YouTuber Ludwig Ahgren held his long-awaited chessboxing event, the Mogul Chessboxing Championship, yesterday. The niche sport saw 18 creators face off in alternating rounds of boxing and either chess or Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Bringing the obscure sport to the largest stage it has ever seen, Ludwig broke viewership records across the board. The event, which saw a peak of over 280,000 concurrent viewers and 2.9 million overall viewers so far, became Ludwig’s highest-viewed stream of all time, the most-watched Super Smash Bros. Melee match of all time, as well as the most-viewed chessboxing event in the history of the sport.
The previous most-viewed chessboxing match was a bout between Hurt Locker and Northern Powerhouse in 2020, amassing 556,000 views on YouTube.
The first two matches of the night at Ludwig’s event featured prominent Super Smash Bros. Melee players competing in the first-ever Smashboxing matches. Switching off between a set of Melee and boxing, the second bout between Fiction and KJH quickly rose to be the highest-viewed Melee game ever according to former Smash tournament organizer Aiden Calvin, reaching over 254,000 concurrent viewers by the match’s end.
The match was almost given the crown of the single most-viewed Super Smash Bros. game ever, but it fell just under the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Evo 2019 finals, which boasted 258,000 concurrent viewers.
Viewership peaked toward the final two matches of the event when Myth took a victory off Cherdleys and DisguisedToast pulled out a close win against PointCrow. For Ludwig, the Mogul Chessboxing Championship became his most-viewed stream, including his long tenure on Twitch. Ludwig’s previous most viewed stream on YouTube came several months ago during Dream’s face reveal, wherein he hosted 146,000 viewers.
Recently awarded the Content Creator of the Year at The Game Awards 2022, Ludwig’s event saw an immensely positive reception from both fans and participants—and many have shared that they are eager to get back into the ring.
