Candidates chess 2024: Of players eating their own hair and a streamer and podcaster battling it out for a draw

Hikaru Nakamura is not a man lacking in confidence. Even by modern-day devil-may-care athlete standards, Nakamura is someone who reminds you of a cross between Bobby Fischer, Muhammad Ali and Joe Rogan, the UFC commentator.

The Candidates is the most important tournament of the year for almost all of the 16 players at Toronto. But for Nakamura it’s almost like one of those things he does to get more eyeballs for his primary job: chess streaming.

“I’m a streamer first, creating content is what I do to earn a living. Playing chess is somewhat secondary,” Nakamura declared in an interview with FIDE before the event started.

Round one | Highlights #FIDECandidates pic.twitter.com/VnThSil8zn

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 5, 2024

“I don’t feel any pressure with this tournament. If I win, nice and fine. Fact of the matter is if I become world champion, the reach or influence of that is so minor compared to what I have done via streaming or content creation. I just found another path (streaming), that for better or worse is far more lucrative and makes it a lot easier to enjoy chess,” he added.

Not surprisingly, within hours of his draw against Fabiano Caruana in the first round, Nakamura had posted a 15-minute analysis video on his handles.

In it, he broke down his out-of-textbook move to advance his pawn to e5 on the fifth move, which caused a few eyebrows to be raised.

He himself called the ploy a “dubious” move. At the press conference, while analysing his game with Caruana — a battle someone on social media branded as a contest between a streamer and a podcaster, as Caruana is a host of a very popular podcast — Nakamura admitted that his unconventional choices of moves had even frustrated his trainers occasionally.

But on his own stream, he said that he was trying to make the game interesting for his core audience.

“Fabiano was quite surprised by my opening because according to classical theory, this is considered dubious. And why would anyone in their right mind want to play something dubious in an opening at such an important tournament with everything on the line. If you lose, you might ruin your chances of winning the tournament. For a player like myself who focuses on content creation for you guys, the fans out there, I’m here (at the Candidates) to have fun. I want to play exciting chess. I definitely want to play something that isn’t super boring. So it was a calculated risk, a gamble that Fabi wasn’t ready for,” he reasoned.

The first round of the #FIDECandidates starts with the ceremonial first move by the event sponsor Isai Scheinberg in the game between 🇺🇸Fabiano Caruana and 🇺🇸Hikaru Nakamura.

The Scheinberg family is a long-term partner of FIDE. The cooperation that started a few years ago has… pic.twitter.com/C6VwnfOAYv

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 4, 2024

While players like Magnus Carlsen have picked Caruana and Nakamura as the favourites, both players have a very different approach to the sport. Caruana complained at the post-game press conference about the size of the playing hall and said that the spectators who could watch them playing from a standing gallery one floor above had the potential to disrupt the concentration of players, especially when they were contemplating critical moves.

Meanwhile, Nakamura, a man who loves the audience’s attention, shrugged off the inconvenience.

At the last Candidates tournament, both players had been left jolted after Carlsen refused to defend his World Championship crown, which meant that Ding Liren was asked to take his place in the World Championship against Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi since the Chinese GM had finished second.

Nakamura who was in contention to finish second till the last game of the tournament said he was sore about the missed opportunity for about an hour. Then he just moved on. He recollected how he had seen a shellshocked Caruana having dinner that same night with his entourage, still struggling to come to terms with the fact that there were two spots available from the Candidates, meaning he didn’t need to go for broke in previous rounds.

At the Candidates tournament, the organisers have placed cameras facing the players at board level which Viswanathan Anand described as “looking at a player from the e4-and-a-half square”. But in terms of capturing the inner turmoil of players in the heat of the battle, the cameras have been a stellar addition to the drama.

In Round 1 these cameras captured the usual suspects Nakamura and Nepo making faces as they contemplated positions.

After seven of the eight games in the first round had ended with the ceasefire being agreed upon, China’s Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi were battling on for what would be the only decisive result of the night.

As Tan tightened the screws on Lei’s king, almost cornering him, the inscrutable mask on Lei’s face started to slip.

Chess players don’t often show their emotions in a way tennis players can by vandalising their own racquets or a footballer can by taking off their jersey. But with her position on the board seeming more and more untenable, Lei started to get visibly frustrated at having allowed the game get away from her. She eventually started pulling her hair (literally!) into her mouth.

But with her position on the board seeming more and more untenable, Lei started to get visibly frustrated at having allowed the game get away from her. She eventually started pulling her hair (literally!) into her mouth. (FIDE broadcast screenshot)

“You can see she understands what’s happened,” said Anand, who was doing commentary for FIDE.

“Oh, she’s not happy. When you start eating your hair, that’s not a good sign,” remarked Irina Krush, who was commentating with Anand.

Lei eventually lost.

Abasov injures himself

Nijat Abasov, ranked 114 in the world, is the only man rated in the 2600s, while the rest of the seven players are over 2700 in ratings (Caruana is rated 2803). While Abasov has been listed as a rank underdog at the event, he managed to play out a draw against Nepomniachtchi, who, in the past, had won his opening games both times when he played at the Candidates before this.

Nijat Abasov: “I didn’t expect Ian to play this opening; I had a goal to keep it solid. It is the first game, and I didn’t want to play sharp or dynamic. A draw was a fine result for me.” #FIDECandidates

Watch the interview 👇
🔗 https://t.co/zlzdMLPPeQ
📷 Michal Walusza pic.twitter.com/STvuUPOcTp

— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) April 4, 2024

For Abasov, this was as good a result as a win, considering his rating disadvantage and how terrible his prep had been coming into the event: he has a cast on his leg.

“Everyone told me that I should work on my physical shape for the Candidates. So I did. I played a football match and as a result I tore my ACL. I underwent surgery a month ago. I started walking only last week,” said the grandmaster from Azerbaijan.

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