Carlsen and Nakamura's contrasting career views spark huge debate: 'That's why one is champion and other is bullsh***er'

A recent comparison between world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura has sparked debate among chess fans on social media, after both players gave very different answers about their careers.

In a recent interview, Carlsen was asked if he is satisfied with his career so far. The former world champion gave a clear response. "No, I’m not satisfied. I’m never satisfied. I’m very happy with a lot of my play, but I’m not done yet," he said, showing that he is still hungry for more.

On the other hand, Nakamura gave a very different answer when asked the same question. "Of course I’m satisfied with my career. Why would I not be satisfied?" he said, before recalling a difficult phase in 2019 when his ranking dropped significantly and he felt his professional career might be over.

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"In 2019, my rating went off a cliff and I was down to something like number 19 or 20 in the world, and at that point, I really thought that my professional chess career was over," he added.

Nakamura also spoke about how quickly people forget players' past achievements and start questioning after just one bad tournament. He mentioned players like Javokhir Sindarov and D Gukesh, saying that even a couple of bad tournaments can change public perception completely.

"The chess world has completely lost its ability to remember anything beyond… beyond the past month. They have. Like if Sindarov goes and has one or two bad tournaments now after the Candidates, everyone’s going to be like ‘Oh Sindarov is terrible, he’s washed, Gukesh is suddenly the favorite again.’ The world of chess is so messed up with how they look at players and their ratings and everything else,” he said.

He also defended his current standing, saying that ratings and consistent performances still matter. "I think the ratings don’t actually lie. I would say that in general, I had one bad tournament but Magnus correctly says that the rating list and results in top tournaments of all formats say that I’m the second best," Nakamura said.

Fans divided over Nakamura's career take

The contrasting answers from Carlsen and Nakamura quickly went viral, leading to mixed reactions online. Some users criticised Nakamura, comparing his mindset with Carlsen’s, while others defended him, saying his answer was honest and realistic.

One user said, "That why one is champion and the other a bullsh***er."

"That's the difference between world champion Goat and a fraud streamer who plays chess part time," another wrote.

"There might be 150 players in the past 400 years who can say they were better at Chess than Hikaru. That's not too bad. Plus he's rich as hell. Anytime he gets ready to trade lives with me, I'm ready to sign up," one fan write in Nakamura's defence.

"Why is everyone hating on Hikaru? He's being humble and honest. Admitting that it's over, that's pretty mature of him," another fan said.

Meanwhile, Nakamura recently admitted that he no longer plays chess as a full-timer and content creation is now his main profession, from where he makes most of his money. Carlsen, on the other hand, is still plying his trade at the highest level and continues to regularly feature in major tournaments.