GM Hikaru strikes back at chess cheating accusations with “insane” win streak
YouTube/GMHikaruChess legend GM Hikaru Nakamura has responded to Vladimir Kramnik’s cheating allegations by going on a wild win streak that has the community in awe.
Hikaru went on an impressive hot streak earlier this month, winning fifteen games straight to break the all-time Chess.com blitz rating record, but not everyone was happy for the Kick streamer.
Following the impressive accomplishment, Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik suggested that Hikaru had cheated. Hikaru denied the allegations, calling them “garbage,” but that didn’t stop the world’s top player, Magnus Carlson, from roasting his rival on social media.
However, instead of simply continuing to dismiss the claims, Hikaru went on the offensive, returning to blitz chess with an incredible 43-game win streak. Needless to say, the community was blown away.
GM Hikaru goes on the offensive amid chess cheating allegations
Hikaru’s November 23 streak began on Kick.com, where he had signed a non-exclusive deal, and he didn’t disappoint.
The GM started winning and kept winning and just didn’t stop winning, with his stream getting the attention of popular chess YouTuber GothamChess who called the streak “insane.”
“Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura has just won 43 blitz chess games in a row, live on stream… he is clearly sending a message regarding the recent comments from Vladimir Kramnik,” he praised.
Users in the comments were equally as baffled, but many spoke highly of Nakamura while taking aim at Kramnik for starting the rumors to begin with.
“Kramnik has gone off the rails,” one said.
“I hope Hikaru uses this as motivation to finally win his first over the board World Blitz gold medal,” someone else remarked.
I hope Hikaru uses this as motivation to finally win his first over the board World Blitz gold medal.
— Frank Smith (@chessandsuccess) November 23, 2023
That said, not everyone was as delighted, with a few users even under the impression that this stunt added to the cheating speculation.
“I love hikaru but there’s literally no way he clearly cheats rn,” a user commented. “He keeps playing the same people over and over and they are not on his level. This is like Kevin Durant playing one on one against college players and people being shocked that he wins every game.”
So far, there hasn’t been any proof offered indicating that Hikaru has cheated in any capacity, but this is hardly the first time a chess cheating scandal has rocked the community.
Last year, Hans Niemann was accused of using an adult toy to cheat in an over-the-board tournament and defeat Magnus Carlsen.