Published: 2024-04-05T19:49:18 ❘ Updated: 2024-04-05T19:49:29
Chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer Hikaru Nakamura says that being World Champion will only bring a fraction of the influence he has as a content creator.
Hikaru is extremely confident as he competes at the FIDE Candidates World Chess Championship in Toronto, saying pressure has become a “foreign concept” for him.
In his interview with Charlize van Zyl, Hikaru explained that he is a streamer first and a professional player second – something that may give him a mental edge.
According to the chess icon, many people “misunderstand” content creation and that most streamers are smart and “very little” of it is the act of creating drama.
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“For me, I don’t feel any pressure in this tournament. If I win it then that’s great and fine, but the fact of the matter is if I become world champion the impact or influence of that is very small compared to what I’ve done through through streaming and content creation,” he said.
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“If I reach, say, five million people through my online content, becoming world champion will only reach a fraction of that,” he added. “That’s not confidence. I found another path that, for better or worse, is more lucrative and it makes actually enjoying chess a lot easier.”
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Hikaru goes on to note that before the world’s health problems, he kept playing the same people over and over again, and chess became boring. But now that he’s a content creator, he enjoys the game more, and at competitions, it’s like he’s “playing for house money.”
“I just play, try to do well and that’s it. I think there are players who are under more pressure than others, but for me, I don’t really think about those things because it’s not a big deal for me. I know some people won’t like me saying that, but it’s the truth.”
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The 2024 World Chess Championship is underway with a huge prize pool of €500,000.
Categories: Entertainment
Source: c3kienthuyhp.edu.vn
