never wrong, just early

They manufactured the Magnus vs Hikaru "rivalry" so well Hikaru believed it.

Hikaru doesn’t care. He doesn't care at all. He doesn’t care that he’s even willing to blunder at the Candidates.

Cant believe they gave hikaru the wrong happy meal toy, totally ruined his whole flow from that point on.

"This is 100% on the people I have working for me and definitely not my fault as the person playing the tournament."

bro is allergic to humble pie

Hikaru probably betting on polymarket on his loss with that blunder against Wei Yi haha

Hikaru's #1 hater is back at it again and I'm all here for it.

that summer hikaru died

You shouldn't diss the Louisiana State Champion.

opponent castles
Hikaru, a chess grandmaster: I didn't prepare a line where someone would do such a thing

It’s so crazy to blame the people doing prep for him because they didn’t prep him for the most common king move in chess.

I'm glad you pointed out that this "exploitation" of the rules is not really an ethical issue, it's just that FIDE rules suck and enable players like Hikaru being so overrated in the first place.

you’re 3000 Elo in hating, i need to step up my hating game too

Not a Niemann fan, but his take is absolutely correct; practice being just 2 games for the most volatile tournament in high level chess only 2 weeks before said event is awful preparation at best.

It's no surprise he struggled against the best players in the world, who were not just far more dedicated to opening prep, but also more consistently grinding serious events to stay in form

Throwing his team under the bus for his loss. Truly the pinnacle of sportsmanship.

Seeing a grandmaster show up to tournaments largely composed of children not for a charity make-a-wish style event or to show off prodigies, but just to crush them so he can more easily qualify for a different tournament, is fucking hilarious in the worst way.

1:45 you know you're cooked when even the caster says you just made a mistake

A lot of chess fans (alongside players like Hikaru himself, lol) criticized the fact that the qualification process for the Candidates allowed players like Bluebaum or Esipenko, much lower rated than the rest of the field, to get in the tournament, but at the end of the day, they actually showed up to the major chess tournaments of the cycle - the Grand Swiss and the World Cup - and showed they deserved their qualification at the Candidates by beating players like Keymer, Pragg or Erigaisi, even if they were obvious underdogs.
But also, importantly - they stayed classy. I cannot imagine a single player at the Candidates aside from Hikaru putting the blame for their losses on their seconds in public. Hikaru would've gotten much less flack for his underperformance if he wasn't insufferable.

and the award for the best sportsperson goes to Hikaru for throwing his team under the bus to hide his utter incompetence. YAY, what a champ he is!!