The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024 has started in Toronto, Canada, and the world’s most famous chess streamer GM Hikaru Nakamura is one of the players competing for a chance to challenge Ding Liren for the World Chess Champion title.
In the pre-tournament interview, Nakamura spoke about his expectations from the event, his preparation for it, the pressure, and what would it mean to him if he gets to play the World Chess Championship.
Answering the question how he balances streaming and playing, Hikaru explained that he doesn’t generally prepare like he was when he was playing professionally, but added that he prepares for the tournaments he play. “First and foremost, I am a streamer first. Creating content is what I do to earn a living, and playing chess is somewhat secondary. One of the big advantages is that I don’t play tournaments as frequently as I once did. So because of that, perhaps there is no that much time that has to be spent on studying and preparation. I play less tournaments, but I try to prepare for the ones I do compete in. And I seem to do pretty reasonably well“, said Nakamura.
Hikaru further disclosed that he doesn’t feel any pressure about the Candidates Tournament adding that becoming a World Champion, the influence would be minor compared to his content creation: “I don’t feel any pressure with this tournament. I think if I were to win it it’s nice and fine, but the fact of the matter is if I were to become World Champion the reach or the influence of that is so minor compared to what I’ve done through streaming content creation. So let’s just say I’ve reached five million people through all my online content, being World Champion will reach a small fraction of that“.
Interestingly, Nakamura’s final preparation for the Candidates Tournament was a victory in the Early Titled Tuesday. The complete interview with Hikaru Nakamura at the Candidates can be seen below.
