World champion Magnus Carlsen has used it in online blitz chess, including in games against high-level opponents and Twitch streamers, such as grandmaster (GM) Hikaru Nakamura.

[2] The Bongcloud Attack violates several principles of chess strategy by forgoing castling, impeding the movement of both the queen and the light-squared bishop, leaving the king exposed, and doing nothing to improve White's position.

[4][5] On 19 September 2020, Nakamura used the opening against GM Jeffery Xiong in the final round of the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament played on Lichess with a 5+3 time control and won.

[2] The game was intentionally drawn by threefold repetition after the players shuffled their kings back and forth, and the opening was later jokingly named the Bongcloud Countergambit: Hotbox Variation.

[2] The first use of the joke opening in a FIDE-rated game between top grandmasters occurred during the Chess.com Global Championship finals in November 2022, which was an in-person rapid event played on Chess.com.