Chess GM Magnus Carlsen arrives late to Hikaru match in most awkward way
Instagram: magnus_carlsenNorwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen had everyone laughing when he arrived late to a Twitch stream shirtless as the clock on his turn began to tick down.
Magnus Carlsen is a successful chess player who in 2013 became the world’s second youngest chess player to win a world championship at the age of 22, utilizing his remarkable memory and positional style of play to smash the competition. He also has over 300k followers on Instagram, proving to be a very popular player.
His competitor for this match, Hikaru Nakamura, became the youngest American to win the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15, and even himself has a large Twitch following of over 500,000.
Naturally there was a sense of anticipation for this round, as both players are so highly decorated that the match promised to be equally suspenseful and fascinating viewing.
Instagram: MagnusCarlsenHowever, once the game had started players and announcers alike looked baffled when all there was on Magnus’ screen was an empty chair, despite the fact that the clock on this turn had already begun to count down.
“This is a little bit odd,” the announcer said. “I mean, do you think maybe he got confused? Remember a couple days ago we were starting at 3 minutes after the hour.”
“That’s hard to imagine though because he’s been playing five days like this,” she continued.
With a perfect sense of timing, Magnus surprised viewers when he peered into the frame shirtless. He quickly ducks out of frame again, and returns with only one button up, eager to make up for lost time and finish his round.
“He lost track of time! He’s throwing on a shirt. Don’t worry I’m sure that’s not going to be screen-grabbed by anyone.” Another said “I gotta say, gents, talk about relaxed.”
Hikaru looked on with a mixture of frustration and bemusement as Magnus darted back and forth from his chair in various states of undress.
It was certainly a bizarre way to start off the game, but after waiting for an odd among of time for him to appear it gave everyone a good chuckle (except maybe Hikaru.)