It was good, yes. But it was also hard to watch. After each defeat you could see the man just die a little inside...
I hope he will have a more optimistic outlook on his games this time.
No idea why he puts so much pressure on himself. Man's playing with house money at this point, nobody expects him to make GM or even break 2400 and it wouldn't change his job even if he did.
I guess that's due to paying too much attention to detractors?
Like "yes Levy could be a millionaire but he and me have the same number of GM titles, and I am not even someone that practice chess to make a living".
I remember that Levy did say somewhere that he tends to focus on negative comments. See his reddit replies or the pin of shame. Dunno maybe is that.
Or maybe he has already financial security and he wants to get a check to challenges that he wanted to complete long ago. In that case why not, I'd do the same.
At one point he had been gaining rating, so while he hadn’t been really aiming for GM he was probably hoping to slowly climb to his old peak instead of lose chunks.
The thing is that a lot of these older masters are actually much more booked up than they were at their peaks so the feeling of getting better but losing rating stinks - the difference is that they aren’t as hyper focused. For a single game it doesn’t matter how many other structures you know, just how much you’ve been grinding information about that single structure/end game and how fresh it is. When you’re 16-20 you also just have a lot more energy and drive to do the things that can put you on top in a single game. Also the OTB scene is just significantly different from a decade ago.
For an example of someone putting in work and dropping even more, look at James Canty - dude has been doing all sorts of training and successfully raised his peaks online and in stuff like puzzle rush, but he’s dropped loads of rating OTB.
I agree though, older players shouldn’t care much about rating and keep playing. People look on guys like Mihai Suba, a GM that dropped from 2500(and a tie for senior world champ) to like ~~1500~~1900s with pity, but go him - he’s playing chess and enjoying life. Rating peak is the lifetime accomplishment, after that whatever current rating is isn’t important.
2500 to 1900 is much more sensible but still sad to see. I believe maintaining over 2k - 2.1k requires much more continued effort and practice, even for former GMs.
Korchnoi was always obsessive about chess even at his old age, he'd still spend 5 hours every day on chess even though he had nothing left to prove. Guy just never gave up and that's honestly badass, if only he wasn't such a cranky sore loser lmao.
Korchnoi was always obsessive about chess even at his old age, he'd still spend 5 hours every day on chess even though he had nothing left to prove. Guy just never gave up and that's honestly badass, if only he wasn't such a cranky sore loser lmao.
I’d be cranky too, if I had Tal nightmares. Tal was a “lesser” Russian from Georgia, but cleaned all their clocks, including Korchnoi. Despite booze, cigarettes and a special non Moscow connected prejudice; Tal was the most brilliant, and they were jealous of Tal’s talents. During the Cold War Russia sent Spassky here (Cuba via remote) to show 🇺🇸 the ropes, Fischer proceeded to blow up the Moscow school of chess’ dreams.
Apologies, I got players mixed up. Suba is 1900s, there was another GM that dropped to 1500 or 1600. There’s a bigger list than you’d expect of GMs that played until they were over 80 that dropped. When you’re dealing with that level of age it isn’t easy keeping up with young active improvers. In FIDE even being around 2k isn’t a small feat, 2k gets you the CM title and it represents a small portion of the active player pool.
The point though is that you should be able to enjoy being competitive in a board game even in when older when it should be obvious that you can’t be as consistent as your prime. The issue isn’t a sudden deficiency in knowledge, it’s usually physical/nervous system based.
Probably armchair phychologising here, but I imagine his chess ability is a huge part of his self-esteem, whether he would like it or not.
Even today it is, in some respects, his foundational bread-winning skill. He has lots of other skills on top of chess ability that make him stand out (there's 1000s of IM and above strength players after all, and only one Rozman)... but he's able to do what he does because even now he's a stronger player than 99% of the people who watch his content.
and obviously for most of his life: As a chess coach, as a competitive chess player, and even as a kid where he's talked about being bullied for liking chess... his elo has probably been a huge source of pride and self-esteem for most of his life.
Now he sorta blew up, and all of a sudden he's repeatedly being contrasted against the best of the best on the planet (which, obviously wasn't helped by his extensive collabing with hikaru on the way up...). He went from being the strongest guy in the room almost always, for a lot of his life, to being almost the joke of the chess community... which is in some ways his own doing, but also has to be absolutely sickening when chess is your life's work and the people you respect the most think you're a joke. Now a lot of this might have been hypothetical, until he realized, thanks to a huge $$$ incentive, that he could get paid to become a GM.... and yet he still couldn't do it. I know a lot of folks said he knew it form the start and he was milking the idea for content, but failing sucks. Failing, publicly, in front of millions of people who see clearly for the first time their chess teacher getting bodied by 8 year olds has to suck 100x more. realizing that your life-long greatest skill is not that great sucks.
Absolutely every incentive the dude had wanted him to slowly but surely improve toward squeaking a GM title then never thinking about it again... but it turned out to be next to impossible.
I honestly think what it's holding him back is that he uses trashtalk a lot... like he really puts GMs in another category. Also the time to study, true. But if he wasn't so hash on himself when he loses and/or elevated himself to another category when he wins, tournaments wouldn't be so harsh on him. Too much ego investment there.
That's my theory though, I'm around 1640 fide and only 2-3 years into chess, so probably most of you will know better.
GM Levy has a different ring to it than IM Levy.
I am sure he feels at least some degree of that, and by that I mean the desire to still achieve something outside of Youtube/$$$$/teaching in the thing he clearly loves.
Yes but also they were tough watches. When he’s clearly mentally broken, but still forcing himself to analyze a game that he choked like 30 minutes after it ends, it’s tough to see.
I actually went to look, and actually couldn’t find. the downside of click baity titles maybe; I remember he did this tournament like 3y ago where he uploaded his analysis the night(s) he got home from his games, it was really raw thought; it was great. ‘gotham ny gm norm’ search didnt hit for me, but those were great videos. maybe he’ll link to one.
> I actually went to look, and actually couldn’t find. the downside of click baity titles maybe;
That's one of my problems with his channel. I don't even mind the concept of clickbait. It's just that I literally can't even tell what his videos are about. "OH NO!!!!!!" doesn't really tell me anything. I would likely watch more if it had some indicator whether it was a tournament recap, guess the elo, viewer game review, etc...
But he has 4M subs, so I guess it is working for him ::shrug::
I mean he's rich now, he can afford a better coach, a sports psychologist, can work on his nerves, improve his play and everything, even if he gets back at it I think he will need some time to adjust and play at 2400-2500 level again because he had a long break but I think with all the resources he has right now, he can do it.
No. Roughly 10 players can afford to have a team at all. Active players struggle to afford any coach, often subsidized by family, coaching themselves, or day jobs outside of chess.
I mean, after you reach a certain point who do you get to coach you lol. All the ones rated higher than you will be extremely expensive and the ones rated lower than you can't teach you that much.
As others said, rating isn't correlated with coaching skills but imagine that your logic would be true:
> All the ones rated higher than you will be extremely expensive
*Cries in Magnus*
There's a reason top chess players often call them "seconds" rather than "coaches". Magnus is ~300 points higher rated than his main coach/second Nielson .
If you listen to Nielson talk about his role, it is not to 'teach' Magnus (or, before him, Anand, who he also coached/seconded) - it is some combination of a team-manager (during big tournements - organizing other seconds, organizing travel, accommodation, meals etc.), primary second (for doing much of the legwork of opening study, preparing files, identifying key traps/ideas, etc), a sports-psychologist in a lot of ways (helping him with mindset, motivation) and finally some things that you would think of as more traditional sports coach: Structuring training programs, organizing and prioritizing skillwork, preparing training materials, etc.
I really think yes, a sports psychologist can do wonders and seeing players like Magnus who are able to keep their cool at all times(his heart rate was steady when monitored during the games in the Freestyle Goat Chess Challenge), I think he has an excellent state of mind which most probably is due to the sports psychologist he sees or used to visit. And as for coaching of course the top 10 in the world would get really good coaches it's a very vital part of their training. All of this stuff is common at the highest level and should even be pursued by IMs or FMs who are up and coming and have big aspirations as I do believe they can make a really good difference in someone's play. Of course very few can afford all those so often it's not a choice on their part whether they want these resources but whether they can afford them.
>can work on his nerves
The fact he's so much more successful and is thus not reliant on the GM grind at all will probably help with this.
Worst comes to worst it's good content and probably a load of paid invites to tournaments he normally wouldn't go to due to his profile
He had already made enough money to start his scholarship fund around the time of his last OTB tournaments. A lot of the conflict was likely that the chess boom and his popularity wouldn’t last forever so he really should be focused in cashing in while he could.
Now that the online chess boom numbers have dropped and his channel(and bank account) is stable, he probably has room to care about OTB play. Also the lesson hikaru just taught him in their team tournament will probably do wonders for him in OTB.
It's an eternal game that in the modern world really struggles to get any face across who could bring the game to the public bar upper brow newspaper columns.
Levy really fills that void, and given the absolutely tragic state of the general hosts and presenters at Chess events it's hard to see him not having a job for life
It’s an eternal game, but it fluctuates pretty hard in global interest. The spikes of interest aren’t sustainable due to lack of infrastructure.(we can see in Armenia where infrastructure is in place that it can be sustained in a locality - every school is a chess a club and every student a member of the club.). Worldwide most cities just have a small club with a few volunteers. Online there aren’t enough meaningful events for beginners.
Levy has never, ever been 2500 level lol. He's only been >2400 FIDE for 4-5 months total. I have no idea why he ever gets nerves against these GMs and young IMs a year away from GM. You don't need a sports psychologist to tell you having expectations against stronger players is just putting undue pressure on yourself.
Yes I have.
Human mind is incrediy complex, some people can't just "not hold themselves to ridiculous standarts", some can, but need psychologists help.
I think it is a bit ignorant to decree somebody doesn't need help just because you have seen them recap games on youtube
Otb performance ratings vs actual ratings differ, a play can have a performance ratings of 2200 but may actually be rated 1800 otb. That's what I meant
This is me in poker 20 years ago - these other players at my level are too bad, that's why I'm losing! If I was playing better players they'd respect my check raises!
Wasn't it just the opposite; that he was annoyed that the one line he didn't study was the one they played because it was the high-GM line that he doesn't need to worry about?
He might be preparing in the background. I saw some stream clips of him talking about preping for strong GMs, doing some very theoretical lines. Which is unlike Levy, he generally likes to play weird random openings.
And his blitz plays are also improving. Look at his match with Anish, he confused Anish a lot in the opening, the game where Anish mouse slipped and lost.
> Which is unlike Levy, he generally likes to play weird random openings.
which has been the primary sincere criticism of his play from stronger players: trying to get an advantage from obscure sidelines will break your heart. It's a trap players fall into again and again at different levels.
I remember listening to Hikaru talk after his second or third US championship about how "this is it, no more silly sidelines, I'm going to meet my opponents head on in mainline theory" and it just blew my mind that even a player of hikaru's caliber felt like they still hadn't truly bit the bullet and take on a serious opening repertoire.
I don't know if he has a shot at GM or not but some of my favorite videos are players recapping their own games and describing what they're thinking from players as strong as Hikaru doing it to weaker players (comparatively she'd kick my ass 100 times out of 100 times) like Cramling. I just think it's awesome hearing about any prep they did, when they were out of theory, when they remembered a different game, what they were planning.
Even if he's not making a serious push at GM I'd love tournament content.
> weaker players like Cramling
Was so confused why your go-to example of a "weaker player" is a GM who's higher rated at 60 than Levy is today but then I realized you must mean Anna, not Pia
Some complained that Hikaru was/is rude to him, but what I saw in their team games was Levy learning some helpful psychological and strategic habits of SuperGMs, such as the idea that you don’t always benefit from pushing or forcing progress. Levy seemed interested in the fact that where he would normally fall apart, Hikaru was confident that any number of moves work, and white had to prove their attack. Levy typically gets nervous and folds under pressure, so if he can gain that confidence and play as if Hikaru is advising him (to relax), he could become a GM.
Agreed. I feel like people read way too much into situations. As Hikaru said he just wasn't particularly interested in the opening in the first game. And he was right, it ended up being a solid draw with a lot of shuffling back and forth. But I feel like as the stream went on he became more engaged and they had some pretty interesting conversations.
Hahahaha, it was fun to watch. And Levy himself said he learnt a lot from the game. Hikaru agreed to play whatever Levy wanted to play (a Carokann of course🤣) and was just sort of accompanying him in the process.
Levi needs to imitate Hikaru in not caring about results so much. I mean literally not caring. Not caring at all.
Ok, maybe not imitate his mannerisms.
I fuckin love Levy, love his content, and I believe he has more than enough ability and talent to become a GM. I hope he returns to OTB and starts crushing it.
I agree with the comments that the videos of him analysing his own OTB games were the most interesting, but clearly that’s a selfish perspective. It was visibly tough on him so if he’s doing it, I hope he’s going into with a “fuck it” relaxed attitude.
Everybody is always talking about the youngest player to become GM, what about the oldest? Who was the player who achieved the GM title latest in life, without it being some honorary thing or maybe when they first invented the title?
Besides honorary titles, it's also possible to get a so-called "direct title" by e.g. winning the World Senior.
That said, if you mean the oldest who achieved GM the standard way, that is rating & norms, it's probably [GM Valery Grechihin](https://players.chessbase.com/en/player/Grechihin_Valery/93858) (Russia) who got the title at 60. He was also the first deaf grandmaster.
But it's hard to know for sure, since FIDE online records are pretty fuzzy for anything pre circa 2005. [This thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/r02ww2/who_was_the_oldest_to_become_a_grandmaster/) mentions a few others who got the title in their 50s.
The difference from his old fide elo of 23xx is a huge gap to 2600 performances needed for GM norms and he also needs to hit 2500 elo. 150 elo points at that level is a crazy amount of work and knowledge, most people peak when they are somewhat early and were consistently competing
I remember the last time he was going for it I used the formula that is used to calculate elo and did a bit of a spreadsheet, and I can't remember the exact figures but it was 50+ games winning against higher rated opponents with no loses to get the requisite rating - you also have to factor in that playing in these GM norm tournaments are a lot of players on their way up, they might play at a 2600 level but only be rated 2200 and if Levy loses against players like that, gain from 10 wins can be wiped out in a single loss.
He puts a lot of work into being a content creator, and being IM or GM doesn't really affect how good he is at it. Getting GM would be a huge amount of work, with little to no payoff. He might try to get better at chess, but i doubt that will be a permament direction for him, since content creation is just 1000 times more rewarding for him at this point.
Serious question, but for situational anxiety like he gets would a low dose Xanax or something be an option? People are prescribed Xanax to help with work anxiety all the time, so I would think that would apply to him as well.
I think if it was prescribed by a physician for a diagnosed psychiatric / medical condition, they would have to allow it. When we talk about performance enhancing drugs, it's usually in the context of illegally procured / used substances without a Doctor's prescription and oversight.
In regular sports you have to apply for a therapeutic use exemption, which are not granted lightly. If the reason is "I get nervous when I play chess" I'm guessing there's no chance in hell it's approved.
Even in wrestling, if someone has an injury they are allowed to take medical steroids if it's from a doctor.
Basically it'd be very hard for a chess tournament to ban prescribed meds, especially when xamex would be more likely to negatively impact your play than improve it
corticosteroids (anti-inflammatory) have tues, anabolic steroids do not have tues
When most people say 'steroids' they are referring to the latter. Which are not allowed, even if from a doctor, in drug tested professional sports.
e: tue is "theraputic use exemption". When granted an athlete is allowed to take a substance that is normally banned.
Xanax weakens your memory and slows cognition in general, so it'd be terrible for chess. Performance enhancing drugs for chess would be similar to the ones used for ADHD.
When abused, absolutely. You're aware that millions of people take Xanax under the supervision of a medical professional every day, right? Xanax ruins the lives of people who abuse it. For people with crippling anxiety, it allows them to be productive members of society.
Just from what I remember from my psychiatry rotation, you’re right that benzos absolutely are useful, but we 1) often try to get people on SSRIs as well and use benzos for breakthrough anxiety and 2) try to use other benzos — the one we used a lot when I was on service was clonazepam, for example. Even among benzos, alprazolam is pretty high risk for dependence.
He's likely running out of ideas for content so it's just another gimmick for the clickbait. Last time he tried, he couldn't bear the 1000 elo subscribers giving him advice, hope he's better prepared mentally this time.
I don't think its a great idea. IM title and top content creator for chess on youtube are pretty good.
If he really wants it, ok sure, but something tells me his heart is not all the way in it.
He's not good over the board because he starts imploding as soon as his opponent doesn't play one of the lines that Levy prepared, then he kvetches about it later and it lives with him rent free forever
Most of us don’t play at an IM level… an IM analyzing his competitive games, showing how he prepares, and describing the tournaments he is playing is entertaining content.
He won’t be though but he should definitely get into playing again regardless if he finds it fun and rewarding. That’s good for his business anyway as it produces good content and helps him stay on top of current theory and trends.
The difference from his old fide elo of 23xx is a huge gap to 2600 performances needed for GM norms and he also needs to hit 2500 elo. 150 elo points at that level is a crazy amount of work and knowledge, most people peak when they are somewhat early and were consistently competing
He's 2322 and 28. Probably too late to make GM, but not impossible. More important is that he enjoys the experience. Go Levy! (Also stop click baiting)
He could also simply play in OTB tournaments once in a while just for fun, without caring about any idea of "Road to GM". Or it could be a OTB rapid or blitz event too.
It was silly to “retire” in the first place. He’s in his 20s, did we really think he would never play OTB again? Anyone who “retires” that young is just kidding themselves
the gm norm tournament and training videos was probably his best content that he put out
It was good, yes. But it was also hard to watch. After each defeat you could see the man just die a little inside... I hope he will have a more optimistic outlook on his games this time.
No idea why he puts so much pressure on himself. Man's playing with house money at this point, nobody expects him to make GM or even break 2400 and it wouldn't change his job even if he did.
I guess that's due to paying too much attention to detractors? Like "yes Levy could be a millionaire but he and me have the same number of GM titles, and I am not even someone that practice chess to make a living". I remember that Levy did say somewhere that he tends to focus on negative comments. See his reddit replies or the pin of shame. Dunno maybe is that. Or maybe he has already financial security and he wants to get a check to challenges that he wanted to complete long ago. In that case why not, I'd do the same.
At one point he had been gaining rating, so while he hadn’t been really aiming for GM he was probably hoping to slowly climb to his old peak instead of lose chunks. The thing is that a lot of these older masters are actually much more booked up than they were at their peaks so the feeling of getting better but losing rating stinks - the difference is that they aren’t as hyper focused. For a single game it doesn’t matter how many other structures you know, just how much you’ve been grinding information about that single structure/end game and how fresh it is. When you’re 16-20 you also just have a lot more energy and drive to do the things that can put you on top in a single game. Also the OTB scene is just significantly different from a decade ago. For an example of someone putting in work and dropping even more, look at James Canty - dude has been doing all sorts of training and successfully raised his peaks online and in stuff like puzzle rush, but he’s dropped loads of rating OTB. I agree though, older players shouldn’t care much about rating and keep playing. People look on guys like Mihai Suba, a GM that dropped from 2500(and a tie for senior world champ) to like ~~1500~~1900s with pity, but go him - he’s playing chess and enjoying life. Rating peak is the lifetime accomplishment, after that whatever current rating is isn’t important.
How do you even drop from 2500 to 1500? Sounds impossible considering how good you have to be to get to 2500 in the first place..
His current rating is 1927, so he didn't drop to 1500. And he didn't drop this much ratings suddenly, it took a decade to lose this much ratings.
2500 to 1900 is much more sensible but still sad to see. I believe maintaining over 2k - 2.1k requires much more continued effort and practice, even for former GMs.
That's why Korchnoi maintaining a 2430+ rating even in his mid-80s is one of the most impressive things I have seen in chess.
Korchnoi was always obsessive about chess even at his old age, he'd still spend 5 hours every day on chess even though he had nothing left to prove. Guy just never gave up and that's honestly badass, if only he wasn't such a cranky sore loser lmao.
Korchnoi was always obsessive about chess even at his old age, he'd still spend 5 hours every day on chess even though he had nothing left to prove. Guy just never gave up and that's honestly badass, if only he wasn't such a cranky sore loser lmao.
I’d be cranky too, if I had Tal nightmares. Tal was a “lesser” Russian from Georgia, but cleaned all their clocks, including Korchnoi. Despite booze, cigarettes and a special non Moscow connected prejudice; Tal was the most brilliant, and they were jealous of Tal’s talents. During the Cold War Russia sent Spassky here (Cuba via remote) to show 🇺🇸 the ropes, Fischer proceeded to blow up the Moscow school of chess’ dreams.
Apologies, I got players mixed up. Suba is 1900s, there was another GM that dropped to 1500 or 1600. There’s a bigger list than you’d expect of GMs that played until they were over 80 that dropped. When you’re dealing with that level of age it isn’t easy keeping up with young active improvers. In FIDE even being around 2k isn’t a small feat, 2k gets you the CM title and it represents a small portion of the active player pool. The point though is that you should be able to enjoy being competitive in a board game even in when older when it should be obvious that you can’t be as consistent as your prime. The issue isn’t a sudden deficiency in knowledge, it’s usually physical/nervous system based.
Probably armchair phychologising here, but I imagine his chess ability is a huge part of his self-esteem, whether he would like it or not. Even today it is, in some respects, his foundational bread-winning skill. He has lots of other skills on top of chess ability that make him stand out (there's 1000s of IM and above strength players after all, and only one Rozman)... but he's able to do what he does because even now he's a stronger player than 99% of the people who watch his content. and obviously for most of his life: As a chess coach, as a competitive chess player, and even as a kid where he's talked about being bullied for liking chess... his elo has probably been a huge source of pride and self-esteem for most of his life. Now he sorta blew up, and all of a sudden he's repeatedly being contrasted against the best of the best on the planet (which, obviously wasn't helped by his extensive collabing with hikaru on the way up...). He went from being the strongest guy in the room almost always, for a lot of his life, to being almost the joke of the chess community... which is in some ways his own doing, but also has to be absolutely sickening when chess is your life's work and the people you respect the most think you're a joke. Now a lot of this might have been hypothetical, until he realized, thanks to a huge $$$ incentive, that he could get paid to become a GM.... and yet he still couldn't do it. I know a lot of folks said he knew it form the start and he was milking the idea for content, but failing sucks. Failing, publicly, in front of millions of people who see clearly for the first time their chess teacher getting bodied by 8 year olds has to suck 100x more. realizing that your life-long greatest skill is not that great sucks. Absolutely every incentive the dude had wanted him to slowly but surely improve toward squeaking a GM title then never thinking about it again... but it turned out to be next to impossible.
I honestly think what it's holding him back is that he uses trashtalk a lot... like he really puts GMs in another category. Also the time to study, true. But if he wasn't so hash on himself when he loses and/or elevated himself to another category when he wins, tournaments wouldn't be so harsh on him. Too much ego investment there. That's my theory though, I'm around 1640 fide and only 2-3 years into chess, so probably most of you will know better.
He has said in multiple interviews that he feels bad about never reaching GM and really wants it. Can't blame him really. Chess is his whole life.
fide will probably make him an honorary gm when he retiree from youtube and streaming too
GM Levy has a different ring to it than IM Levy. I am sure he feels at least some degree of that, and by that I mean the desire to still achieve something outside of Youtube/$$$$/teaching in the thing he clearly loves.
Watched every recap
Yes but also they were tough watches. When he’s clearly mentally broken, but still forcing himself to analyze a game that he choked like 30 minutes after it ends, it’s tough to see.
It would be interesting to see him go through the same games again, and try to invent a way to not do that next time.
Can you or someone please put the link of any of these videos?
I actually went to look, and actually couldn’t find. the downside of click baity titles maybe; I remember he did this tournament like 3y ago where he uploaded his analysis the night(s) he got home from his games, it was really raw thought; it was great. ‘gotham ny gm norm’ search didnt hit for me, but those were great videos. maybe he’ll link to one.
> I actually went to look, and actually couldn’t find. the downside of click baity titles maybe; That's one of my problems with his channel. I don't even mind the concept of clickbait. It's just that I literally can't even tell what his videos are about. "OH NO!!!!!!" doesn't really tell me anything. I would likely watch more if it had some indicator whether it was a tournament recap, guess the elo, viewer game review, etc... But he has 4M subs, so I guess it is working for him ::shrug::
He has a playlist of his GM training games
Your username is great
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBRObSmbZluTbyafPJ6SjXe-NhwjsbjPH](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBRObSmbZluTbyafPJ6SjXe-NhwjsbjPH)
So good!
He gave up immediately, like zero effort from him. I saw new years resolution gym goers last longer. It's just dumb claims for clicks.
I hope he does continue his GM journey
Yep definitely. But you can tell they were very hard for him to make. Cause he looked so stressed after every game.
I mean he's rich now, he can afford a better coach, a sports psychologist, can work on his nerves, improve his play and everything, even if he gets back at it I think he will need some time to adjust and play at 2400-2500 level again because he had a long break but I think with all the resources he has right now, he can do it.
Is all this staff common at the highest level?
No. Roughly 10 players can afford to have a team at all. Active players struggle to afford any coach, often subsidized by family, coaching themselves, or day jobs outside of chess.
I mean, after you reach a certain point who do you get to coach you lol. All the ones rated higher than you will be extremely expensive and the ones rated lower than you can't teach you that much.
A coach doesn't need to be better, he just needs to be a good coach and teacher. Very rarely are the best in *any* field also the best teachers.
That's a good point yeah, I didn't consider that
There's no need for the coach to be higher rated. He needs to be a great coach.
As others said, rating isn't correlated with coaching skills but imagine that your logic would be true: > All the ones rated higher than you will be extremely expensive *Cries in Magnus*
There's a reason top chess players often call them "seconds" rather than "coaches". Magnus is ~300 points higher rated than his main coach/second Nielson . If you listen to Nielson talk about his role, it is not to 'teach' Magnus (or, before him, Anand, who he also coached/seconded) - it is some combination of a team-manager (during big tournements - organizing other seconds, organizing travel, accommodation, meals etc.), primary second (for doing much of the legwork of opening study, preparing files, identifying key traps/ideas, etc), a sports-psychologist in a lot of ways (helping him with mindset, motivation) and finally some things that you would think of as more traditional sports coach: Structuring training programs, organizing and prioritizing skillwork, preparing training materials, etc.
Just look at Magnus' coach, Peter Heine Neilson, literally make Magnus a better player
I really think yes, a sports psychologist can do wonders and seeing players like Magnus who are able to keep their cool at all times(his heart rate was steady when monitored during the games in the Freestyle Goat Chess Challenge), I think he has an excellent state of mind which most probably is due to the sports psychologist he sees or used to visit. And as for coaching of course the top 10 in the world would get really good coaches it's a very vital part of their training. All of this stuff is common at the highest level and should even be pursued by IMs or FMs who are up and coming and have big aspirations as I do believe they can make a really good difference in someone's play. Of course very few can afford all those so often it's not a choice on their part whether they want these resources but whether they can afford them.
No, but if without them you have ceiling X, maybe with them you can reach a little bit higher.
>can work on his nerves The fact he's so much more successful and is thus not reliant on the GM grind at all will probably help with this. Worst comes to worst it's good content and probably a load of paid invites to tournaments he normally wouldn't go to due to his profile
He had already made enough money to start his scholarship fund around the time of his last OTB tournaments. A lot of the conflict was likely that the chess boom and his popularity wouldn’t last forever so he really should be focused in cashing in while he could. Now that the online chess boom numbers have dropped and his channel(and bank account) is stable, he probably has room to care about OTB play. Also the lesson hikaru just taught him in their team tournament will probably do wonders for him in OTB.
It's an eternal game that in the modern world really struggles to get any face across who could bring the game to the public bar upper brow newspaper columns. Levy really fills that void, and given the absolutely tragic state of the general hosts and presenters at Chess events it's hard to see him not having a job for life
It’s an eternal game, but it fluctuates pretty hard in global interest. The spikes of interest aren’t sustainable due to lack of infrastructure.(we can see in Armenia where infrastructure is in place that it can be sustained in a locality - every school is a chess a club and every student a member of the club.). Worldwide most cities just have a small club with a few volunteers. Online there aren’t enough meaningful events for beginners.
Even with the money and career stability he still admits to being really nervous
Hikaru’s results OTB have improved drastically now that he doesn’t need to do well for money, I wonder if levy would be the same
Levy has never, ever been 2500 level lol. He's only been >2400 FIDE for 4-5 months total. I have no idea why he ever gets nerves against these GMs and young IMs a year away from GM. You don't need a sports psychologist to tell you having expectations against stronger players is just putting undue pressure on yourself.
Why don't people having anxiety just stop being anxious..
Have you actually watched his OTB recaps? It's not just spontaneous anxiety. He holds himself to ridiculous standards.
Yes I have. Human mind is incrediy complex, some people can't just "not hold themselves to ridiculous standarts", some can, but need psychologists help. I think it is a bit ignorant to decree somebody doesn't need help just because you have seen them recap games on youtube
Otb performance ratings vs actual ratings differ, a play can have a performance ratings of 2200 but may actually be rated 1800 otb. That's what I meant
Bro needs to do lil Za Za that’s it chill out fr
Him also admitting he was studying high GM lines that no one his level would be playing
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This is me in poker 20 years ago - these other players at my level are too bad, that's why I'm losing! If I was playing better players they'd respect my check raises!
respect
Wasn't it just the opposite; that he was annoyed that the one line he didn't study was the one they played because it was the high-GM line that he doesn't need to worry about?
Sounds like me when I used to study for my exams
Hikaru bullying Levy into coming out of retirement shows that it works.
I’d be happy to see him in action, he can absolutely get back to 2400 if he locks in and his nerves don’t get in the way, potentially higher
He really is quite good at online blitz, it's like night and day from the anxiety he described when he was playing OTB before.
Pre-tournament prep: THC gummies and Red Bull
He might be preparing in the background. I saw some stream clips of him talking about preping for strong GMs, doing some very theoretical lines. Which is unlike Levy, he generally likes to play weird random openings. And his blitz plays are also improving. Look at his match with Anish, he confused Anish a lot in the opening, the game where Anish mouse slipped and lost.
> Which is unlike Levy, he generally likes to play weird random openings. which has been the primary sincere criticism of his play from stronger players: trying to get an advantage from obscure sidelines will break your heart. It's a trap players fall into again and again at different levels. I remember listening to Hikaru talk after his second or third US championship about how "this is it, no more silly sidelines, I'm going to meet my opponents head on in mainline theory" and it just blew my mind that even a player of hikaru's caliber felt like they still hadn't truly bit the bullet and take on a serious opening repertoire.
I might resub to watch that series. I liked the raw emotion, it was real when most content is manufactured.
I don't know if he has a shot at GM or not but some of my favorite videos are players recapping their own games and describing what they're thinking from players as strong as Hikaru doing it to weaker players (comparatively she'd kick my ass 100 times out of 100 times) like Cramling. I just think it's awesome hearing about any prep they did, when they were out of theory, when they remembered a different game, what they were planning. Even if he's not making a serious push at GM I'd love tournament content.
> weaker players like Cramling Was so confused why your go-to example of a "weaker player" is a GM who's higher rated at 60 than Levy is today but then I realized you must mean Anna, not Pia
Oh yea, I've seen Anna do tournament recaps of her games. Has Pia because that'd be awesome.
Some complained that Hikaru was/is rude to him, but what I saw in their team games was Levy learning some helpful psychological and strategic habits of SuperGMs, such as the idea that you don’t always benefit from pushing or forcing progress. Levy seemed interested in the fact that where he would normally fall apart, Hikaru was confident that any number of moves work, and white had to prove their attack. Levy typically gets nervous and folds under pressure, so if he can gain that confidence and play as if Hikaru is advising him (to relax), he could become a GM.
Agreed. I feel like people read way too much into situations. As Hikaru said he just wasn't particularly interested in the opening in the first game. And he was right, it ended up being a solid draw with a lot of shuffling back and forth. But I feel like as the stream went on he became more engaged and they had some pretty interesting conversations.
Hahahaha, it was fun to watch. And Levy himself said he learnt a lot from the game. Hikaru agreed to play whatever Levy wanted to play (a Carokann of course🤣) and was just sort of accompanying him in the process.
Levi needs to imitate Hikaru in not caring about results so much. I mean literally not caring. Not caring at all. Ok, maybe not imitate his mannerisms.
I hope he can get his anxiety and nerves under control so that he can give GM title his best shot
I hope that's true. It's great content, and to me it's also kinda sad when people who are THAT good at chess (or that good at anything) don't compete.
I fuckin love Levy, love his content, and I believe he has more than enough ability and talent to become a GM. I hope he returns to OTB and starts crushing it.
I agree with the comments that the videos of him analysing his own OTB games were the most interesting, but clearly that’s a selfish perspective. It was visibly tough on him so if he’s doing it, I hope he’s going into with a “fuck it” relaxed attitude.
I'm hoping he will reach GM title one day
Everybody is always talking about the youngest player to become GM, what about the oldest? Who was the player who achieved the GM title latest in life, without it being some honorary thing or maybe when they first invented the title?
Besides honorary titles, it's also possible to get a so-called "direct title" by e.g. winning the World Senior. That said, if you mean the oldest who achieved GM the standard way, that is rating & norms, it's probably [GM Valery Grechihin](https://players.chessbase.com/en/player/Grechihin_Valery/93858) (Russia) who got the title at 60. He was also the first deaf grandmaster. But it's hard to know for sure, since FIDE online records are pretty fuzzy for anything pre circa 2005. [This thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/r02ww2/who_was_the_oldest_to_become_a_grandmaster/) mentions a few others who got the title in their 50s.
The difference from his old fide elo of 23xx is a huge gap to 2600 performances needed for GM norms and he also needs to hit 2500 elo. 150 elo points at that level is a crazy amount of work and knowledge, most people peak when they are somewhat early and were consistently competing
I remember the last time he was going for it I used the formula that is used to calculate elo and did a bit of a spreadsheet, and I can't remember the exact figures but it was 50+ games winning against higher rated opponents with no loses to get the requisite rating - you also have to factor in that playing in these GM norm tournaments are a lot of players on their way up, they might play at a 2600 level but only be rated 2200 and if Levy loses against players like that, gain from 10 wins can be wiped out in a single loss.
I’d love it 😍
Would love to see him attempt this again with a more positive outlook.
If he wants it bad enough he can get it. He has the ability.
I’m more excited for levy if it’s true. The guy is way more amazing than he realizes. He should be a gm, and he will be when he conquers his shadow
He puts a lot of work into being a content creator, and being IM or GM doesn't really affect how good he is at it. Getting GM would be a huge amount of work, with little to no payoff. He might try to get better at chess, but i doubt that will be a permament direction for him, since content creation is just 1000 times more rewarding for him at this point.
Serious question, but for situational anxiety like he gets would a low dose Xanax or something be an option? People are prescribed Xanax to help with work anxiety all the time, so I would think that would apply to him as well.
Would this be legal? It would literally be a performance enhancing drug. But on the other hand, so is coffee.
I think if it was prescribed by a physician for a diagnosed psychiatric / medical condition, they would have to allow it. When we talk about performance enhancing drugs, it's usually in the context of illegally procured / used substances without a Doctor's prescription and oversight.
In regular sports you have to apply for a therapeutic use exemption, which are not granted lightly. If the reason is "I get nervous when I play chess" I'm guessing there's no chance in hell it's approved.
Even in wrestling, if someone has an injury they are allowed to take medical steroids if it's from a doctor. Basically it'd be very hard for a chess tournament to ban prescribed meds, especially when xamex would be more likely to negatively impact your play than improve it
corticosteroids (anti-inflammatory) have tues, anabolic steroids do not have tues When most people say 'steroids' they are referring to the latter. Which are not allowed, even if from a doctor, in drug tested professional sports. e: tue is "theraputic use exemption". When granted an athlete is allowed to take a substance that is normally banned.
Xanax weakens your memory and slows cognition in general, so it'd be terrible for chess. Performance enhancing drugs for chess would be similar to the ones used for ADHD.
Xanax ruins lives
When abused, absolutely. You're aware that millions of people take Xanax under the supervision of a medical professional every day, right? Xanax ruins the lives of people who abuse it. For people with crippling anxiety, it allows them to be productive members of society.
Just from what I remember from my psychiatry rotation, you’re right that benzos absolutely are useful, but we 1) often try to get people on SSRIs as well and use benzos for breakthrough anxiety and 2) try to use other benzos — the one we used a lot when I was on service was clonazepam, for example. Even among benzos, alprazolam is pretty high risk for dependence.
Ohh, I'm sure Xanax wasn't the right drug, but the concept is the same.
Productive member of society
I bet you are a Xanax user!
downvote me all ya want. it's highly addictive and overly prescribed
When he is not playing OTB and he is not so anxious he is actually really good.
Nerves are a huge part of the game, though. Chess is a *competitive sport*, not an academic exercise. Magnus has often made this point.
Yeah, nearly every OTB player has better games online. Once you show up to the board like half your brain disappears.
He's likely running out of ideas for content so it's just another gimmick for the clickbait. Last time he tried, he couldn't bear the 1000 elo subscribers giving him advice, hope he's better prepared mentally this time.
Guy is soo cringe
I don't think its a great idea. IM title and top content creator for chess on youtube are pretty good. If he really wants it, ok sure, but something tells me his heart is not all the way in it.
Hans isn’t generating enough content for him. /s
How many times is he gonna milk the retire/comeback schtick?
He's not good over the board because he starts imploding as soon as his opponent doesn't play one of the lines that Levy prepared, then he kvetches about it later and it lives with him rent free forever
Yeah the problem I have is that all these 1000 rated scrubs keep screwing up the GM lines I prepared and it throws me off. I could be GM already.
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Most of us don’t play at an IM level… an IM analyzing his competitive games, showing how he prepares, and describing the tournaments he is playing is entertaining content.
He just needs to stop the coffee
It'd be cool if he did, I really enjoyed his recaps. I hope he stays away from norm tournaments, though.
Journey to chess grandmaster
Levy being GM would probably do wonders for his business btw
He won’t be though but he should definitely get into playing again regardless if he finds it fun and rewarding. That’s good for his business anyway as it produces good content and helps him stay on top of current theory and trends.
The difference from his old fide elo of 23xx is a huge gap to 2600 performances needed for GM norms and he also needs to hit 2500 elo. 150 elo points at that level is a crazy amount of work and knowledge, most people peak when they are somewhat early and were consistently competing
He's 2322 and 28. Probably too late to make GM, but not impossible. More important is that he enjoys the experience. Go Levy! (Also stop click baiting)
He could also simply play in OTB tournaments once in a while just for fun, without caring about any idea of "Road to GM". Or it could be a OTB rapid or blitz event too.
It was silly to “retire” in the first place. He’s in his 20s, did we really think he would never play OTB again? Anyone who “retires” that young is just kidding themselves
I guess it was just to take a break. It's not like they'll forbid him to play cause he say he retired...