[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.
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