‘[He’s] completely out of his mind for saying this’: Hikaru on xQc’s response to Magnus Carlsen’s statement on cheating allegations

In a Tweet yesterday, Magnus Carlsen officially accused Hans Niemann of cheating during their chess match at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, and in response, top Twitch streamer xQc called out the reigning World Chess Champion, claiming he is causing “irreparable damage.” Following this, chess grandmaster and fellow streamer Hikaru Nakamura had some choice words for the Twitch star.

A little under a month ago, chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer Hans Niemann defeated one of the greatest chess players in the world, Magnus Carlsen, at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. This caused a wave of drama after Carlsen chose to withdraw from the event following his loss. Then, two weeks later, Carlsen resigned from his match against Niemann at the Julius Baer Generation Cup after playing only one move, creating even more tension within the chess community.

The drama building between Carlsen and Niemann finally culminated yesterday with a Tweet from Carlsen directly accusing the grandmaster of cheating during their match earlier this month. Popular Twitch streamer xQc replied to this Tweet, seemingly claiming that Carlsen’s accusations are without factual evidence and are causing “irreparable damage” to Niemann.

“HE CHEATED! BELIEVE ME! LET ME CAUSE IRREPERABLE DAMAGE BECAUSE I WANT TO!” xQc wrote, along with a GIF that reads “My source is that I made it the fuck up.”

While streaming live on Twitch, xQc’s reply was brought to the attention of chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, and the chess prodigy didn’t hold back in his opinion on the matter.

“I really don’t, I don’t like this. Of course, xQc is completely out of his mind to say this. Maybe now he’ll want to jump on like a five-hour call and we can yell at each other about it,” Nakamura said. “At the end of the day, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and this is just insane to put this Tweet out there. I mean, I don’t know, maybe he’s trying to stir up drama and start something else but yeah, he literally is clueless on this topic and I don’t know why he felt the need to put this out.”

Along with his opinion that xQc is “clueless” on the matter, Nakamura also states that xQc is “not right” in regards to the situation involving Carlsen, seeming to plant himself in the camp that believes Niemann cheated during his match at the Sinquefield Cup.

Neither xQc nor Carlsen has responded to Nakamura’s comments about the Twitch star’s Twitter reply as of yet.