How To Catch A Chess Stream Sniper | Twitch Stream Highlight

MVP_Chess is my Twitch channel where I play with viewers, analyze their games, and battle in the 10-minute pool. Here is a highlight from today's stream. If you enjoy this content, please subscribe and follow below. Thanks for your support and enjoy!

How To Catch A Chess Stream Sniper

Although I've been playing chess a long time, I'm still relatively new to streaming. A few weeks ago, I encountered a pretty egregious stream sniper. (He confirmed in the chat.) This occurs when your opponent watches your stream to gain a competitive advantage. Since my streams are highly instructional, this can be a significant advantage because I talk through nearly all my moves. To combat this, I throw in some "red herrings" into my analysis. Essentially, "bad" moves that I pretend are good to coerce my opponent to weaken their position. 

In one of my 10-minute games today, I had the white pieces and faced the dreaded Semi-Slav. If played properly, the Semi-Slav is a bulletproof opening and arguably the best response to the Queen's Gambit. One of the key ideas in the Meran Variation is the pawn break ...c5. It attacks white's center and opens the light squared bishop on b7. My opponent missed his chance for this key break, and instead played ...Rc8. This allowed me to play b4 and shut down this break once and for all.

Right before he played ...Rc8, I claimed this was the best move in the position knowing full well it was not. To be clear, I'm not accusing this opponent of stream sniping me. Rather, I'm sharing a fun and surprisingly effective way to combat this streaming issue. My viewers also enjoy guessing if I'm throwing out a red herring or not with fun emotes. Watch the highlight below and let me know what you think in the comments: