Chessbrah host Aman Hambleton has surprisingly sided with fellow Twitch streamer Hikaru Nakamura’s take that Andrea Botez was wrong to ask a joke question at the World Chess Championship.
On November 30, the Botez sisters were in Dubai to attend the World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi when Andrea decided to ask a question at the press conference.
Her question was an inside joke for Magnus, asking him “how does the Knight move,” which prompted a grin followed by semi-serious answer from the chess legend. However, it still caused some issues in the greater chess community.
In particular, Hikaru slammed Botez, claiming that such joke questions “should not be happening” at the prestigious chess event. And as it turns out, he’s not the only one who feels that way.
♘ @itsandreabotez asks @MagnusCarlsen how the knight moves ⬇️ #CarlsenNepo pic.twitter.com/GV1Z7sPd6V
— Chess.com (@chesscom) December 1, 2021
Chessbrah says Andra “alienated” Ian Nepomniachtchi
During his own stream, Chessbrah watched the video of Andrea asking her question and didn’t take too kindly to her line of questioning.
“Here’s the thing. Botez sisters, I like them and I like what they bring. But, it’s in the middle of the world championship and you shouldn’t make it all about you,” he said. “You should never, and this is a comedic rule, this is a serious event, you should never make an inside joke that only includes one of the players.”
Hambleton noted that if both Nepomniachtchi and Carlsen were in on it, things would be different.
“Anytime you alienate one of the players, it’s not funny. It’s immediately not funny and it just becomes cringe,” he added. “You shouldn’t exclude one of the players… that’s just bad comedy.”
Chessbrah agrees with Hikaru
After watching Hikaru’s take, the streamer sided with the GM, claiming he “fully agrees” with his opinion.
“I think he’s right. F**k, I think he’s totally right,” Chessbrah said. “You got Andrea Botez asking Magnus Carlsen how the knight moves while Nepo’s there asking ‘literally who are you and why are you in my conference?’ Seriously, I agree with Hikaru.”
Seeing Hambleton and Hikaru on the same page is certainly quite interesting. Add in the fact that opinions on Andrea’s joke have been mixed and it seems like the community is very divided.
You could even say it’s a stalemate.
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