Why does Hikaru always exhibit such poor sportsmanship on Chess.com?

He will rage quit anytime someone has him beat.

He also let his 2mins of time just run out when he was going to get mated in the last Pro Sports league event that was broadcast here.

Also, does his lack of sportsmanship hurt his performance?

is there a rumour that he is supposed to be a nice guy ?

Hikaru Nakamura would not be at his level without the level of passion and intensity he has for chess. The fact that he is extremely competitive is not a coincidence. Without that kind of thing, he would never have had the motivation to get to the top. 

Dan Heisman has once said that all great chess players are both "problem solvers" and "barbarians" - the barbarians want to win and crush their opponents, and the problem solvers have a deep interest in finding the best moves. Obviously Hikaru has both, but he definitely is the latter as well in many ways. 

By the way, if you have neither, then competitive chess isn't for you.

Yeah, that's how I feel about it.

Normal well adjusted people don't get upset over games.

And also, normal well adjusted people are below average at all the games they play... light years away from world class.

in hindsight it seems all the criticism of Fischer was pointless.

i reckon every person that has something to say about how bad Fischer was away from the board has a skeleton lurking in their closet.

it's a character flaw - he really should be a bit nicer.  doing stuff like burning 2 min of time or abusing opponents after the game is amateur hour stuff.  there's a YT video where Chessexplained beats Naka at blitz and Naka starts doing his block.

which is a shame  because he is so good at chess, he has brilliant tactical vision and his games are super instructive.  i have seen a couple of his videos on chess.com and they were excellent.  i want to like the guy but he seems to typify the "ugly american" in top-level chess, so i must look for other super-GMs to root for.  Grischuk is a fav of mine by comparison.

hikaru nice guy

I think when he was younger, his behavior stemmed from a mixture of immaturity and arrogance.

He has become alot more professional and wise with experience.

yeah probobaly cause his youtube was hikaru knockouts

but I don't see and arrogance now

this is my favorite thread ever

It's hard to estimate how much Hikaru is liked or disliked by his fellow grandmasters. This article quotes no one in that unique club who will corroborate their feelings:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-most-popular-chess-streamer-on-twitch

He finished tied for 41st place in the 2022 FIDE World Rapid Championship. It proves he is mortal in over-the-board competition. No one is scared of the big bad wolf anymore. Magnus Carlsen seems to excel in OTB. Why?

There was no reason to bump this, but anyway...

41st is pretty bad. It was probably jet lag.

This topic was made in 2017. Naka spent his whole career being an unlikable prick. He only calmed down after he got fame and money from 800 rated twitch teens (lol)... but also I'm happy for him, he seems to be in a much better place psychologically.

Lack of integrity & good character. Doubt it affects his performance though, unless the stress he puts on himself has an adverse affect.

I really like this thread because I thought this might just be my own unpopular opinion. I’d like to add a few points to this years-old discussion:

1. He displays toxic behavior.

2. When he loses, he starts whining and making excuses to blame the opponent (e.g., accusing them of cheating).

3. No, he doesn’t need to be a bad person to excel at the game. There are plenty of competitively toxic players at all levels, and this behavior has nothing to do with greatness. It’s just an excuse to justify treating someone kindly who doesn’t deserve it.

4. There are countless examples of kindness and humanity in people who have reached the top. Gukesh and Ding are prime examples.