[HN Gopher] The most popular chess streamer on Twitch ___________________________________________________________________ The most popular chess streamer on Twitch Author : mitchbob Score : 207 points Date : 2022-04-13 12:27 UTC (10 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.newyorker.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.newyorker.com) | Beltiras wrote: | The name of the opening is hilarious! I'd love to see how A0 | would treat Stockfish if forced to use it. | cjg wrote: | There's a general life lesson here: ease up and enjoy it. | kenjackson wrote: | The other lesson is that often the people that succeed are | people who can lean into the intensity and are OK with it. For | example, look at someone like Michael Jordan -- extremely | competitive. But its almost as if that's their fuel. And when | they leave competitive environments then they miss them. Steve | Jobs and Bill Gates seem to have some of that in them too. | | That said, its not something I have. I'm OK not being the | world's best at something -- I'm OK just enjoying riding my | bike through the park. | apalmer wrote: | 'succeed' is kinda loaded here. Your really talking about | world best, in that I agree the people who are world best are | gonna have to have some innate ability to handle the pressure | of competing at world best. | | For more general definitions of success, being able to not be | so intense can SOMETIMES be a benefit. | epolanski wrote: | also, keep practicing 24/7. | ra88it wrote: | I agree that this should always be considered, no matter the | activity. But it is hard, and games like Chess make it | particularly challenging. | | I will start a game of Go, completely relaxed and with the goal | of staying relaxed and enjoying the game. Sometimes it works if | my opponent falls behind early, but if my opponent is worthy... | watch my heart rate over the course of the game. | | There is no point in playing if you don't care about the | outcome. I wish there was, I wish it was like making a | painting, I wish it was nothing more than making something | beautiful with the go stones. | | It's impossible to play as much Chess as he does and truly not | care, but I think he is figuring out ways to care differently, | and that might be key. | underdeserver wrote: | I'm pretty sure the "I literally don't care" is a reference to | one of Carlsen's answers in an interview ("I don't even remotely | care"). | assbuttbuttass wrote: | I'm so excited for Hikaru in the candidates. It was his stream | actually that got me back into chess during the lockdown. | fareesh wrote: | I remember reading that Twitch banned him for re-streaming a Dr | Disrespect chess match with commentary because Dr Disrespect is | banned on Twitch | | Dr Disrespect is a popular game streamer | apetresc wrote: | This is true, but it was a temporary suspension rather than a | ban (as it was supposed to be according to Twitch's ToCs) | jdoliner wrote: | Hikaru is an amazing showman, he's gotten a ton of people | interested in chess over the last two years. This is my favorite | video from his stream in which he premoves an entire game.[0] | It's edited, he didn't actually do this against Magnus, but the | video is absolutely hilarious anyways, especially for how Hikaru | acts while it plays out. | | [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ7-8MntaEo | gwern wrote: | > "Nakamura beat the crafty Hungarian Grandmaster Richard Rapport | in the first of two semifinal matches. In the video detailing his | second, he explained his philosophy. "Now, one of the big | differences between now and two or three years ago when I was | playing chess professionally--that's all I was doing for the most | part--is that I literally don't care," Nakamura said. "What that | means is that, in a lot of these situations now, I'll just pick a | line and play it at the board. I will not worry about trying to | pick the precise line or something that I've looked at most | recently. I will just choose to show up and play the line that I | want to play." Chess competition is stressful, and being one of | the best players in the world doesn't make it any less so. After | a draw on day five of the tournament, Rapport--who won the second | leg of the Grand Prix and clinched a spot in the Candidates weeks | later--gave an unrelentingly brutal post-match interview, in | which he called himself his toughest opponent and pondered what | he could have done with his life had he not devoted it to an | underfunded, unforgiving game. "I wish I had chosen something | else," Rapport said. "If I had put in a similar amount of time | and energy over the years, I think I'd be a happier person as of | now." | | > It is only in this context that Nakamura's "I don't care" | mantra approaches truth. Once hailed as the future of American | chess, Nakamura has devoted his life to an ultracompetitive game, | one that only two or three dozen people can make a comfortable | living solely from playing. As he rose up the world ranks, he | treated opponents like enemies and used criticism as fuel, | becoming a highly disliked member of the chess scene. In online | chess, where he was known for his blitz prowess since the two- | thousands, he often accused opponents of cheating and fired off | nasty messages after losses. The "I literally don't care" mantra | itself is a reference to Nakamura's bitter reaction to a fluke | online loss in which he repeated the phrase many more times than | one would expect from someone who literally did not care." | Shadonototra wrote: | His chat isn't very active, i checked chess.com, they feature | embeds of livestreams, legal viewbotting, that puts things in | perspective | | Similar to Fextralife, and how they use their gaming WIKI website | to feature their livestream and inflate the viewership on Twitch | | This should be against the TOS imo | olkingcole wrote: | This is odd to read because his chat moves pretty quick from | what I have seen, in line with streams of similar size. Lots of | memes and emote spam. | | But in general I agree with you, the embeds can be easily | abused and distort the popularity of streamers on twitch, | giving some an unfair advantage. In an industry where success | depends heavily on the number of eyeballs on your content and | where twitch itself prioritizes larger streams it is | unacceptable in my opinion. Long term it directly undermines | the natural growth of developing streams, the process that has | given us a rich and dynamic twitch community in the first | place. The topic deserves an article if it hasn't been written | about already. | Kiro wrote: | People suggesting other chess channels misunderstand what Hikaru | is about. It's about the memes, chat spam and interaction with | other non-chess streamers. He's part of a bigger Twitch community | of streamers that has become like its own reality show. | V-2 wrote: | Do they? Not necessarily. That's quite a generalisation. I get | the humour, it's just not my cup of tea. | Kiro wrote: | What I mean is that it's wrong to compare Hikaru to other | chess channels. I don't watch him to get better at chess and | I wouldn't be surprised if most viewers have no actual | interest in chess. If they are it definitely makes sense to | check out the channels in this thread but for me, as a casual | Hikaru viewer, they are something else. | elliekelly wrote: | It feels like Hikaru is WSB-ing Chess. I don't mean that in a | dismissive way, though. There's a lot less downside (maybe | none?) for Joe Schmoe internet n00b suddenly acquiring a | fanatical interest in chess. | javier2 wrote: | Yup, half WSB, half reality show. And what makes it really | funny is that Carlsen is also a legendary troll. | birken wrote: | For all of those getting excited about Hikaru in the candidates, | keep in mind the 3 strongest players in the world who aren't | Magnus didn't play in the FIDE Grand Prix for various reasons: | Alireza Firouzja (already qualified), Ding Liren (weird travel | restrictions) and Fabi (already qualified). | | At least two of them and likely all 3 are going to be in the | candidates, so this is just going to be an entirely different | level of competition. The betting odds put Hikaru at <10% chance | to win, which seems about right to me. Hikaru was also in trouble | at various times in the FIDE Grand Prix but escaped some very bad | positions with draws, which against higher level competition he | might not be so lucky. | | I'm not necessarily a Hikaru fan, but I enjoyed his post-game | recaps after the grand prix matches, because that type of | analysis isn't something any other top level players are going to | do for fear of revealing some weaknesses that opponents can seize | upon (and believe me... Hikaru's opponent's teams will be | scouting those videos). However, not caring can only get you so | far as the level of competition increases. | russian_bots wrote: | He also won 3 times on demand, including against Levon Aronian. | | > but escaped some very bad positions with draws, which against | higher level competition he might not be so lucky. | | Hikaru is well-known for being able to defend insanely well, | and highly capable of escaping with draws against any level of | player. This is such a strangely critically toned comment. | oldstrangers wrote: | It's so weird to see so many people online going out of their | way to explain why Hikaru won't do well. The eagerness to | discredit him is just perplexing. | | He's earned the recognition already, he's a former #2 in the | world and one of only a handful of players to ever have an ELO | over 2800. Just enjoy his resurgence and see where it takes | him. | sillysaurusx wrote: | I think Hikaru wouldn't want people coming to his defense | like this. He'd be the first to acknowledge how strong Ding | is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbAkk150pqs | | It's not discrediting Hikaru to say that there are strong | players that can't participate. | oldstrangers wrote: | I'm not coming to his defense. I'm just making a point that | the arguments against him 1) aren't that great and 2) | usually come from a place of animosity towards Hikaru (he's | abrasive, I get it). | mellosouls wrote: | Hikaru himself has acknowledged it is very unlikely he can be | champion. | [deleted] | javert wrote: | I feel like this is a rude thing to say. The psychoanalysis | just isn't necessary or appropriate. | joshuamorton wrote: | I don't think anything about that comment was discrediting | (and I generally enjoy Hikaru's content!). He was solidly | middle of the pack in the Grand Prix, but he's going to be | tied for lowest rating in the candidates. | | That's an exceedingly good argument that he's unlikely to do | particularly well (and it's likely his betting market is | somewhat inflated by his fan base, his real odds are probably | lower!) | oldstrangers wrote: | "Hikaru was solidly middle of the pack in the Grand | Prix..." after winning the first Grand Prix in Berlin ... | And assuring himself a place in the candidates tournament | before the final Grand Prix had even finished? | | I point out that its odd the number of people going out of | their way to discredit Hikaru, so a bunch more people | follow up by doubling down on discrediting Hikaru. | | Anyways, if you're familiar with what makes Hikaru great, | you understand why Hikaru has as good a chance as anyone. | joshuamorton wrote: | > Hikaru was solidly middle of the pack in the Grand | Prix... | | This is factually true. He was like 6/16 in elo in the | first and 7/16 in the third leg. He'll be 8/8 in the | candidates. Literally nothing I've said _discredits_ him. | His performance was _unexpectedly_ strong, that 's giving | _extra_ credit for an impressive performance. But I 'm | also realistic. | | > Anyways, if you're familiar with what makes Hikaru | great, you understand why Hikaru has as good a chance as | anyone. | | Lol no, and Hikaru would be the first to tell you he has | at most an outside chance. You claim you're not defending | Hikaru, but you really, really are. In fact, you're | reading things into comments that weren't actually said, | and assuming these things that weren't actually said are | criticisms of Hikaru and it's worth asking yourself why | you're doing that. | tibbar wrote: | Actually Hikaru would be (as of today) 6/8 among the | Candidates in classical ELO, as the world #11 in live | ratings. If anything, Hikaru is probably _underrated_ ; | he gained around 20 ELO points in the two Grand Prix | legs. Like the OP, I'll disclaim being a Hikaru | apologist; but he is world #1 in blitz and world #2 | (briefly #1 this year) in rapid rating, which is why, for | example, http://universalrating.com/ratings.php has him | as world #2 in general playing strength. If a game gets | into time trouble in the Candidates, he's the favorite | against any of the competition. It seems his strategy is | just to survive the openings and then try to outplay or | flag people later on, which is a surprisingly viable | strategy. | joshuamorton wrote: | Who is he higher than? He's tied for last as of current | ratings on the fide website, or does that not yet include | results from grand prix round 3? (Which would put him | ahead of Teimor and Duda, presumably) | | > seems his strategy is just to survive the openings and | then try to outplay or flag people later on, which is a | surprisingly viable strategy. | | This doesn't work when people are both stronger | middlegame players than you and know your strategy. And | of course Ian and Alireza are liable to put hikaru in | time pressure even if they don't straight outplay him. | llimllib wrote: | https://2700chess.com/ (live ratings) has him over | Radjabov and Duda currently | tibbar wrote: | As sibling comment says, he's higher than Duda + Radjabov | in live ratings now. | | It's just not obvious to me that any of your statements | about the other players being so much stronger than | Hikaru are true. It's really hard to objectively estimate | his classical playing strength because he just didn't | play for two years and the rating has been volatile since | he started playing again, but (for example) he played 4 | classical games with Levon Aronian between the two legs | with a +1 -1 =2 score, and +2 -0 =0 in rapid tiebreaks. | Aronian is a roughly 2780 player, world #5, likely to be | the strongest player who missed candidates. Hikaru also | scored 50% in classical Grand Prix matches with Wesley So | and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, two other strong top-10 | players. | joshuamorton wrote: | My argument would be something like: Aronian was the | strongest player Hikaru played (and was the highest rated | player in both Grand Prix events Hikaru participated in). | Depending on how you determine things, either 3 or 5 of | the participants are rated higher than Aronian is/was in | classical, and Naka won't be able to rely on winning the | rapid against any of Ian, Duda, Alireza, Ding, Rapport or | even Caruana, because they're not 150 points worse than | him in Rapid (well except Alireza but that's probably | inaccurate). | | If the best Hikaru can do is draw against So and Aronian, | that's not going to cut it in the candidates. Maybe he | can o better than that, but there's nothing we've seen | that suggests that. | oldstrangers wrote: | You seem to have no sporting understanding of how the | Grand Prix tournament works. His goal was to qualify for | the candidates, he did exactly as much as was needed for | that, nothing more. His positioning within the field is | completely meaningless from a results perspective | considering he won the only meaningful prize of | qualifying for the candidates. The fact that you're | misunderstanding the significance of that tells me you | don't really understand any of this. | | I guarantee you every top chess player is favoring Hikaru | a lot more than you are. Even Danya has said as much. | People that know, know. It's that simple. | joshuamorton wrote: | I've never said anything about Hikarus performance or | goal in the Grand Prix. I said he was middle of the pack | going in. You're trying to argue about things I never | said, to defend hikaru against accusations I never made. | Which is fine, but admit you're defending him if you're | going to do that, don't pretend you aren't. | oldstrangers wrote: | At this point I'm just refuting absurd chess arguments | more than I'm defending Hikaru. Objectively Hikaru is one | of the best places in the world. I'd make similar | defenses for most players on his level. | | Your criticisms so far have little to do with actual | chess, despite your attempts to make them as such. You | have a clear bias mixed with a casual understanding of | the game and it doesn't hold up very well. | joshuamorton wrote: | > Objectively Hikaru is one of the best places in the | world. I'd make similar defenses for most players on his | level. | | Yes, as are many of the players he beat in the Grand | Prix, most of whom would stand _no_ chance whatsoever in | the candidates. One can acknowledge that he 's one of the | best players while also acknowledging that he's clearly | not one of the top 3 in classical chess. | | He knows that too. That doesn't mean I don't look forward | to him competing and seeing how he does. I do! Despite | what you think I like Hikaru and enjoy his content and | play! But like I said, I'm realistic about his chances. | debacle wrote: | And he's fun. People like him (and Magnus, and the Botez | sisters) because they are fun. | | On Twitch, the most successful players almost never have the | most viewership. | [deleted] | twojacobtwo wrote: | Tangential question, but did the Botez sisters ever make a | 180 on their seeming apologism regarding Saudi slavery | practices? | epolanski wrote: | Is that important? | Eldt wrote: | They did | pkulak wrote: | Gotham is my favorite, and he's "not even a GM". But once | you're 1000+ points higher than me, it just doesn't matter. | All these guys and gals are so indescribably better than me | at chess, that I'm choosing based on communication and | other intangibles. | cellis wrote: | I thought he recently became a GM? | ddurkin wrote: | That was an April fools joke he played | [deleted] | oldstrangers wrote: | Gotham is hilarious. | jointpdf wrote: | Levy is also a very talented (and entertaining) teacher, | in my opinion. | pkulak wrote: | Danger levels! | Barrin92 wrote: | he's a very volatile player, both in temperament as well as | in playstyle. When he plays well, he plays really well but | his up and downs are extreme. And if there's one tendency, in | particular in modern chess, it's that rock solid consistency | is a requirement for pretty much any world champion. | | I see Hikaru similar to Ivanchuk (who also peaked at nr. 2 in | the world). Brilliant player but rarely the favorite for long | chess competitions. | geerlingguy wrote: | He's like the BTC of Chess players? | [deleted] | sunsetMurk wrote: | He's live right now[1] going through this New Yorker article | line-by-line. | | Offering some great clarifications, context, etc. The internet is | great. | | 1- https://www.twitch.tv/gmhikaru | verhaust wrote: | I missed it although I'm curious what he said. Do you mind | summarizing a bit? | sunsetMurk wrote: | I wish I could provide a useful summary, but I had it on | while I was prepping for a meeting so I wasn't really paying | attention. I was more surprised at my timing of seeing it on | HN, searching for his twitch profile, and then right then he | was going through the article I had open in another tab. | | I think if you're a subscriber (I'm not) you can replay his | stream from earlier. | | I do remember he said somethings like... | | > 'the chess stuff that they're talking about isn't 100% | accurate, but close enough. No one will know/care about that | who's reading the article' | | > 'it seems the things they're quoting they've pulled from | previous streams' | chadrs wrote: | He literally doesn't even care | bjourne wrote: | This article (I read it) felt like a fluff piece to me. Nothing | interesting in it about Nakamura nor chess in general. | [deleted] | incomingpain wrote: | Hikaru is awesome to watch. | | He's headed to the candidates where I hope he takes it. It will | be amazing for chess to see him compete for world championship. | Scarblac wrote: | Carlsen has a huge plus score against him though, I'd expect | the match to be extremely one sided. Something in Nakamura's | style doesn't work against Magnus. | mattbuilds wrote: | To be fair, something in everyone's style doesn't work | against Magnus. Very few (if any) top players have a winning | record vs him. | oldstrangers wrote: | After the Nepo match, no one has a winning score against | Magnus if I remember correctly. | Scarblac wrote: | Of course, but Carlsen - Nakamura is 14 - 1, and 26 draws*. | That's a huge winning percentage at top level, other top | GMs may have a minus score but not like that. | | *: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?page=2&pid=5294 | 8&pi... | alar44 wrote: | Hikaru will get wiped by Carlson. Hikaru is a blitz/bullet | player, not classical. They are different games. | cellis wrote: | Not just Carlson.. any of the candidates are capable of | beating him ... most have higher elo and that elo is well | deserved and stupendously hard won at that level. Wesley So | beat him in the Grand Prix, he was in trouble once against | Esipenko. I don't think he'll have as hard of a time against | eg Ian Nepomniatchi ( Nepo likes speed which is Hikarus | superpower ), But Ding Liren ( depending on Karjakins dq and | Lirens play ofc ) Caruana, or Wesley So will beat him | easily... | fourseventy wrote: | Hikaru used to be ranked #2 in the world in classical with an | elo over 2800.... "not a classical player" lol | alar44 wrote: | And is currently 16 and has been dropping over the last 8 | years. Kasparov also used to be number 1. That's just how | it goes. He's a much stronger bullet/blitz player and this | isn't news to anyone. There's a reason people are surprised | he qualified. | pg_bot wrote: | He's 11th in classical currently and there isn't much | separation from 4th to 20th. He has a pretty good record | against all of his opponents in classical. He's never | lost to Rapport, Liren, Duda, or Radjabov. He is 3-2-5 | against Nepo, 6-7-33 against Caruana, and he's never | played Firouzja. | incomingpain wrote: | >Hikaru will get wiped by Carlson. Hikaru is a blitz/bullet | player, not classical. They are different games. | | I can personally attest to this but Hikaru has been unusually | strong in classical in his return. Hence why he's headed to | the candidates. | | Also remember... Hikaru might just end up being champion. | Carlsen said he'll only fight firouzja. | Bostonian wrote: | I don't think Carlsen would actually give up the title to | Nakamura without a match. | incomingpain wrote: | >I don't think Carlsen would actually give up the title | to Nakamura without a match. | | Oh ya I agree, I think such a competition would be | amazing. | KptMarchewa wrote: | He probably will be wiped. However, this comment would make | more sense if he didn't literally beat a lot of good players | in classical chess, winning FIDE Grand Prix 2022. | oldstrangers wrote: | Everyone gets wiped by Carlsen, so this isn't a hot take. | mellosouls wrote: | Previous discussion on the subject, different article: | | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23537774 | mkaic wrote: | Hikaru is fun but my personal favorite chess streamer is Eric | Rosen, an incredibly chill, laid-back, witty IM who loves gambits | and stalemate traps and radiates good vibes on stream. Super | funny, super wholesome, and super instructive too! | tuvi13 wrote: | One of the best yt channels for opening study is HangingPawns: | https://www.youtube.com/c/HangingPawns | | Just great for starters and advanced players. Stjepan is a great | teacher and 2013 ELO so not a GM but on the way towards that | goal. | greedo wrote: | Eh, I find Stjepan a bit too scattered in his discussion. He | takes tangents that can confuse beginners (under 1200 or so) | when trying to comprehend the openings he is discussing. | | Learning from online YTubers/Twitch streamers can be a mixed | bag. They make the moves seem so easy and logical, without | explaining a lot of the why's. Danya is one I love to watch, | but he just sees things that players below his level have a | hard time envisioning. Rosen is the chillest to watch, but his | love of dubious gambits can encourage bad habits as well. | michaelt wrote: | I don't know much about chess, but in other fields I've come | to suspect the youtube video market for _detailed education_ | is both a lot smaller, and a lot more time-consuming to serve | than the market for _topic-themed entertainment_ | | For example, imagine I'm restoring a classic 1980s Mini. | There's a lot of detail that's only really interesting to | people who are actually doing the same task - which is hardly | anyone. That's not going to be a highly-rated youtube series. | | Whereas a magazine series that shows restored classic cars | and provides _some_ details and advice, but keeps things | light enough you can half-watch while eating and you won 't | miss too much? Much more accessible, much bigger audience. | jowsie wrote: | > For example, imagine I'm restoring a classic 1980s Mini. | There's a lot of detail that's only really interesting to | people who are actually doing the same task - which is | hardly anyone. That's not going to be a highly-rated | youtube series. | | Project Binky goes against this, great series | | https://www.youtube.com/c/BadObsessionMotorsport | michaelt wrote: | I like Project Binky, it's great viewing. But it's kinda | on the border of proving my point. | | After all, nobody is following along at home, putting a | Toyota Celica engine into their own mini. | | When they need to make a wiring harness, or configure an | ECU, they're not showing it one cable and one adjustment | at a time - that would make for very boring viewing, even | if it would be useful as reference material for anyone | trying to reproduce their project. | | Just like a chess youtuber, very few of Project Binky's | viewers are there to study, following along with pencil | and paper. Most of their viewers are there to be | entertained. | | I will admit their videos are substantially more | technical than most on Youtube. But because of that, they | don't make enough money to go full-time. Actually doing | the work constrains them to a video every 1-2 months. In | contrast, Hikaru has put out 13 youtube videos in the | last 7 days. | | Rapid-fire, easily accessible content with broad audience | appeal brings in the ad revenue that makes a channel | self-supporting. | | Slowly produced, niche content for study and reference | has to be subsidised by the youtuber having another job. | cellis wrote: | While everyone is plugging their favorite streamers allow me to | plug GothamChess. Definitely most entertaining for me as well as | educational, followed by the Botez sisters, Agadmator and then | Hikaru. I like watching him, but he plays lines that I can't | possibly hope to remember ( I'm around 1800 blitz / bullet ), and | so it's more like watching a magician. "So guys, let's play the | sodium..." | dudus wrote: | That's pretty close to my list as well. For me it's GothamChess | > Agadmator > Hikaru. I don't care about the Botez sisters. But | I watch only on Youtube. | | 1. GothamChess is the most educational and entertaining. The | video format also varies quite a bit which helps. | | 2. Agadmator is less entertaining than Gotham, but very | consistent. | | 3. Hikaru is of course very strong, but sometimes he doesn't | care about explaining what he's thinking and even when he does | its harder to follow. | | I've ben watching Gotham and Agadmator, almost daily. My wife | is a bit annoyed sometimes, but I remember it could be worse. I | could be into football. | ajkjk wrote: | I can't handle Agadmator because he skips so many important | moves without analysis, and when he does provide analysis | it's not very insightful. I think he's just a weaker player | than the others. | | Levy (GothamChess) is a much better player, although it's | tedious that a lot of his content is silly stuff like | laughing at beginner games. He also tilts really hard which | makes me feel really bad because I just want to sit down with | him and show some him positivity and I can't, but maybe | that's just me. | | IMO the best of the chess streamers for actually getting | better is Eric Rosen, and maybe John Bartholomew but he's not | as prolific. Both are very good but also good at explaining | good ideas. Hikaru is almost too good to be instructive, | given that he solves hard tactical puzzles completely with | muscle memory instead of analysis. | username923409 wrote: | Agadmator shouldn't really be seen as a game analyst, he | just reads out the PGN and has the computer going in the | background. His content is mostly directed towards casual | chess players (or not even chess players at all, just | youtube watchers interested in chess) who want to keep up | with some more interesting & current high level games. | zeteo wrote: | GothamChess's friend Eric Rosen is also very good. (Actually I | think he may have won their latest match.) I really like his | unshakable calm attitude - even when scrambling with 5s left on | the clock he still finds time to make informative little | comments. | to1y wrote: | I went Hikaru > Gotham > Eric Rosen. Can't watch anyone else | now, hes just so relaxing. | mkaic wrote: | +1 for Eric Rosen, he's the only chess streamer I always | enjoy watching -- the others all tend to get on my nerves | after a bit. | oldstrangers wrote: | I'm 1950 on chess.com. I know zero opening theory outside the | fundamentals. | | Watching Hikaru and Danya has really helped my board | visualization and how I think about the game. My ideas are a | lot more abstract now than they were years ago when I was still | a "strong" player. I'm stronger now than ever before and I no | longer actively train, and I credit this entirely to players | like Hikaru helping me view the board in a drastically | different way than I was previously. Something just clicked | after awhile. | albertkawmi wrote: | Interesting. Were you watching streams or YouTube? And were | you doing other chess improvement work? | | I'm at the same chesscom rating as you and have watched a bit | of Hikaru content but somehow felt like I was procrastinating | on "real chess study". Your comment has given me an excuse to | try again! | oldstrangers wrote: | Streaming. The big realization for me was how they think | through positions and allowing for vague ideas to dictate | positional improvements / guide the process. | | Previously I was just looking for tactics and calculating | the best possible moves in a very linear manner. Now I look | at the board and visualize ways the position would work | better in my favor and kind of work my way back from there. | Linear calculation is still required, but getting an idea | first and then trying to find the path of least resistance | to that idea is just so much more fluid for me. | | Remove the tunnel vision and treat the entire board as an | organic structure that you can reconfigure. | | This is probably only beneficial after like 1700-1800 | because it assumes you have a solid tactical / positional | understanding obviously. | | The only other "training" I do is solving puzzles but | that's more out of entertainment than actual training. | Mc91 wrote: | I used to play chess more but am too busy going through Blind | 75 to go through chess problems. I don't even want to play a | game of chess because I might feel the urge to play and study | chess instead of grind Blind 75. I watch the Botez sisters as | well. If I was playing more I might watch more streamers, but I | hear enough of what's going on in the world of chess from them. | SubiculumCode wrote: | Hikaru instigates too much drama and whines way too much when | things don't go his way. Not a fan at all. The best chess | streamer is Danya, without a doubt. Those who know, know. | tarentel wrote: | He's very impressive to watch. Whenever I play blitz I can get | easily flustered and end up playing terrible moves. He will | have 10 seconds left and is still explaining things or just | casually chatting and still playing at a high accuracy. I get | why people like him. | | I agree though. He can be difficult to watch. He acts like a | small child when he loses, even sometimes when he doesn't. It's | really not surprising to learn from this article that no one in | the high level chess world likes him. | SubiculumCode wrote: | The speed at which super grandmasters see the board is jaw | drop amazing...inhuman to my experience. While I'm still | trying to count the number of pieces ont he board of a chess | problem, they've already calculated a dozen likely lines or | more. | birriel wrote: | Hikaru learning "5-D Chess with Time Travel": | | https://youtu.be/v2zg-66eTY8 | mkaic wrote: | I thought it was interesting how difficult he found this! Seems | like his brain is super hard-wired to play chess a specific way | and he was unable to generalize the rules to the extra | dimensions? Super fascinating. | arrakis2021 wrote: | Hikaru is to chess what Doug Polk is to Poker | muh_gradle wrote: | Great analogy. Love both of 'em. | jstx1 wrote: | It's a nice parallel - I like that it could be both a | compliment and an insult. | garbagetime wrote: | He was relevant at the top level of the game for a short period | of time but only in one fairly obscure format? | tzs wrote: | He reached #2 on the active rating list and #5 on the all- | time rating list in classical chess. Do you consider | classical chess to be a "fairly obscure" format? | garbagetime wrote: | The things I said are true of the poker player Doug Polk. | Doug Polk was one of the best 2-player Texas Hold'em poker | players on the internet for a couple of years, but only at | a point in time where the format was pretty dead. I know | very little about Hikaru Nakamura, but it sounds like | Hikaru is a much greater chess player than Doug is a poker | player. Which is fine, I guess the similarities lie | elsewhere. | [deleted] | garbagetime wrote: | You think heads-up NLHE found its peak popularity after | Black Friday? | | As for why it's obscure - that's a separate point. Heads- | up poker, as a format, was obscure at its peak as it was | when Doug Polk was at his, and as it is now. Poker is | almost always played at a table with at least six seats, | most often more. Heads-up is just tiny in comparison. | | I just opened up my PokerStars client. Out of the many | thousands of players currently playing, approximately 15 | are playing heads-up cash games. And only two are playing | heads-up cash games for medium or high stakes. | buzzy_hacker wrote: | In fact, here is an interview of Hikaru from Doug | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npyFtH2odaM | mrintellectual wrote: | Hikaru's win in the Grand Prix was great, but the Candidates is | far different. For example, Alireza Firouzja - another member of | the upcoming Candidates cycle - has been MIA for a while, likely | due to the insane amount of time he is putting into Candidates | prep. | | Since Hikaru has far fewer recent classical matches than the | other upcoming Candidates participants (with the exception of | current world #2 Ding Liren, who still needs to finish 30 games | before May), he'll have an edge when it comes to preparation. | However, unless he prepares like a madman, he'll be at most a | wildcard candidate, perhaps beating a favorite or two but | unlikely to win it all. | | I'll personally be rooting for Ding and Fabi. I like Hikaru as | well, but I unfortunately just don't see him beating Magnus in a | World Chess Championship. | mitchbob wrote: | Archived: https://archive.ph/OpLDh | Overtonwindow wrote: | Actually, I vastly prefer Agadmator's chess channel. Less drama | and more thoughtful analysis for us non-pros. | | https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YbN5WLFD8dLIegT5QAbA | mkaic wrote: | Antonio is fantastic! If you like him I would also strongly | recommend Eric Rosen's YT and Twitch channels -- he's a very | laid-back, wholesome IM who's very funny and very instructive. | have_faith wrote: | The best channel (in my opinion...) for someone trying to | actively improve is Daniel Naroditsky's: | https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielNaroditskyGM | | You will learn a lot more than from Agadmator, who's channel is | very good, but shows a lot of engine lines without too much | explanation of the deeper ideas. | Tenoke wrote: | Bartholomew's 'climbing the rating ladder' content is at a | similar level if you've finished with Naroditsky but I think | Chessbrah's 'Building Chess Habits' speedrun is even better | for most people. In that one GM Aman sets very simple ways to | play and doesn't deviate from them even if it loses him some | games while climbing or if there are obvious tactics he can | use for a quick win. Naroditsky while great will often go | into lines that a lower rated player is very unlikely to see | or pull of and is very often winning out of the opening by | knowing all the moves to punish suboptimal moves which lower | rated players won't know. | | 0. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MCBnhtCk_ | bT... | | 1. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8N8j2e7RpPnpqbISqi | 1S... | SubiculumCode wrote: | Bartholomew and Climbing the Rating Ladder series fan. I | sure wish he'd focus on those videos more than his live | streaming. The former is much more educational than the | latter. | veidelis wrote: | Someone once correctly said that Agadmator doesn't teach | chess. | xlance wrote: | I totally agree, what a great tutor he is. | amalcon wrote: | I agree, I think Naroditsky is the best video content in | terms of being educational while also being entertaining. | Some others are maybe more rigorous, but not as entertaining, | or vice versa. | nurettin wrote: | I enjoy agad's balkan charm from time to time. His slow motion | finishing bishop moves and his logical meanderings after an | obvious statement are fun to watch. And he always keeps a couch | for medo to chill on. | danrocks wrote: | queen captures, bishop captures, now pause the video to see | the next move or just continue to enjoy the show | keybored wrote: | Now we have a forced check mate in fifty moves | alar44 wrote: | Bushup to c4, with check, and now we have a brand new | game of chess. | oldstrangers wrote: | Agadmator isn't a streamer. | gizajob wrote: | He and Hikaru have different different approaches, with | Nakamura being a grandmaster and so has much deeper potential | for analysis of his own positions, but agadmator is | nevertheless a daily-watch for me. His channel is my favourite | thing on YouTube. | danrocks wrote: | do you pause the video or just enjoy the show? | omega3 wrote: | Congratulations if you've guessed correctly. | gizajob wrote: | No, I love chess but I don't go in for head-grinding | through hard positions. I just like playing moves and | having fun on an intuitive level. Also sadly forgot to open | my comment with "Hello Everyone." | LeifCarrotson wrote: | I like Agadmator's channel, but a similar option that mixes in | more live play and self commentary is Eric Rosen's channel: | | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXy10-NEFGxQ3b4NVrzHw1Q | | https://www.twitch.tv/imrosen | | Also Levi Rozman/Gothamchess has some excellent analysis and | commentary of other matches, and is very approachable for | beginners: | | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQHX6ViZmPsWiYSFAyS0a3Q | | https://www.twitch.tv/gothamchess | ZetaZero wrote: | Oh no my Queen! | hashasyn wrote: | Oh no my pieces! | Tenoke wrote: | The two have very different content. Hikaru is mostly live | blitz play with commentary by one of the best in the world | (possibly the best for the formats he plays) while Agadmator is | only analysis of typically classical games by an otherwise | weaker player. | | As for me, I prefer neither and like more educational content | that doesn't focus on games at the very top (e.g. Naroditsky's | or chessbrah's speedruns) but that doesn't change that Hikaru | is more popular than them or Agadmator. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-04-13 23:00 UTC)