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The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

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Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#91

Post by joshuamorton »

tibbar wrote: post #83
joshuamorton wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 understa…

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…

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.

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#92

Post by joshuamorton »

oldstrangers wrote: post #90
joshuamorton wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 understa…

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 tell…

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.

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#93

Post by apalmer »

kenjackson wrote: post #69
cjg wrote: post #7

There's a general life lesson here: ease up and enjoy it.

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 th…

'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.

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#94

Post by oldstrangers »

joshuamorton wrote: post #92
oldstrangers wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 tell…

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.

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.

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#95

Post by apetresc »

fareesh wrote: post #46

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

This is true, but it was a temporary suspension rather than a ban (as it was supposed to be according to Twitch's ToCs)

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#96

Post by michaelt »

jowsie wrote: post #81
michaelt wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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

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.

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#97

Post by joshuamorton »

oldstrangers wrote: post #94
joshuamorton wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

> 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.

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#98

Post by V-2 »

Kiro wrote: post #35

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.

Do they? Not necessarily. That's quite a generalisation. I get the humour, it's just not my cup of tea.

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#99

Post by mrintellectual »

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.

Re: The most popular chess streamer on Twitch

#100

Post by cellis »

pkulak wrote: post #86
debacle wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

I thought he recently became a GM?
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