Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura risked a Twitch ban in order to watch banned streamer Dr Disrespect play chess against Dr Lupo on YouTube.
Dr Disrespect’s feud with Twitch reached an interesting conclusion on March 10, with the Two-Time revealing that he settled his legal dispute with the Amazon-owned company for the ban.
While not much is known about what the settlement entails, Doc remains banned on the platform and is seemingly unable to stream with others who are on Twitch, as per the site’s community guidelines.
This didn’t stop GMHikaru from risking a ban to watch Doc playing chess live, leaving fans absolutely stunned.
The Grand Prix next week will be fascinating but even MORE interesting is @DrDisrespect vs @DrLupo – we have two PhDs of streaming here, going at it. Tune in! https://t.co/1IAaMM5tcJ pic.twitter.com/TG9BYbkYag
— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) March 16, 2022
GMHikaru tests Twitch by watching Dr Disrespect on stream
During a March 16 broadcast, Hikaru tuned into Dr Disrespect playing chess against fellow YouTuber Dr Lupo and completely dismissed the possibility of being banned.
“Chill out, you guys. You think I care?” he responded to fans concerned about a possible suspension. “This is chess.”
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Hikaru even provided some tips for Doc in his stream, comparing the Two-Time’s gameplay to Call of Duty, and recommended he use all his pieces instead of just grabbing a meta gun.
Despite the two-time not knowing some advanced moves such as castling, Hikaru praised Doc’s gameplay, saying he has “very good basic instinct.”
So far, the TSM streamer hasn’t faced any consequences for watching Dr Disrespect on-air and it seems like Doc may even want to continue chess streams in the future, trying to get Dr Lupo to play the classic boardgame again.
We’ll have to see what happens going forward and if this is a sign that more streamers can engage with Doc on Twitch – as a result of the lawsuit being settled.
Until then, things remain quite uncertain and it’s unlikely that Twitch clarifies its ruling, given how the platform doesn’t comment on individual bans. Consider it a 4D chess play by Hikaru.