Victor Wembanyama’s chess skills were on display in the second edition of his own ‘Hoop Gambit’ event, a crossover festival between chess and basketball.
Wembanyama is among the several NBA players who openly discuss their love and fondness for the game of chess.
The French center has been seen playing chess games in parks during the NBA season, but used the off-season to highlight his commitment to marrying the worlds of chess and basketball.
Victor Wembanyama’s chess festival leads to him losing to a six-year-old
Wembanyama hosted the second edition of the ‘Hoop Gambit’ festival and participated in the open chess tournament, where he lost to a six-year-old prodigy named Adam.
He spoke about the loss to Le Figaro at the event.
“It’s my fault. I took much longer than him at the beginning of the game. I had a much better position than his. Much, much better. And I ran out of time. I’m simply not as good as him.
Wembanyama also spoke about how he appreciates chess for the way it makes his brain work, as the Frenchman, who has a 1000 ELO rating on chess.com, continues expressing his love for the game.
Victor Wembanyama draws attention after playing in his chess event
Wembanyama also played against IM Levy Rozman, better known as chess influencer GothamChess, who has previously collaborated with fellow NBA chess enthusiast Luka Doncic as well.
Fans were quick to react to Wembanyama openly spending a portion of his summer playing chess in France.
“I’m sure Wemby lost a winning position,” joked one fan by mentioning the Spurs’ blown Finals leads and how Wemby described his loss to the six-year-old.
“Bro is doing anything but training basketball,” said one negative fan.
“Gotham is gonna fry him so badly,” said one fan about the clear mismatch with IM Rozman.
The result of Wembanyama’s game with Rozman is unconfirmed, but it’d be an incredible feat for Wembanyama to beat an IM-level player.
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