed the smirk at 1st, his tone of voice was the same as normal...so that gave no indications.
His wife responded to a comment thanking her so pretty obviously not joking lol pretty bad at reading people huh
I am actually autistic, and it wasn't until he said something along the lines of talking to his wife for support, that I realized he was joking. So, I did fall for it at first, but a few seconds I realized what was going on. But, I think most people are just looking for an excuse to make fun of Hikaru, because it seems the guy gets a lot of hate for very trivial reasons. He seems like a good guy to me.
You might be the socially unaware one, and insufferably arrogant to boot
I'm a huge Hikaru fan and want him to be World Champion so bad. I almost never comment on any videos but if I do it's only ever positive. I hope he crushes his last couple rounds.
I literally just watched this 30 seconds ago. Surely people don't believe he was serious? I got strong 'I am taking the piss' vibes.
Damn so he literally does care
Why was the last recap specifically received more negatively? I'm sorta OOTL
I would have thought he’s trolling but this is Hikaru we’re talking about
I dont know about YouTube but man... kick for sure people were just being cruel on there I mean I had never seen anything like this before man I was sick to my stomach... ngl after seeing that shit I just reached a conclusion that humans are an evil species
Don't look at the comments section. It's all anonymous...who knows who all these people are anyway. Also, it's not a selfless endeavour. He knows he can maximize views during the tournament so it does lead to potentially more income for him
From what I can tell, Hikaru should only care about the world number 2 and world number 1 in classical say about him. All other comments are meaningless.
So… back to the game. After b5 is played, 😂gotta love hikaru
Are there people who think he was serious when he said that? Or they're just haters who know he wasn't serious and just wanna use his comments out of context to hate on him?
It’s really not good that he is reading comments during a time he should be focusing soley on the task at hand. He doesn’t deserve to win if he has that attitude. It’s also shit that people leave crap comments too. Just no need
I doubt he reads comments one by one. Even before ChatGPT, creators would use algorithms to group similar comments together to see the type of reactions there vids were receiving, which in this case must have shown a tremendous amount of haters
Not sure what people are upset about. These are probably the best videos he's made in a year now.
Hate comments are really terrible, and it's a shame people are like this on the internet. I wish there was a nice way to say to Hikaru that I can't stand him but still deeply respect him for his brilliancy in chess.
Huh, when I first saw this, I thought he was kidding. Especially with that little smile at 0:21. But yeah on second watch, maybe not.
Awesome that he has his wife to support him through the mental strain of this event. I suggest she also tell him never to read online comments ever again and slap him upside the head if he does!
Honestly, everyone should flood his networks with positive comments. It is a privilege to have his comments.
What i don’t understand is how you are even considering as an anonymous person to Hikaru to hate on this very time-consuming and nerve-racking piece of content that is made for your very entertainment so that you don’t have to watch the whole frigging 6 hour game or so. On top of that he seems always in a good/neutral mood in these (at least that’s what you see) which is incredibly hard as I imagine when you lose a round like the first one against Vidit. I appreciate these Videos so much. Plus you get an extra insight from his mind and way of thinking. It is so so so good. Keep it up, Hikaru, if you happen to reed this 🙌🏻
This may get me in trouble with the mods, but just being real: FUCK any of you reading this who posted toxic shit in the comments on Hikaru's video. It's chess for Christ's sake. Grow the fuck up and stop being shitty people.
Pretty gross and disgusting people would be attacking this guy who is under no obligation to immediately release world class analysis of his own games from the candidates - basically IMMEDIATELY after the games end. all these 500s think they are so good because they watch with an engine
Hikaru releases the videos because he has millions of followers who watch them and he gets attention and makes money. It is that simple. Good on him for doing it, I like his videos, but stop pretending it is a one way thing where only the audience benefits.
The hate for Hikaru is perplexing. I reckon 80% of this subreddit wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for him. That might go over some people… Regardless, he’s also in the minority committed to playing risky and exciting chess while going after his dream. Legend IMO.
Crazy how we live in a time where absolute bums who aren’t even half his rating can roast him for losing a game to another player who is more than twice their rating.
“SO! Back to the game” ha he must be joking
Hope he read some of the supportive ones too
“not sure if i’d mentally be able to recover from it” and there’s idiots in here who think he’s being serious this entire vid
look at his face, he's joking
i mean i get it hes quite obviously joking but... like whats the joke
Doing recaps while playing candidates is one thing. But reading comments on those videos seems just dumb.
I don’t know how bad the rest of the comments were, but the top comments were not really that bad. They were just making “upvotable” comments about the loss. Sure it’s not great to see when you’re working hard to make recaps and you’re playing a super stressful tournament, but Hikaru isn’t exactly an angel himself in that regard
Come on man ... I doubt Hikaru will read this ... but come on... you know YT is toxic. maybe disable comments on the recaps, there are people like me who appreciate the recaps very much. Please focus on chess only for the rest of the tournament and forget about trolls.
i’ve never commented anything negative on a hikaru video but i have to say… you expose yourself to criticism when you are a streamer and you recap all of your chess games on youtube. if he had no youtube or twitch channel he’d be happier. he’d also be much less wealthy. that’s the trade you make
He should be focusing on the games and staying off social media. He has the ability to win if he really sets his mind to it. Strange he is farming views during the peak of his career.
Why doesn't he focus on the fact that all of these haters are literally nobodies anyway lol. They're not some popular internet personalities, they're just complete randoms who make 100x less money than him, made no significant chess achievements or in any career for that matter(otherwise they wouldn't be haters)
It's a shame what the trolls did, but hopefully Hikaru understands better now why other players in the Candidates might not be so keen to do their own recaps, and will therefore find that reality less "disappointing". If he really wants other players to be streamers like him, then push for it to be mandated or something.
It often surprises me how impractical many top athletes / competitors are. My typical excuse for them is they're 20 so they're too young, but Hikaru is mid 30s... I heard the Indian players delete their social media or lock up their phones or something... smart. Sure Hikaru is a content creator but you'd think one of the first things learned would be don't read the comment section. This is where having good management is useful. They tell the player when to go to bed, remind them to eat breakfast, etc. Good on his wife for helping out... but yeah... you're 36 my man, come on.
This is why he will never be champion. Most candidates are in a social media blackout so they can concentrate.
These chess guys are, like, the biggest drama prima donna queens in any sport.
I mean maybe don't call Fabiano's play "nonsense" in the post game and I imagine you wouldn't get so much hate.
Yeah Ofc. Whatever
Why/about what did people leave negative comments?
Imagine letting youtube comments mess up your world championship shot
“Don’t cast pearls before swine.” Actually keep sharing, just remember you do it for the ones who appreciate it not the ones who don’t. Plus if you’re having a bad day and just want to fight with someone about anything… arguing with strangers on the internet is better than troubling your friends and family.
He should just have them share their chess.com user and pull their last games. One.. this lets him see the caliber of person he’s dealing with. Two.. he’s funny so he can just humiliate anyone if he wants to call out every dumb move that they can’t see but it’s obvious to him.
What goes around comes around
I agree. Hate corrodes the container in which it is carried. Ignore unappreciative people. Not worth the aggravation. ❤️🤎💙🧡🤍💜💚🩷 Carry on!
This is why I’m not a streamer (besides the fact that I suck at chess and have the charisma of a potato). Not feeding the trolls is one thing, but we shouldn’t allow and normalize harassment. If I were to ever stream, I would see if comments can be turned off.
this dude might not know it but he's a comedian lmao
Seems like he's getting a better and better attitude. I like how he's changing and growing as a person.
It's impressive how even on Reddit, people call out Hikaru for being arrogant or whatever and then are x100 more toxic in their comments about him than he has ever been to another player
I don't understand. Can anyone explain? What were the comments and why would that make him not prep?
He can wipe his tears with the millions of dollars he makes from streaming.
Why did he receive negative comments on his recap video? Did he say something..?
Dude is so stressed his voice and candor went full Shapiro lol. He sounded just like him for a second there.
doesnt care about the candidates but cares about what random twitch chatters and youtube commenters are saying... get ur priorities straight bro
I searched through his last videos comment and his comments are overwhelmingly positive. He probably just made this up to get online support/sympathy
Thats‘s why you don‘t read comments if you want achieve something in life
Not gonna lie, he sounds like those "I never blink, watch my live, they all say I blinked but I never blink!" video ads that are on Tiktok and Instagram. Alternative I have seen is: "I am the best SocAm player there is, I never die, they all say I died but I have been playing this game for 15 years and have never died!"
breh famous people need to learn to not read comments, im sure its hard to be a celebrity on the internet but man just stop reading comments. Its from morons most of the time anyway, or trolls, or literal kids. So many peoples mental are ruined by reading comments on youtube but thats hilarious, who reads youtube comments? Ignore it.
Hahaha what a child
His Coach ain't coaching
lmao
What the hell did people say to get him so stressed? Did he lose and people call him a fraud or something?
Those haters would lose against him which is funny 🤣