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The most popular chess streamer on Twitch
- mitchbob 5y agoArchived: https://archive.ph/OpLDh https://archive.ph/OpLDh
- Overtonwindow 5y agoActually, I vastly prefer Agadmator’s chess channel. Less drama and more thoughtful analysis for us non-pros. https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YbN5WLFD8dLIegT5QAbA https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YbN5WLFD8dLIegT5QAbA
- oldstrangers 5y agoAgadmator isn't a streamer.
- gizajob 5y agoHe 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 5y agodo you pause the video or just enjoy the show?
- Tenoke 5y agoThe 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.
- have_faith 5y agoThe best channel (in my opinion...) for someone trying to actively improve is Daniel Naroditsky's: https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielNaroditskyGM 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.
- xlance 5y agoI totally agree, what a great tutor he is.
- Tenoke 5y agoBartholomew'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_bTZsD8GxeWP6BV https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MCBnhtCk_bT... 1. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8N8j2e7RpPnpqbISqi1SJ9_wrnNU3rEm https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8N8j2e7RpPnpqbISqi1S...
- SubiculumCode 5y agoBartholomew 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 5y agoSomeone once correctly said that Agadmator doesn't teach chess.
- amalcon 5y agoI 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.
- LeifCarrotson 5y agoI 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.youtube.com/channel/UCXy10-NEFGxQ3b4NVrzHw1Q https://www.twitch.tv/imrosen 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.youtube.com/channel/UCQHX6ViZmPsWiYSFAyS0a3Q https://www.twitch.tv/gothamchess https://www.twitch.tv/gothamchess
- nurettin 5y agoI 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.
- mkaic 5y agoAntonio 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.
- arrakis2021 5y agoHikaru is to chess what Doug Polk is to Poker
- muh_gradle 5y agoGreat analogy. Love both of 'em.
- garbagetime 5y agoHe was relevant at the top level of the game for a short period of time but only in one fairly obscure format?
- tzs 5y agoHe 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 5y agoThe 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 5y ago[deleted]
- garbagetime 5y agoYou 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.
- cjg 5y agoThere's a general life lesson here: ease up and enjoy it.
- ra88it 5y agoI 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.
- kenjackson 5y agoThe 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 5y ago'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 5y agoalso, keep practicing 24/7.
- incomingpain 5y agoHikaru 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 5y agoCarlsen 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 5y agoTo 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 5y agoAfter the Nepo match, no one has a winning score against Magnus if I remember correctly.
- Scarblac 5y agoOf 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=52948&pid2=10084 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?page=2&pid=52948&pi...
- alar44 5y agoHikaru will get wiped by Carlson. Hikaru is a blitz/bullet player, not classical. They are different games.
- incomingpain 5y ago>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.
- assbuttbuttass 5y agoI'm so excited for Hikaru in the candidates. It was his stream actually that got me back into chess during the lockdown.
- tuvi13 5y agoOne of the best yt channels for opening study is HangingPawns: https://www.youtube.com/c/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 5y agoEh, 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 5y agoI 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 5y ago> 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 https://www.youtube.com/c/BadObsessionMotorsport
- SubiculumCode 5y agoHikaru 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 5y agoHe'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 5y agoThe 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.
- Kiro 5y agoPeople 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.
- elliekelly 5y agoIt 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 5y agoYup, half WSB, half reality show. And what makes it really funny is that Carlsen is also a legendary troll.
- V-2 5y agoDo they? Not necessarily. That's quite a generalisation. I get the humour, it's just not my cup of tea.
- Kiro 5y agoWhat 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.
- V-2 5y agoWell, I think there are quite a few popular chess channels that people watch without actually thinking it's going to improve their chess level. (It's actually typical of watching sports). Eg. Botez sisters (who aren't even particularly strong players, objectively), Eric Hansen, pretty much all the "banter blitz" series etc. "I wouldn't be surprised if most viewers have no actual interest in chess" Now I admit that this would surprise me. I might expect that of some viewers, but not the majority. Not sure if there's any way of actually verifying this though
- birken 5y agoFor 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.
- oldstrangers 5y agoIt'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.
- alisonkisk 5y ago
- sillysaurusx 5y agoI 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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbAkk150pqs It's not discrediting Hikaru to say that there are strong players that can't participate.
- oldstrangers 5y ago
- fareesh 5y agoI 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 5y agoThis is true, but it was a temporary suspension rather than a ban (as it was supposed to be according to Twitch's ToCs)
- jdoliner 5y agoHikaru 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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ7-8MntaEo
- Shadonototra 5y agoHis 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 5y agoThis 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.
- Beltiras 5y agoThe name of the opening is hilarious! I'd love to see how A0 would treat Stockfish if forced to use it.
- birriel 5y agoHikaru learning "5-D Chess with Time Travel": https://youtu.be/v2zg-66eTY8 https://youtu.be/v2zg-66eTY8
- mkaic 5y agoI 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.
- mellosouls 5y agoPrevious discussion on the subject, different article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23537774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23537774
- cellis 5y agoWhile 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…”
- oldstrangers 5y agoI'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 5y agoInteresting. 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 5y agoStreaming. 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.
- sunsetMurk 5y agoHe'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 https://www.twitch.tv/gmhikaru
- verhaust 5y agoI missed it although I'm curious what he said. Do you mind summarizing a bit?
- chadrs 5y agoHe literally doesn't even care
- sunsetMurk 5y agoI 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'
- bjourne 5y agoThis article (I read it) felt like a fluff piece to me. Nothing interesting in it about Nakamura nor chess in general.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- gwern 5y ago> "Nakamura beat the crafty Hungarian Grandmaster Richárd 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."
- mrintellectual 5y agoHikaru'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.
- mkaic 5y agoHikaru 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!
- underdeserver 5y agoI'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").
- TheRealNGenius 5y ago
- TheRealNGenius 5y agolol a demented Russian sympathizer downvoted me.
- TheRealNGenius 5y agoATTENTION RUSSIAN CUMTURDS: take your limp dick out of Ukraine, and lobotomize yourself by sticking it up your asshole.
- voldacar 5y agoWhat I find particularly odd about Hikaru is that he's a top 20 player in the classical chess format, but in the time-limited rapid/blitz formats, he's consistently in the top 2.* Something about his brain must degrade less under time pressure compared to other elite players *https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2016192 https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2016192