After the Esports World Cup announced a chess tournament, signing top players was only a matter of time. Another major announcement came today: top chess streamer and one of the best players in the world, Hikaru Nakamura, has joined Falcons Esports.

This move isn’t surprising—Falcons Esports has a reputation for sparing no expense when signing players who combine elite skill with massive media presence (NiKo in Counter-Strike, their superteam in Apex Legends, and MenaRD in Street Fighter 6). Hikaru is at a point in his career where he can demand top-tier offers, especially with his enormous streaming audience. So, this partnership feels as natural as LGD backing Ding Liren or Natus Vincere signing Oleksandr Bortnyk.

In the past week alone, several major orgs have announced signings of high-profile chess players. Most notably, Team Liquid secured possibly the greatest chess player of all time, Magnus Carlsen, alongside another elite competitor, Fabiano Caruana.

Main image: youtube.com

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