BREAKING NEWS! World class Super GM Hikaru Nakamura BANNED from Twitch

HI all

A breaking news story here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/tkaqiq/gm_hikaru_banned_from_twitch/

Key points in a nutshell

• Nakamura is the top Chess streamer on Twitch in terms of the number of unique subscribers and other variables
• Twitch banned a streamer called "Dr. Disrespect" which apparently resulted in a lawsuit
• The lawsuit was settled
• "Dr. Disrespect" is still banned from Twitch but now streams on Youtube instead
• Unfortunately, Nakamura showed content created by "Dr. Disrespect" - intentionally it seems because he indicated how ridiculous it would be to be banned for watching a chess game
• Nakamura is given a three-day ban by Twitch

In effect, Twitch has banned Nakamura for about 3 days it seems from Twitch for watching chess games of a banned Twitcher. This is a technical Twitch rule violation to be fair.

Key points about "Dr.Disrespect"

• Dr. Disrespect was a very popular twitch streamer that was banned and is now a Youtube streamer
• He has a Wiki page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_Disrespect
• His real name is Herschel "Guy" Beahm IV
• In June 2020, Beahm was banned from Twitch for "unexplained reasons" and the channel was removed from the site.
• He returned to streaming in June 2022 on Youtube - with a peak of more than 510,000 concurrent viewers

Unfair?

Has Twitch gone overboard? Many chess fans seem to think so. However, it does seem to be a technical violation and Twitch makes no exceptions for popular streamers. Twitch is owned by Amazon. Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for $970 million.

Huge fan

I am a huge fan of Hikaru Nakamura and have a big playlist for him here:

https://kingscrusher.tv/nakamura

I once had a Rapid game against Nakamura on the ICC (about 11 mins in - CapilinoBridge)

https://youtu.be/TlewIt8CGq4&t=273s

A recent Nakamura game I featured on Youtube:

Hikaru Nakamura's top-secret 1.b3 opening weapon! || Game vs Vishy Anand

https://youtu.be/9L3LJF5PvIw

Key takeaway points

• One has to be careful what one streams on Twitch!
• It may not be a good idea to stream a banned streamer
• Even the top streamers can fall into a technical violation quite easily
• Thankfully it is just a 3-day suspension type of Ban - He will be back!

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Want to go further? Explore all my online chess courses at https://www.chessworld.net/online-chess-courses.asp – learn openings, tactics, strategy, and more.

Cheers, K