Levy Reacts to Magnus Carlsen’s “Controversial” Comments
22.02.2024
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So Magnus is bored of classical chess and as a result we should change the whole chess world to accommodate him. Got it.
I think this is the role a chess Youtuber with 5 million subs should be focusing on. Discussing how chess can be more popular around the world.
If the standard of championship classical games would not be impaired by a shorter time control, then I support that. In terms of circuits, I support a ratings driven circuit and also a money driven circuit. The ratings driven circuit culminates in the FIDE World Championship every two years. The money driven circuit culminates in the (Sponsor) World Cup every two years and can include Freestyle chess.
honestly agree with everything he has said
Yes I dont watch classical only your recaps. But I watch Rapid and blitz events 🙂 Freestyle chess yeah maybe from time to time but not so interesting for me than original chess.
I think this is pretty easy, people as in us viewers have less free time than 20 years ago so chess matches obv has to be shorter and OBVIOUSLY it's fair to say that if the worlds best player dont want to be in your tournament then OBVIOUSLY your tournament SUCKS. It is also time to get rid of the dresscode since players that dont like to be in a suit will perform worse since they are uncomfortable and chess is not a fashionshow. I think a point system with a set number of events is a good idea but there must be 1 or 2 more than needed so the players can skip one or 2 events because they catch the flu or get covid etc etc. If not then the maybe best player cant win because he was sick 1 or 2 events and wont get any points while a significantly weaker player might win because he was able to do all the events. Invitational or not is a bit of a problem because if it is we will see most of the top players and if it is open there might be a LOT of players. maybe several 100 so there must be some kind of limitation since it might be problematic to find a place to play with 100s of players. Sponsors is another problem that cant be solved before a format is decided so they know what they are sponsoring and can calculate the potential of this series of events etc. And last but not least the players and friends, family etc need a place to stay so it cant be held in a small village way out in the middle of nowhere. Just some ideas and obv this vid is 15 hrs old so noone will see my comment but i tried 🙂
whoever wins candidates has a super good chance of picking up the championship seeing Ding's recent form.
Levy's beard got that gigachad appearance
i love magus
You make it like Golf, however except for every tournaments score would be added up throughout a season, and the top 50 players who scored the most points would then enter a tournament where at the end of the year whoever has the most points is the Chess Champion
I think shortening chess formats to rapid and blitz (which I find really exciting to watch) and classical time controls to be reserved for chess960 makes a lot of sense. But I also think there needs to be an instructional system in place, that could convey to a lot of people why what they’re watching is interesting. Like: How do you create a system in which people who don’t (often) play chess themselves, get to know the rules and would enjoy watching chess? I think Netflix doing a show on chess had a huge impact in such a direction, and so does your channel. But to put more people in the position that they literally get thrilled watching a blitz game, should be a big part of the plan.
It’s not arguable any more; Magnus has completed against the highest level of competition than any other time period and other player. He single handily is the reason for why Chess is popular and millions of people watch Chess now along with Chess YouTube channels
It is ironic that chess—played and managed by arguably the smartest folks—is probably the most ill-managed sport.
Gotham, i need ur advise badly, i am at 400 elo, but i can beat 900 elo players easily. I cant beat the people in the 300-400 elo range…
Freestyle chess is way more fun than regular chess since it looks like it creates a more level playing field because prep is completely out of the window. I enjoy playing and watching it more than regular chess as I feel it allows chess to evolve in a new way, without having to study opening theory (which is considered basics in chess) and evolve into investing more study time into positional ideas and piece coordination & harmony. This I feel will emphasize the pure joy of playing chess and make it more appealing to the larger audience.
There's my 2 cents. I think you're right about the opening problem. For 20 moves the game is on memory. Chess 960 is a genius idea, since it leaves the classical rules on a random starting position that you cannot simply learn and recall the best moves. Really the best player have the advantage, not the most accurate at remembering what to move
I only watch rapid and blitz tournaments. I cant watch a classic game of chess, its just too long. Whereas Rapid and blitz chess is so much more engaging, the clock is so much more important. And I like chess. There is no way I can get a none chess person to watch a multiple hour game where a move is made every 10 to 20 minutes.
Don't change classical yet, create new format and call it modern or sth and slowly phase it in and see if it sticks. Say around half of the current time format idk.
Hey here from Hamburg, Germany🇩🇪 I totally agree with your statements. I am also a huge fan of 🎾 Tennis besides ♟️Chess, and your idea of implanting an Analogue of the ATP/WTA-System into the professional-chessworld to make things easier (ranklist,relevant tournaments, shorter playtime with 3-4 hours and most important getting Sponsorchips and Commercials) is a very long-sighted idea i totally agree with. "WE don't have 1970 in chess anymore", WE have 2024 !!! Remember good old chess-friend Bobby Fischer back in the 60's/70's: He has been the first modern chessplayer with ideas of monetarising and modernizing the chess-game ( Copyright of Games/Fischer-Random/960, Signing Bonus). I really appreciate your content Levy, you are a Brother in Spirit 🤝🏼 Many greetings to NYC🏙️🗽 where I lived in 2003 and spent everyday nice days with a chess-friend i learned to know there in a chess-cafe next to Washington-Square-Park: William Lombardy (🪦2017 😢). Levy, if you need any help or assistance with your Future-Plans (chess-academy etc.) let me know, and i will be right back to NYC for supporting you🎉.
Now get outta here! oliver.klewin@googlemail.com
This seems like a terrible take on a global scale. Sure, if you're in the USA and your organizers are USA based, streamlining a tournament system like the NBA makes sense, but you have people who make $2000 at a chess tournament, flying all over the world to compete.
Classical is is dead. Games are too long to follow. give me game in 30 or game in 20 and do it in sets.
There are so many events now that winner of an event seems meaningless for the fans. We need to have some major events so that the fans know that those events are the real deal. They need to be pre-scheduled so that fans can travel. If fans have no interest in a tournament, why should the sponsors spend their money on them?
I'd say run it like UFC does leading up to Wrestlmania. Huge sponsors and deals running up for each one that companies can bid on. You could have different styles, as well, in each hour bracket.
This man looks like garbage what happened I know I been gone a hot minute
The freestyle event was amazing, I like watching 960, I don't play it as much because I'm not yet bored of regular chess. I hope this event is hosted yearly and other events learn from it. I'm against complete centralization but I'm in favor of standardization and good organization.
Levy, I agree with your central claim that the World Chess Champion title has become so devalued to the point that it bears no relation to whoever is the best performing chess player at any given time.
HOWEVER, I don't think the enormous variety of chess events which you see as problematic, really is that bad an issue. All that is needed is a webpage that meticulously and constantly lists all the upcoming chess events in chronological order, along with bits of useful information appended to each event. That way, all the fans could keep track of what events are going on i.e. where, when, and on which platforms they will be broadcast. This would help eliminate the jumbled, disorganised appearance that the chess circuit currently suffers from.
I also think Chess960 / freestyle chess has tremendous promise for at least matching the popularity of regular chess, if not usurping it. That ultimately is a question of supply and demand. If more and more people find that they enjoy the freestyle chess events and are vocal about it, this will spur organisers to host more of them, and encourage sponsors to lend them financial support. Whether it totally eclipses regular chess is anyone's guess at this stage. I personally love freestyle chess and believe it should remain as an ongoing staple.
I love watching the pros play freestyle. Thats the most interesting gameplay.
And The BEST Chess Video Of The Day Goes To… You Gotham!
As a more recent fan of chess, I have no idea what is important and what isn't and more to the point often when things are happening and how do I watch things.
I have seen and really enjoy the team format tournaments and events that I've seen. I think it brings an interesting dynamic to the game to see how the match ups work out and there is a tension to each board.
Frankly I cant watch a classical tournament. I watch some of your recaps because I dont have the luxury of being able to devote basically all day, every day, for a week or sometimes more to be able to keep up with a tournament. If there are multiple boards running it can be okay but if you get down to only one board at a time, frankly the watch can kinda drag. There is really only so long that I can watch the commentators try to speculate over all the possibilities that a player might play while he or she spends 30 minutes agonizing over a single move.
I think that my favourite events that I've watched have been rapid tournaments where there is enough time for tactical play but there has to be careful time management and often times the tension of getting low on the clock. Plus I can watch a full game or two in my day live which is nice. Even if there is only one board running there's still enough happening that it doesn't feel like a drag. It's a fun watch for me.
They even had/are having such conversations in tennis as well, to shorten the time of matches. It'd be a shame for chess though, bc only in classical (and only with engine preps) can we explore so many rich and complicated positions. Rapid and Chess960 is fun, but will we ever see games like Fabi vs Maxime Candidates 2021, or Magnus vs Fabi game 10 WCC 2018? I get it, it can't be helped, but still 😢
I think it would be really fun to watch a format like the Champions League in football (soccer for Americans). You have small tournaments at countries and like 2 from each country pass to a world cup of some sort. And in the end you have a winner.
Why the hell are such videos on the main channel, not Gotham too
It's so hard to compare a hypothetical chess tour to something like tennis. Normal tennis tournaments have 64 players (96 in others, 128 in majkors) because being knocked out in one match is the norm. That's not becoming the norm in chess anytime soon. So what do you do? This would kill mobility in chess because the top 8/16 players could monopolize all the important tournaments.
the world champion should be decided by a season, not by a tournament, like in soccer.
I strongly believe that the number of people who want to follow a full classical chess game LIVE is very sparse. The reason Levi and other chess channels went huge in the last years is that they compress the experience of a many hour game, where long periods arise where NOTHING happens and the player stare on the board without even moving, into a 10min highlight experience where the moves are flowing. That's also the reason Redzone is so popular in the NFL broadcasting.
An additional reason, many people don't watch classical chess is the MANY MANY DRAWS.
So let's take the best of other sports: Limit the games to a consumable format for a regular TV audience. Make them play one game with 15min Time control -> 10min break to go to the bathroom or do whatever people do in halftime -> Reverse the colors -> A second 15min game (max 1hour per game) -> If drawn play armageddon … but ALSO: PREVENT THE DRAWS!!
Maybe add the rule that the player who makes a move leading to a 3fold repetition automatically looses. That's maybe also a nice take to spice up the strategy a little.
Great job Levy for raising the awareness around these issues. I`d like to make some points. Standard chess (#518) is a subset of chess 960. The world chess championship for classical chess is quickly becoming defunct. I like the idea similar to Tennis, that the highest rank player in the world is the world champion by default (The current world number 1).
Standard CLASSICAL chess can be painful to watch, unless its the World chess champion match ( which is a funny contradiction ). Its become a memorization game for the first 20 ~ish moves. I totally agree with Magnus. For me the most exciting form of standard chess to watch and play is RAPID and BLITZ. I`m a huge fan of Fischer random chess 960, so any time control here is fine with me. As far as FIDE and tournaments are concerned, a reset or more open tournaments cant be a bad thing right ? But yeah If I had a choice to watch or play a standard classical chess match or a chess 960 classical match, its a no brainer. Also the only other variant I`d like to play or watch in a formal setting or tournament is probably No castling chess.
Its a little bit of a shame but the truth hurts, computers have destroyed standard classical chess to a certain extent in my opinion. I`m looking forward to settling in to play or watch a chess 960 OTB classical game for sure. One last point I`d like to make about chess 960 is that it would be nice to be able to play reverse colors against the same opponent with the same position where possible, which could build a lot of excitement for a blitz or Armageddon play off.
Great video
Chess many of the same problems as boxing. Too many big promotions paying big money. Too many championships, in chess’s case individual tournaments. New standard practices have made the game/sport more “intellectual hard” however worse for casual viewing(new boxing scoring to opening prep and engine assisted preparation). Too many people using outside tactics to make/hold on to their spots. Too much overall randomness in the newest era or both sports
Imagine being Ding, knowing that you are world champion but Magnus will always be bettwr
I just need to ask one really simple question that pops up in my mind, why would we do it? To get more sponsorship and media attention. But will they really do it if we SPEED UP THE GAME? No, because they have 0 interest in doing that.
At least that is my oppinion
The harsh truth is Chess is not for everyone. Even if you work hard with chess, there is no guarantee you will reach 2500 ELO. Chess is a profession more than a sport. Just like lawyer, engineers, Architects, Doctors, there are chess players.
I believe snooker is going to have a similar problem…. Rapid and blitz events may be the way forward to grow the game
I agree with most points except for the argument that chess tournaments should be "commercially viable".
I might be a tiny minority here but I hate what big sponsors do to any game, sport or event. It becomes a mockery, not to mention the massive pressure these sponsors then exert on organizers and players – indirectly becoming arbiters of what is and what isn't allowed (The player said or did something that we personally disagree with as a company? Punish him or we'll pull out the sponsorship).
Instead of rapid or blitz armageddon you could do classical 960 for tie breaks
Good to see you haven't changed. One of my biggest YouTube inspirations
whats wrong with ur voice levy
" we have a candidate tournament classification system that changes every cycle…" we want a change 😂
Even cricket has a T20 shroter form of the game now which is exciting and has gained more popularity than the longer format
There's nothing wrong with chess, the tournament circuit is fine. The World Championship cycle is close to ideal. Stop being sheep, think for yourselves.
I only watch the top level matches in youtube because you make videos of it, its hard to find the page or the stream, or whatever to watch it live.