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From Wikipedia:

Hikaru in 2014 on chess960: (emphasis added)

I think chess960 is great as it is simply pure intuition and understanding without theory or computers. In my opinion, a lot depends on the trends. For example, at the moment everyone is playing the Berlin Defense which has severely reduced the number of games with 1.e4. If this trend of attempting to "kill" the excitement continues, it is hard to believe 960 won't take over at some point. However, if we start seeing a lot of deep preparation and exciting games in the Najdorf or Dragon, then I think the scope of normal chess will continue for a very long time.

Hikaru in 2022 on chess960:

The opening decides everything. If you get a good position, it's very easy to play I mean: It's a lot of fun. You're just enjoying it. (...) But if you get a bad position right away it's very -- I mean, you're just like ‘Why am I playing 960 instead of playing normal chess? I'd much rather just blitz out 20 moves of theory’.

Question: So what was the trend in the past 8-10 years? Were there more Sicilian Najdorf or Dragon games? Or still Berlin and stuff as back in 2014?

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    The question is flawed. You're asking: "Have there been more Dragon or Najdorf games in the past decade?" but you're really asking "Is the trend in openings to kill the excitement as high as it was in 2014?"
    – NoseKnowsAll
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 17:10
  • I (and probably most amateur players) would disagree with Nakamura's premise. If anything deep preparations in lines like the Dragon would be what attract players to chess960.
    – David
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 17:52
  • @NoseKnowsAll Thanks. Seems like 1 of those will lead to opinion-based close votes. I just wanna know what's been going on since 2014. What's your suggestion please?
    – BCLC
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 19:33
  • @David Why? I thought more berlin => chess is boring => go to chess960 and then more sicilian => less berlin => chess is not boring => no need chess960 ?
    – BCLC
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 19:34
  • @BCLC The Berlin is boring for the spectators when it's a game between two Grandmasters. But as a player I'd rather play one of those lines than losing on move 15 because my opponent played a line in the Dragon that I hadn't studied before
    – David
    Commented Jan 28, 2023 at 8:28

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