Ludwig Ahgren (27) is a successful YouTuber known for his spectacular events. His chessboxing championship in December 2022 reached 3 million viewers. Some of them have now held their own championship, but the 27-year-old wants nothing to do with it.
What kind of YouTuber is he? Ludwig Ahgren, who online usually appears only by his first name, was once considered the golden boy of Twitch. In spring 2021, he broke the record for the most paid subscriptions with his 31-day Subathon: a total of 283,000.
In November of the same year, Ludwig switched exclusively to YouTube. On the red platform, everything continues as before. The 27-year-old streams and has already held a Subathon there and recently his chessboxing event.
What is chessboxing? It is a real sport where the name says it all: The opponents compete against each other in chess and boxing in alternating rounds.
Although Ludwig did not invent chessboxing, he certainly helped bring the sport closer to over 3.7 million viewers with his “Mogul Chessboxing Championship”. Some fans even arranged a private chessboxing event, but the YouTuber is far from thrilled about it.
Before Ludwig, Ninja held the record for the most simultaneous subs.
Ludwig demands: Keep me out of your crimes
How did Ludwig find out about the event? In a stream on April 12, Ludwig reacted to a post shared in his subreddit. In the post, a fan wrote that they had held their own chessboxing tournament in an abandoned factory.
The Reddit user shared a photo of a participant with a bloody nose.
How did the streamer react? Ludwig was initially stunned by the post. He admitted that the idea was funny and quite extreme, but also dangerous:
It’s shocking that some Ludbuds [fans of Ludwig] decided to hold chessboxing in an abandoned warehouse on concrete, without any protection.
Though Ludwig is not the inventor of chessboxing, it seems quite obvious that the organizers of the unofficial fight club were inspired by his event. The streamer drew this conclusion and was quite displeased about it:
Don’t associate that with me, you bastards. […] Why do you come into my subreddit and show a direct connection as to why you did that?
Ludwig continues, stating that his event was very safe. The World Chess Boxing Organization approved the event, there were boxing rings, gloves, and paramedics. He emphasizes that he bears no responsibility for the actions of his viewers, as chessboxing has existed for a long time.
Clearly, the 27-year-old wants nothing to do with the matter: “Don’t use my subreddit to post your crimes. That is illegal, that is bodily harm.”
You can watch Ludwig’s entire reaction here:
Ironically, the poster did not even seem to realize that his action has some parallels to the 1999 film Fight Club – otherwise he would have known that one does not talk about the chessboxing club. Instead, Ludwig advised him to watch the film.
With the chessboxing event, Ludwig proved a golden touch, but his latest investment has so far yielded less. In the midst of the tense situation in American e-sports, he bought his own team for the shooter Valorant; how that went can be read here:
