Samuel Feinberg Chess || A Tribute to GM Hikaru Nakamura

Samuel Feinberg Chess || A factfile about GM Hikaru

ONE DAY IN May, chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura was watching the last two moves of Felix "xQc" Lengyel's online chess game. Ever-patient, Nakamura had been mentoring Lengyel, a top Twitch streamer and former Overwatch pro, on his chess journey since April. Despite fan and viewer criticism that Lengyel wasn't very good, Nakamura believed that his pupil had talent. Streaming himself watching Lengyel's match, Nakamura analyzed the board for his viewers. "The guy has one move here." Then, more doubtful: "He's not gonna take with the rook and make a stalemate...?"

After a millisecond more mental math, Lengyel did just that. He hadn't seen the winning move. Lengyel's viewers completely lost it in his Twitch chat: "STALEMATE," "SO BAD," "you had checkmate," and a barrage of Pepe the Frog and Omegalul emotes. Not yet realizing his mistake, Lengyel said, "GG?," or "good game?". His eyes shift back and forth, still unsure. Nakamura, silent, stared at the ceiling. The viral clip viewers created of that moment is titled "Talent."

Nakamura is a five-time US chess champion. At age 15, he was the youngest-ever American prodigy to earn the "grandmaster" title. He helped the US win a gold medal at the 2016 chess Olympiad and, to this day, remains among the top 20 chess players in the world. But since the pandemic has paused over-board, or IRL, tournaments, Nakamura has magicked his life as a chess pro into a full-time gig streaming and commentating on chess on Twitch.

In March, when he first started streaming in earnest, an average of 2,000 people tuned in live to watch Nakamura. As quarantine intensified, that number jumped to 18,000. Now his fanbase has grown to 366,000 followers. And as his fivehead chess plays and genius-guy stunts have attracted the notice of the most popular streamers on Twitch, they've sought him out to learn the 1,500-year-old game—in turn bolstering its notoriety, and Nakamura's, among gamers. Chess is having a watershed moment on Twitch, a platform known for clutch Counter-Strike plays and Call of Duty pop-offs. As a category, its popularity has grown six times over since March.