 "Hikaru Nakamura looks forward to meeting Samay Raina during Chess World Cup this year: 'It would be a lot of fun'")
American chess star and popular streamer Hikaru Nakamura will be among those in action at the FIDE World Cup that will be taking place in India later this year, and is looking forward to meeting controversial stand-up comic Samay Raina during his trip.
Besides being among the country’s most top comedians, Raina is also popular among chess circles for his work in helping boost the sport’s popularity in India during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, primarily through his frequent collaborations with Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi and International Masters Tania Sachdev and Sagar Shah.
Nakamura and Raina have also appeared on videos and live streams together, engaging in hilarious conversations while making playing a game of chess together. The 37-year-old American GM is yet to meet Raina in person and is looking forward to that interaction later this year.
“It would be fun to finally meet Samay! I think I haven’t met him yet. I know he’s in the US and he’s done some stuff (performing in stand up shows in the USA and UK). It would be a lot of fun (to meet Samay).
“It’s wild to see — obviously I don’t follow Indian culture super closely — but at the start of the pandemic he was kind of a comedian, kind of known. And now he’s like a big superstar! Everywhere! It’s definitely amazing to see what he’s done with comedy and chess. Hopefully I will have a chance to meet him,” Nakamura told told ChessBase India on the final day of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event in Weissenhaus , where he finished fifth.
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However, it remains to be seen whether Nakamura is aware of the situation that Raina currently finds himself in. Raina, who had won Season 2 of stand-up comedy competiton show Comicstaan, landed in trouble following controversial remarks by popular podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia on his online show India’s Got Latent, as a result of which a couple of First Information Reports (FIR) have been filed against them.
The 27-year-old currently is in the USA and has been given time till 10 March by the Mumbai Police to appear before them and record his statement.
The Chess World Cup has not been officially announced by FIDE. The All India Chess Federation, however, have confirmed that the tournament will indeed be taking place in the country, though they are yet to confirm a host city.
Also Read | Nakamura heaps praise on India's chess ecosystem: 'Everything is the way it should be'
It will be the biggest chess event taking place in India since the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, in which the hosts had won bronze in the ‘Open’ as well as the ‘Women’ sections – their maiden medals in either category at the prestigious event.
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