American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura became the most-watched chess streamer in March 2024. Another notable figure was Indian YouTuber, stand-up comedian, and chess enthusiast Samay Raina, who secured high positions in the rankings. Interestingly, Magnus Carlsen failed to make it into any of the rankings: he led in peak online viewership and ranked second in watch time in February, but significantly reduced streaming activity in March and was pushed far outside the top 10.
Most Watched Chess Streamers in March 2024
Over the month, Nakamura's channels on Twitch and Kick collectively amassed 356.5K Hours Watched, nearly half of what he had in February, but still enough to maintain the top spot in the rankings.
In second place was Samay Raina. In March, his chess streams accumulated almost 310K HW. Previously absent from our rankings due to infrequent streaming, Raina increased his streaming activity significantly in the spring of 2024. By April, he had already set a channel record for peak viewership with over 36k concurrent viewers.
Rounding out the top three was BotezLive channel, hosted by sisters Alexandra and Andrea Botez. The Canadian-American chess players regularly stream on Twitch, commentating on their own and others' games, covering chess show events, and more. Over the month, the channel garnered over 244.7K HW.
It's worth noting that while chess channels typically feature professional players and grandmasters, non-traditional channels also make their way into the rankings. For instance, SpectateTyler1 made it into the top 10 in March. Serving as a 'waiting room' for fans of Tyler1, the SpectateTyler1 occasionally streams chess games, earning a place in the chess rankings as a result.
Most Popular Chess Streamers in March 2024
The leader in peak viewership for chess streams in March was xQc. Although he only streamed chess for half an hour last month, he gathered over 32.1K Peak Viewers.
XQc's case is not unique: popular content creators often play chess during streams to pass the time, such as while waiting for another game to install or for matchmaking. Thus, some streamers who play chess but aren't specialized in the game, like grandmasters, often find themselves in chess rankings. Besides xQc, other streamers who used this method to enter the March chess rankings include Tumblurr, Cellbit, and loltyler1. While they collectively streamed chess for barely more than 2 hours in the month, they still made it into the top 10.
Among streamers specializing in chess, the most popular in March was Samay Raina, who gathered over 26.1K PV. Several female chess streamers also made it into the top 10, including BotezLive, Naycir, AnnaCramling, and DinaBelenkaya.
Most Watched and Popular Chess Organization Channels
Most Watched and Popular Chess Organization Channels
Among chess organization channels, the most watched in March was Kick's handle chessbrah, hosted by Canadian Grandmasters Eric Hansen and Aman Hambleton: last month, their streams amassed 197.8K HW. In addition to chess matches, chessbrah also featured entertaining streams, culinary content, and discussions. Interestingly, the second spot in the rankings was claimed by the chessbrah channel on Twitch, generating 167K HW.
The official channel of the gaming platform Chess.com on YouTube led in peak viewership among organizations. In March, it attracted 21.4K PV during Team Chess Battle SF2 tournament. Masters such as Hikaru Nakamura, Levy Rozman, Daniel Naroditsky, and Robert Hess participated in the event.
