[V-2]

"Even being used in tournaments" is not exactly the same as "hugely popular".

There is some interest, and tournaments are played now and again, sure. However, it's nowhere near the popularity of classic chess, which shows no signs of "going out of style".

To provide some perspective - on lichess.org (one of the most popular sites for online chess; the one where the high-profile tournament you mentioned took place) in June there have been 70,374,749 classic games played. Chess960 accounted for 285,788 games. That's ~250 times less popular.

"Stalemates happen less in 960" - seriously? Why? Do you have any source of that claim? I could believe that draws in general are more rare (lack of opening theory makes equalizing in middle game more difficult). But why would it affect the rate of stalemates specifically?

[fwsgonzo]

I am watching Hikaru Nakamura on stream every day, and he does say that 960 will grow, and classic will not. I just take his word for it.

I don't have anything against classic, and as you say, I will probably be playing it forever myself, but from a spectators point of view its more fun if there are less stalemates. There's a lot more room for errors in 960, even among GMs.