TSM Signs Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, Solidifying Chess As An Esport
Team SoloMid, more commonly known as TSM, are one of the biggest esports organisations in the world. What started out as a League of Legends guide and strategy site in 2009, quickly became one of the most recognisable names in the esports world. Specialising in PUBG, League of Legends, VALORANT, Fortnite: Battle Royale, and more, TSM have a lot of talented players at their helm, which makes them a force to be reckoned with in tournaments.
This is why the news that they had decided to sign a chess player took the internet by storm. Not only did TSM sign any chess player, they signed Hikaru Nakamura, one of the youngest players to have ever received the title of Chess Grandmaster.
At fifteen years old, Nakamura secured this title and only continued upward from there. He has won five US Championships so far, and has participated in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. Nakamura has also brought his chess technique and love for blitz chess to Twitch, where he has amassed over 500,000 subscribers.
Nakamura's chess videos are amongst some of the top-watched streams on Twitch, which has helped generate a newfound interest in the 'old' game. Chess has been resurging in popularity on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch, where the centuries-old strategy game is giving today's battle royales a bit of competition. Nakamura's streams are some of the most-watched chess streams on Twitch, and his channel ranks 45th out of all English channels, and 73rd on the whole platform.
His streams are so popular amongst Twitch users to his educational, entertaining approach to the game. Many chess enthusiasts echo that Nakamura has more enthusiasm than most people at his level do.
Click to enlargeHis genuine passion for the game gives his streams an educational feel, as he seems to genuinely want to teach his audience the magic of chess. Additionally, his expertise revolves around the game of blitz chess, which is chess on a time crunch. Moves must be made expertly in order to succeed at blitz chess, and with the time limit, many players find this playstyle challenging. Nakamura finds blitz chess exhilarating, and his chess career proves it. He ranks #4 on the FIDE rapid list and #1 on the FIDE blitz list.
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The skills Nakamura possesses and the speed at which he executes them were a big reason that the internet gravitated toward him. He experienced a resurgence in popularity over the course of the quarantine, where more and more viewers were tuning in to experience Nakamura's artful techniques and down-to-earth approach to the game. With real-life tournaments mostly suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Nakamura continued to challenge others online on websites such as Chess.com. He is one of the only chess players of his calibre to frequent the internet for chess matches, as it allows him to challenge others of all sorts of skillsets and backgrounds, not just tournament-goers.
All of these things put the signing of this legendary player into perspective. The world of esports is rapidly growing, where the quarantine has pushed the boundaries of what most people consider to be an esport. With real-world sports put on hold, popular sports teams and brands have been creating their own esports divisions and tournaments, from F1 to the NBA. Even Twitch added real-life sports to their list of stream categories, a decision that only broadened the definition of esports. Sports channels, with no real-life sports to broadcast, have been streaming esports tournaments to the general public, showcasing games like FIFA, Madden, and NBA 2K20.
It makes sense that a strategy game like chess could be considered an esport. With dozens of professionals streaming and playing online during the pandemic, it seems like a logical progression. Nakamura is one of the pioneers of chess as an esport, as his massive presence on Twitch and wholly entertaining streaming style caught the attention of major esports organisations, and then the world. Now, esports organisations can hardly stop talking about chess, as players and viewers alike wonder which chess prodigy will be signed next.
Nakamura was not the first chess player ever signed to an esports team, as a week prior to the TSM signing, Counterlogic Gaming signed WGM Qiyu Zhou. TSM's massive presence in the industry overshadowed this achievement, however, CLG's signing shows that other organisations are definitely interested in pursuing chess as an esport.
After Nakamura's signing a week after Zhou was signed by CLG, Cloud9 seized the opportunity to reach out to renowned chess player Magnus Carlsen. They directly contacted Carlsen on Twitter, which caused quite a bit of hype amongst fans.
Carlsen responded to Cloud9’s Tweet recently, but has not formally announced any ties to an esports organisation.
Until a formal answer is given as to whether or not Carlsen will sign with an organisation like his competitor did, the internet will continue to wait with bated breath.
TSM social media manager Dunc stated that there are more big signings to come in a post on Twitter, which has fans anxiously wondering who will take part in the next big signing.
Now that chess is an established esport, fans are wondering if it will be another chess player or someone different entirely. Fans also wonder what TSM has in store for Nakamura and his legendary blitz chess. Like the game of chess itself, fans are anxiously awaiting the next moves of these massive esports organisations, wondering which move will result in checkmate.
Images via TSM | Twitch