Welcome back to Capitalism...and yet it was said to be the winning "system"... Maybe it really is, but certainly no longer for Americans, for more than a decade... and counting...
He’s the nicest guy in chess and still called out Hikaru, as he should. A multi million dollar streamer complaining about missing out on a paycheck for a week is beyond ridiculous. He simply didn’t want to play and uses money as his excuse and expects everyone to buy it.
Lol when you call So like that i got reminded of an old bot on YT which was meant to only criticise Magnus and that guy was like So is the real chess champ Magnus is not blah blah
Wesley is so (no pun intended) self critical. He's a great Chess player, there are so many great chess players at the Olympiad and he made a great showing for America.
SO redeemed himself, but Hikaru doesn't even feel the need to recap or shout out to the US team on Twitter. I honestly think that he just doesn't care to play with most of the American team.
Magnus also has sponsorships, he is a model in Norway and he wins all the time. As Hikaru has said before the number of players that can live from chess is very modest, particularly in the open section. Remember that to stay strong you are most likely paying a second, training traveling, and more often than not if you are not one of the top 15 players you are not getting price money. Computers are helping it's not enough. If you are a man to go winning tournaments you need an Elo of 2700 and it's not clear that is going to cover your expenses. Women have it far easier in terms of strength, you can become a 2500 elo player and win enough tournaments to live, but there is less money in women's chess and you will get invited less. Maybe more team events will help and sponsors. Maybe the technology companies will see the value on promoting chess ?
Heres the thing. USA was still the top seed without Hikaru. Their players didnt just show up on full potential. If Fabi didnt blunder against Guki and So didnt blunder against Ivanchuk, they pretty much had a chance at glory. Hikaru played quite a couple of olympiads and i understand if he has a fatigue with this thing and just likes his chair, his room and streaming chess.
@@sscssc908 so true lol. hes just scared cuz there were low rated players there as well, and one loss would cost him a shit ton of points. hed then probably go on to cry about it as always
India should have been favored. I'd go out on a limb and say indias board 4 is better than usa board 2, 3 at the worst. And fabi is ever so slightly better than pragg and gukesh
Wouldn’t playing in these tournaments bring more attention to the game, and in the long run, more money? I don’t see how not playing will help the young players.
@@thl_leo That’d be reasonable but that’s not what he said. He said he didn’t go because he makes more money from streaming and not going (as a form of protest I guess) will incentivize the promoters to pay younger players more in the long run. Which I disagree with.
The point Hikaru is making is that the chess funding in the United States is regrettable, and him not participating is really the only other way he can advocate for change outside of making his content. If he complains and still shows up, does US Chess have any real incentive to grow as opposed to maintaining the status quo?
16:20 he literally said that it suck that the the chess boom does not benefit players even though it should have been. He already played the olympiad enough times for the US and at the end of the day it is his choice to play or not
@@deshrajdabhade7537 he's the best player of all time, I assume he never has any money problems and can pretty much do whatever he wants unlike other top chess players.
One sad reality of world Hikaru pointed out really struck me that how entertainment value has influenced capitalism. Most profit generated by people are not the people who are best at it but those who can make it fun for general audience..
1. you can not prove that Hikaru playing when he clearly isn't motivated to would change the result 2. The US did medal, they got silver which is more than respectable considering the strength of India 3.Explain to me what the United States gets from a gold medal in the chess Olympiad. Some tiny amount of attention? Like you think that the United States winning gold in a chess event that isn't even that popular within the already small scene that is professional chess is going to change the country? He for sure has more impact simply by continuing to run his livestream that thousands watch and enjoy. If you care so much about American chess what about the fact that his livestream will certainly inspire laymen to pick up the game?
So to sum it up, Hikaru is mad that the Indian players have large contracts from their country and he doesn't. Nobody plays the Olympiad for money. Perhaps we could start a GoFundMe in Hikaru's name to incentivize him to play in two years.
Hmm yeah not really the point. The way he's wrapping it is trying to ensure future generations are rewarded better financially. However, I'll say that he's also contradicting himself by saying he'd be making 7-8X times less money for the same time invested - this is strange to include as an argument because it doesn't really apply to other players who don't have a streaming (or other) career ongoing. So is it about money for YOU or for FUTURE generations? Don't really agree with all his points and not sure if he really believes him "protesting" would actually make a change for future generations, but who knows. Ultimately it's his choice, maybe at some point it's not worth it in regards to stress/time vs compensation.
@@halfriver He's not really contradicting himself, but it is a weird thing to mention. He's saying he's willing to take a paycut (hence "I'll be generous") as long as the reward is good enough. Maybe he's thinking mathematically, if he takes 3 weeks off for the Olympiad but could've earned $20k in that time then he hopes the incentive is at least $5k. And maybe he concludes that's a good enough reward for the time spent for other US players, by comparing how much he makes. Though I think Hikaru is just a narcissist
Absolutely true. The money matters -- and you see it outside of chess. I had a very promising career in academia (biomaterials and mechanical engineering), receiving several societal awards and publishing high impact papers. But in the end, I left because there wasn't enough money. And there is continued brain drain because the money in finance, industry, and consulting is just more appealing.
India dominated Because the players are young and they all have killer instinct and Many GM's have also said that Arjun Erigaisi is now even better than Magnus when it comes to beating lower rated players with black which is very tough. So Hikaru's Presence wouldn't make any difference. India started with wins.
That's just recency bias nothing else magnus has ruled over decade no need to draw comparison with him too premature. Yes youngsters are in good form playing well doesn't mean keep comparing with legend like magnus
@@rajsub3884 i don't think he compared rather present a statistics. And every budding talent is being compared to previous generation from Carlsen to vishy Anand , casparov No harm in comparison
@@rajsub3884 I am not comparing with magnus, he is obviously the Goat, For Comparison both players don't have similar career length. I am comparing play style magnus was more standard, play style of Arjun helps him in beating lower rated players much more .
summary: its cuz there were low elo players in the tournaments as well, and one loss against any of them woulda cost hikaru a shit ton of points, prolly throwing him out of 2800 level.
"Hikaru is making videos" I laughed really loud for that line. But, Hikaru is right, I think it is not fair to blame a person who did not play in the team for the team's own failures to produce results.
@@muradinky I am talking about the hypothetical situation where Hikaru would join the olympiad team to win a medal, he is not to blame for them missing out a medal.
What Hikaru is basically saying is 'I cannot play for my country because I don't get enough money for doing that'..I make 6 or 7 times the money through streaming.Its candid but it feels very amiss..players like Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand represented their nations for years even when Norway and India did not have strong teams.They did not play for money..they played for national pride and love for their fellow citizens.
What is national pride gonna do when you can’t feed your family? No country/government will ever give you a piece of bread when you’re starving, so you don’t owe anyone anything.
Do you live in US? Do you have a retirement plan? Do you have to pay US tax? Do you have to pay the mortgage? Do you play pro chess? National pride and your fellow citizens will support you on those stuff for real, especially in US? Come on, Hikaru is 37 by now. At the end of the day, chess is just a meaningless board game, bro.
Hikaru has financially struggled a lot in the past and he has talked about it. Magnus and Vishy won good prize money. Nowadays winning any tournament is tough and as someone said everything in US is very costly. I have see news about housing difficulty. Capitalism has made US too tough to live in. Vishy's father was govt engineer as far as I remember or in some decent job and thus he must already have a decent house and very few things to worry about and he did start winning tournaments. Magnus has been winning since he was a teenager. Hikaru's family condition is also very different as he has explained. There are many factors and money is a priority for anyone who struggled at any point with money.
Hikaru does have a very valid point that the chess boom has not benefitted the players enough. And not just the top players. Second and third tier players really struggle.
Do you know how much NBA players got paid to play for their country in the olympics? For the US it's zero. Maybe other countries give their players a bonus but it's nowhere near their salary. Some events just aren't about the money and are for boosting interest in the sport, representing your country and building your own personal marketability and brand. I would have more respect for Hikaru if he just said "The Olympiad just isn't my favorite format and I wanted to give other players a chance to play". But Hikaru has had a love/hate relationship with public relations over the years. Ultimately he's under no obligation whatsoever to play, but corporations (In the US) aren't going to come flocking to sponsor players until chess gets a wider general acceptance through exposure in events like this.
At the end of the day, Hikaru has done so much for chess and for American chess, if he doesn’t want to play in the Olympiad so be it; it’s his choice and hes not going to be playing at this high level forever, let him enjoy the next few years in chess the way he wants. The US team are exceptionally strong an can’t blame someone else for their unfortunate tournament.
@@MrBlablaologe I think he has represented his country enough times already, the country owes him respect and money for his contributions to the country.
Really sad contrasting Hikaru's "they won't give me enough money" attitude with the real team spirit and doing it for their country you can see if you watch the Chessbase India videos. There were a couple of beautiful moments today when Arjun and then Gukesh joined them in the commentary room and they were all so happy in sharing their achievement together. Hikaru literally couldn't give a flying f about that, despite having made far more money at chess than any of these guys. Its almost like his soul is missing in just chasing a few more bucks...
When you make $10 million a year streaming you can't expect the U.S. federation to compensate you with an equivalent appearance fee. If they did it for you then they would have to do the same for Fabi and close to the same for Wesley, Levon, and Leinier. The U.S. federation doesn't remotely have that kind of money. You act like you're a guy desperately hustling to put together his next rent payment.
He clearly said he gets like 6-7 times less in chess tournament and if the prize money and other stuffs get double,he would still get 3-4 times less but would play
@@Nafim-kv6rg The US federation doesn't have enough money to do even that. They only have 100 k members and most of those are discounted scholastic memberships. Rex could do it-he recruited most of our team and paid them a bonus to come over here and represent us but he is already putting a ton of money into chess here. He's probably already bankrolling the team for something in the 200-300 k range. He probably feels that he shouldn't need to kick in another 200-300k to get 100% of the top players to play as opposed to 80% which do now.
That's on you The US is at the very least one of the three wealthiest countries in the world If you can't pay your players a decent wage to compete for weeks at the highest level, that's on you
It is understandable for other players to skip because of money, but not Hikaru. He is already in the top 1% in Chess. Why do Djokovic, Rafa, the NBA players etc play in Olympics? Hikaru could have still made a video about his game every single day.
I mean you can't compare him with Djokovic and others as they consider themselves as a sportsperson but on the other hand Hikaru considers himself a content creator so his primary job is to stream and make content. Though I agree that he should have played.
Humans are hilarious. Do you have any idea of the mental load required by the olympiads? You think he can make content after playing those games? Pls think again
the true american mindset, explains how the best fewling is to carry your national team than somehow concludes that its actually more important to have more money (while being insanely rich alrdy) 🎉
money is just a form of showing appreciation. the US does show 0 appreciation for their top players but is happy to claim the renown when they win. its sketchy to expect athletes to basically pay out of their pockets to do that, at the highest level mind you (=where athletes should get eff you money rich if they ever manage to get there). Hikaru doesn't need to anymore, so he doesn't do it. good for him.
@@TNM001 i agree - there's the possibility of losing rating - he has to travel out there - plus he could make more from the comfort of his own home. he's proved how great of a player he is - magnus doesn't play the world championship - hikaru can pass on this - gives other players a chance - we know the US is up there as one of the best chess nations (with India, China, Norway, and Russia I'd say)...yeah no reason for people to be mad
What’s Naka on about? How much money does he think he’s supposed to get? From the USA federation? What’s the pay and what do you get for getting a gold medal?
It's not always about the money, man. It's an opportunity to represent your country. Your abandonment will not get more sponsors. You will not win the World championship if you don't participate in the grueling tournaments like these.
Its your own Country FFS ! Everything shouldn't be about Money, it's just 10-12 days of Chess. You might not win it anyway but at least give it a shot. Make videos after your games and earn from them
If it's any consolation to Wesley and USA, in the 2022 Olympiad, Gukesh blundered against Abdusattorov and India came 3rd. This year India won. If history repeats, USA should win in 2026!
Hikaru doesnt need the money that he would miss out on making for the 2 week period. Hes making a point by not playing in hopes that we press for nore sponsors
Adding another million dollars per couple of months to already big net worth isnt really "earning a living" plus Hikaru also said himself he made more money from stocks and trades than content.
Hikaru, I really enjoy your content, but not everything has to be about money and motivations. I don't think Magnus is playing in the Olympiad for money, and many streamers played there with pride for their countries. There’s honor in representing your country, and I believe you'd create great content from the experience. Taking 10 days off wouldn't hurt-it might even help you gain more subscribers. I hope you'll consider it in 2 years and won't retire before then.
You are this stupid or just clueless. He is trying to make the next generation get paid for what they are worth. Not everyone can stream and make a living. It is always easy to sit from your home and tell players hey take 1 week off and you should be fine when they can barely stay afloat.
US team is in that weird void where once young talented players get weary but new ones haven't yet come up. A newer, hungrier batch of GMs may have performed better at the olympiad.
Great take. At first before hearing your side I was curious to why you didn't want to compete. Like wheres the competitive edge that you showed when you whooped Hans in the SCC. But know I see. It's for a higher purpose. To move forward the support of our game within the states. Respect it.
Looking back, Indian chess boom was completely different from American chess boom. While in american boom, streamers and ppl around chess infrastructure were winners, in India the players have been winners whereas ppl like sagar are still underappreciated. I am not saying one is better than the other, but definetly interesting angle to look at.
Hikaru is annoyed that America doesn’t really care for chess very much, and won’t give some elaborate awards like 🇺🇿 or 🇮🇳. Fair I guess, but do recall JFK’s quote, where he stated “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can do for your country.”
After hearing Hikaru's reasoning for not playing, I feel that the concept of patriotism is very different in the USA compared to India, Russia, or China. This difference comes from the fact that the USA is a country of immigrants. It seems that people in the USA are proud primarily because of the country’s achievements whereas in other countries, pride comes foremost from a deep love for the land and its history which unites all citizens. Most immigrants to the USA go there to become part of a success story and to gain the bragging rights of being called American but they may never feel the same connection to the soil as people in countries like India or China do. This is just my observation, which I find very interesting.
Of course, Hikaru can play or not play for any reason at all. But his explanation is pure BS. He simply makes more money streaming than playing. It has NOTHING to do with trying to help future generations.
Hikaru next time you will get 2 million dollars,a car and a house and you will get chance to meet the president. I'm requesting you to play next Olympiad please 🙈
Even though I am German, I totally agree - there is so little support in Germany and it is so sad. I am very grateful for Jan Henric Buettner for his support and ideas! I hope this will make a difference in the upcoming years. Germany has a promising team!
You and Levy could definitely create a supportive chess players foundation to lay out the structure and public and political voice for it, at least for the USA or first just pick a certain state in it, and this can start small
A lot of people are not seeing Hikaru’s point. If Hikaru played this olympiad and they win the funding won’t be increased and its ok for the US but now that they wont he number 1 would raise some flags and hopefully they will realize why they did not get the best players.
Maybe it's time to start asking what these top players are doing to expand the game...? I guess Fabi has a podcast he occasionally is on. (it's a good podcast, but that isn't audience expanding). The biggest streamers are 2000 rated women who frankly have very little reason to expand chess (little ROI here). No disrespect meant here, but I'm talking about bringing money to the olympiad and other top level events which they aren't playing in. Nor is Gotham. Danya isn't really either. I think I can count the number of semi-regular streamers in the top 100 on 1 hand. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong. How many top 100 players are trying to do what Hikaru is doing? (i'm not even talking about streaming, because I'd give Magnus credit too) I get it that they might not all be great personalities on camera (though, did you see Hikaru when he first started???) but sponsors aren't bending over backwards to throw money at a tournament with a bunch of people no one cares about (outside of the chess community). So few of them are working on building brands that of course there isn't much money flowing into chess. This isn't a 5 minute fix. Can you imagine what would happen if Gukesh booted up a twitch stream? That chat would crash Twitch.
I think with Hikaru in the lineup that America is at least 2-2 against India. Fabi, Hikaru, So, and Levon. Likely wouldn’t have also been in the situation where a draw wasn’t acceptable anymore, which is what got fabi in trouble. India is a great team but that American team is also great.
Hikaru would probably play board 2. So fabi still loses, and prag already lost (but maybe with hikaru he is more cautious, but let's assume he loses). Now it's upto wesely vs arjun, I do feel arjun has an edge. He's playing white and will be on the offensive here
@@hydrocult3508 as I said, fabi lost due to playing more aggressive lines because America couldn’t afford a draw. The reason for that is because they were so behind in match points. Which I don’t think they would have been if you add someone the level of Hikaru to the team. It’s all just speculation, but adding a top player in the world to your team is a pretty big difference. We wouldn’t have went 2-2 vs Romania and we would have likely beat Ukraine for example. If fabi is playing for a draw he has a good shot to hold.
Money isn't everything. Sometimes you just do what you gotta do. There are so many countries that has less budget and their players are eager to play. I don't think Hikaru is right.
It’s good to have new players represent the US so that when this generation retires the US has a bench of new players who can compete at the highest level.
15 years ago i'd have never imagined someone sitting in US saying that Indian Chess players are well supported financially & US players are not.
Welcome back to Capitalism...and yet it was said to be the winning "system"... Maybe it really is, but certainly no longer for Americans, for more than a decade... and counting...
The irony doesn't get any better 😅
Welcome back to Capitalism...and yet it was said to be the winning "system"...
@@andreitiberiovicgazdoviciwaiting for the comment
@@andreitiberiovicgazdovici Cue in Hasan communist streaming Andy pushing socialism. Because it's "for people".
our boy wesley is so funny
He’s the nicest guy in chess and still called out Hikaru, as he should. A multi million dollar streamer complaining about missing out on a paycheck for a week is beyond ridiculous.
He simply didn’t want to play and uses money as his excuse and expects everyone to buy it.
Absolutely i love Hikaru to be there as he was there before
it's a free country but lame excuse by Hikaru
Calling an honest and humble guy funny to undermine his opinions. Gigachad move!
America purports itself to be capitalistic. Sitting out the Olympiad due to money reasons is 100% on brand imho
lol you know it's bad when the jesus lord wesley so curses on an interview
Lol when you call So like that i got reminded of an old bot on YT which was meant to only criticise Magnus and that guy was like So is the real chess champ Magnus is not blah blah
It's so absurd that "shit" is considered a cursed
Yeah his name was niko or something with a women's pfp in black white.Right?He used to write paragraphs😆@@sreecharan4379
@@sreecharan4379his name was "nicbunten" right??
I guess jesus won't give him an hand in playing chess anymore, why not asked him for help instead of hikaru?
Wesley is so (no pun intended) self critical. He's a great Chess player, there are so many great chess players at the Olympiad and he made a great showing for America.
Yet we need to accept his performance was so so
Which is right. It will help him starve for perfectionism
@@prashantthakur9329but his last round win solely carried USA to the silver
@@ziyanma9833 get the pun man
@@prashantthakur9329 lol
"He makes videos on us that's his contact" bro wesley is so funny 😂😂😂
SO redeemed himself, but Hikaru doesn't even feel the need to recap or shout out to the US team on Twitter. I honestly think that he just doesn't care to play with most of the American team.
hes crying, as always, cuz they didnt approach him at all lol
In it for the money
He makes videos about those who will get him views and is current busy farming views from india
Don't cry if you want usa to be represented go do it yourself. Its his choice to not play and focus on money i mean everybody does the same.
Magnus also has sponsorships, he is a model in Norway and he wins all the time. As Hikaru has said before the number of players that can live from chess is very modest, particularly in the open section. Remember that to stay strong you are most likely paying a second, training traveling, and more often than not if you are not one of the top 15 players you are not getting price money. Computers are helping it's not enough. If you are a man to go winning tournaments you need an Elo of 2700 and it's not clear that is going to cover your expenses. Women have it far easier in terms of strength, you can become a 2500 elo player and win enough tournaments to live, but there is less money in women's chess and you will get invited less. Maybe more team events will help and sponsors. Maybe the technology companies will see the value on promoting chess ?
@@jaimeduncan6167 nobody cares about actual reason my man.People want to spread venom and hate towards players(Hikaru especially).
@@Zoro-4lifeI wonder why oh wait maybe because of his clown behaviour
Heres the thing. USA was still the top seed without Hikaru. Their players didnt just show up on full potential. If Fabi didnt blunder against Guki and So didnt blunder against Ivanchuk, they pretty much had a chance at glory. Hikaru played quite a couple of olympiads and i understand if he has a fatigue with this thing and just likes his chair, his room and streaming chess.
blah blah blah. If my mother has balls she would be my dad. blah blah blah.
@@sscssc908 so true lol. hes just scared cuz there were low rated players there as well, and one loss would cost him a shit ton of points. hed then probably go on to cry about it as always
what kind of bs is that if this if that, them blundering is just their incompetence and lack of preparation lol
He is in it 4 the money 💰 🤑 💸
India should have been favored. I'd go out on a limb and say indias board 4 is better than usa board 2, 3 at the worst. And fabi is ever so slightly better than pragg and gukesh
There is no question Wesley is good enough to be on any American team, too.
Wouldn’t playing in these tournaments bring more attention to the game, and in the long run, more money? I don’t see how not playing will help the young players.
Because it IS about the 💵
The Olympiad already has the biggest names in chess (minus the Russians). If they don't do it, how would adding one mord change anything?
Because he’s giving these spotlights to younger players who have longer careers ahead of them when Hikaru will probably retire sooner than them
@@thl_leo That’d be reasonable but that’s not what he said. He said he didn’t go because he makes more money from streaming and not going (as a form of protest I guess) will incentivize the promoters to pay younger players more in the long run. Which I disagree with.
he's main point was theres no benefit for him personally, he makes more money streaming
hikaru moaning about the money when hes obviously a millionaire..
The point Hikaru is making is that the chess funding in the United States is regrettable, and him not participating is really the only other way he can advocate for change outside of making his content. If he complains and still shows up, does US Chess have any real incentive to grow as opposed to maintaining the status quo?
@@jordan.maldonado just seems thin gruel to me at the expense of his team mates and country.
@@jordan.maldonado i think he just wants more money
16:20 he literally said that it suck that the the chess boom does not benefit players even though it should have been. He already played the olympiad enough times for the US and at the end of the day it is his choice to play or not
He's world #2. I think it's fair to expect more money
"Our carrers will be ending soon", that actually breaks me, wth man. I can't imagine Hikaru not playing anyone 😢
I have a 200 IQ question, could there be more sponsors for chess if hikaru played the olympaid and it is more in the spotlight?
Magnus played...
@@davidjoseph54 because he is there for competitive chess and play best players of globe and not for monetary gain
Nope, the issue is in America govt here who doesn't give too much attention to chess and chess players when they have super GMs like Hikaru and Fabi
@@deshrajdabhade7537 Norway had really little chance to play with the top players tbh
@@deshrajdabhade7537 he's the best player of all time, I assume he never has any money problems and can pretty much do whatever he wants unlike other top chess players.
One sad reality of world Hikaru pointed out really struck me that how entertainment value has influenced capitalism. Most profit generated by people are not the people who are best at it but those who can make it fun for general audience..
A medal for your country is more important than a few days of streaming.
1. you can not prove that Hikaru playing when he clearly isn't motivated to would change the result
2. The US did medal, they got silver which is more than respectable considering the strength of India
3.Explain to me what the United States gets from a gold medal in the chess Olympiad. Some tiny amount of attention? Like you think that the United States winning gold in a chess event that isn't even that popular within the already small scene that is professional chess is going to change the country? He for sure has more impact simply by continuing to run his livestream that thousands watch and enjoy. If you care so much about American chess what about the fact that his livestream will certainly inspire laymen to pick up the game?
So to sum it up, Hikaru is mad that the Indian players have large contracts from their country and he doesn't. Nobody plays the Olympiad for money. Perhaps we could start a GoFundMe in Hikaru's name to incentivize him to play in two years.
Large contact 😂😂 dude in india people rarely give a damn about any other games except cricket
Hmm yeah not really the point. The way he's wrapping it is trying to ensure future generations are rewarded better financially. However, I'll say that he's also contradicting himself by saying he'd be making 7-8X times less money for the same time invested - this is strange to include as an argument because it doesn't really apply to other players who don't have a streaming (or other) career ongoing. So is it about money for YOU or for FUTURE generations?
Don't really agree with all his points and not sure if he really believes him "protesting" would actually make a change for future generations, but who knows. Ultimately it's his choice, maybe at some point it's not worth it in regards to stress/time vs compensation.
@@halfriver He's not really contradicting himself, but it is a weird thing to mention. He's saying he's willing to take a paycut (hence "I'll be generous") as long as the reward is good enough. Maybe he's thinking mathematically, if he takes 3 weeks off for the Olympiad but could've earned $20k in that time then he hopes the incentive is at least $5k. And maybe he concludes that's a good enough reward for the time spent for other US players, by comparing how much he makes.
Though I think Hikaru is just a narcissist
@@snehatallapuThat's true sneha but chess is followed by a huge number of people here.Even our 0.1% is a lot bigger number
@@snehatallapuSneha google how much the top chess players are paid in india and then come back here.
Absolutely true. The money matters -- and you see it outside of chess. I had a very promising career in academia (biomaterials and mechanical engineering), receiving several societal awards and publishing high impact papers. But in the end, I left because there wasn't enough money. And there is continued brain drain because the money in finance, industry, and consulting is just more appealing.
India dominated Because the players are young and they all have killer instinct and Many GM's have also said that Arjun Erigaisi is now even better than Magnus when it comes to beating lower rated players with black which is very tough. So Hikaru's Presence wouldn't make any difference. India started with wins.
They won coz they were too smelly and disgusting to watch rather than playing against 🤢🇮🇳🤮
That's just recency bias nothing else magnus has ruled over decade no need to draw comparison with him too premature. Yes youngsters are in good form playing well doesn't mean keep comparing with legend like magnus
@@rajsub3884 i don't think he compared rather present a statistics.
And every budding talent is being compared to previous generation from Carlsen to vishy Anand , casparov
No harm in comparison
@@rajsub3884 I am not comparing with magnus, he is obviously the Goat, For Comparison both players don't have similar career length. I am comparing play style magnus was more standard, play style of Arjun helps him in beating lower rated players much more .
Dude im also indian but dont get disrespectful man. Hikaru's presence would surely have made soo much difference he is #2 in the world still
summary: its cuz there were low elo players in the tournaments as well, and one loss against any of them woulda cost hikaru a shit ton of points, prolly throwing him out of 2800 level.
"Hikaru is making videos" I laughed really loud for that line. But, Hikaru is right, I think it is not fair to blame a person who did not play in the team for the team's own failures to produce results.
Wesley didn't blame anybody
@@muradinky I am talking about the hypothetical situation where Hikaru would join the olympiad team to win a medal, he is not to blame for them missing out a medal.
But he is right if hikaru played in shape insted of wesley he wont blunder and he would've won his games and lead them to the gold medal
What Hikaru is basically saying is 'I cannot play for my country because I don't get enough money for doing that'..I make 6 or 7 times the money through streaming.Its candid but it feels very amiss..players like Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand represented their nations for years even when Norway and India did not have strong teams.They did not play for money..they played for national pride and love for their fellow citizens.
What is national pride gonna do when you can’t feed your family? No country/government will ever give you a piece of bread when you’re starving, so you don’t owe anyone anything.
Do you live in US? Do you have a retirement plan? Do you have to pay US tax? Do you have to pay the mortgage? Do you play pro chess? National pride and your fellow citizens will support you on those stuff for real, especially in US? Come on, Hikaru is 37 by now. At the end of the day, chess is just a meaningless board game, bro.
well tbf it's truly a native's country all other are immigrants, Anglo saxons of europe shifted their empire from britain to washington
@danhhoainam oh and fabi and so are financially supported ..cmon ..they all hate hikaru for a reason and that's because he is an ass
Hikaru has financially struggled a lot in the past and he has talked about it. Magnus and Vishy won good prize money. Nowadays winning any tournament is tough and as someone said everything in US is very costly. I have see news about housing difficulty. Capitalism has made US too tough to live in. Vishy's father was govt engineer as far as I remember or in some decent job and thus he must already have a decent house and very few things to worry about and he did start winning tournaments. Magnus has been winning since he was a teenager. Hikaru's family condition is also very different as he has explained. There are many factors and money is a priority for anyone who struggled at any point with money.
Problem is, Hikaru, you didn't do anything to carry the team. Moreover, you chose not to even try to carry the team.
Hikaru does have a very valid point that the chess boom has not benefitted the players enough. And not just the top players. Second and third tier players really struggle.
Thats a valid point, yes. But it has nothing to do with Olympiad.
Your team missed you Master Hikaru 😢
Wesley is the reason they won silver, winning the last two rounds when Fabi lost 1 and drew 1. No one else won on US either round
Mr. So was kicking ass this tourney. Dudes sense of humor is unparalleled.
hikaru just did a "i love wesley, no homo" =D 9:35
Wesley seems like a nice humble guy
People who praise Capitalism complaining about capitalist mindset.
Do you know how much NBA players got paid to play for their country in the olympics? For the US it's zero. Maybe other countries give their players a bonus but it's nowhere near their salary. Some events just aren't about the money and are for boosting interest in the sport, representing your country and building your own personal marketability and brand. I would have more respect for Hikaru if he just said "The Olympiad just isn't my favorite format and I wanted to give other players a chance to play". But Hikaru has had a love/hate relationship with public relations over the years. Ultimately he's under no obligation whatsoever to play, but corporations (In the US) aren't going to come flocking to sponsor players until chess gets a wider general acceptance through exposure in events like this.
At the end of the day, Hikaru has done so much for chess and for American chess, if he doesn’t want to play in the Olympiad so be it; it’s his choice and hes not going to be playing at this high level forever, let him enjoy the next few years in chess the way he wants. The US team are exceptionally strong an can’t blame someone else for their unfortunate tournament.
And in the end of the day chess did so much for Hikaru. Its no blaming. For so many players its a great honor to play for their national team.
@@MrBlablaologe I think he has represented his country enough times already, the country owes him respect and money for his contributions to the country.
Really sad contrasting Hikaru's "they won't give me enough money" attitude with the real team spirit and doing it for their country you can see if you watch the Chessbase India videos. There were a couple of beautiful moments today when Arjun and then Gukesh joined them in the commentary room and they were all so happy in sharing their achievement together. Hikaru literally couldn't give a flying f about that, despite having made far more money at chess than any of these guys. Its almost like his soul is missing in just chasing a few more bucks...
I mean it's his choice. USA is the land of the free, and you are free to decide what you want to do
As entitled as it gets
Hikaru represented the US 7x in the Olympiads
What about you, good sir?
And when Hikaru represented the US 7x while msking peanuts, you were where?
very disappointing choice, the power of money is strong.
I think Wesley just wanted to play with you and have fun !
When you make $10 million a year streaming you can't expect the U.S. federation to compensate you with an equivalent appearance fee. If they did it for you then they would have to do the same for Fabi and close to the same for Wesley, Levon, and Leinier. The U.S. federation doesn't remotely have that kind of money. You act like you're a guy desperately hustling to put together his next rent payment.
this lmao
He clearly said he gets like 6-7 times less in chess tournament and if the prize money and other stuffs get double,he would still get 3-4 times less but would play
@@Nafim-kv6rg The US federation doesn't have enough money to do even that. They only have 100 k members and most of those are discounted scholastic memberships. Rex could do it-he recruited most of our team and paid them a bonus to come over here and represent us but he is already putting a ton of money into chess here. He's probably already bankrolling the team for something in the 200-300 k range. He probably feels that he shouldn't need to kick in another 200-300k to get 100% of the top players to play as opposed to 80% which do now.
Bingo!
That's on you
The US is at the very least one of the three wealthiest countries in the world
If you can't pay your players a decent wage to compete for weeks at the highest level, that's on you
Imagine if India complains that Vishwanath Anand is not playing Board 4 ... this is just ridiculous 😂😂😂
It is understandable for other players to skip because of money, but not Hikaru. He is already in the top 1% in Chess. Why do Djokovic, Rafa, the NBA players etc play in Olympics? Hikaru could have still made a video about his game every single day.
I mean you can't compare him with Djokovic and others as they consider themselves as a sportsperson but on the other hand Hikaru considers himself a content creator so his primary job is to stream and make content.
Though I agree that he should have played.
Humans are hilarious. Do you have any idea of the mental load required by the olympiads? You think he can make content after playing those games? Pls think again
@@melh937 You know he made content in the candidates. Sure he could with the Olympiad.
the true american mindset, explains how the best fewling is to carry your national team than somehow concludes that its actually more important to have more money (while being insanely rich alrdy) 🎉
So, it's not money but it is money?
money is just a form of showing appreciation. the US does show 0 appreciation for their top players but is happy to claim the renown when they win.
its sketchy to expect athletes to basically pay out of their pockets to do that, at the highest level mind you (=where athletes should get eff you money rich if they ever manage to get there).
Hikaru doesn't need to anymore, so he doesn't do it. good for him.
@@TNM001 i agree - there's the possibility of losing rating - he has to travel out there - plus he could make more from the comfort of his own home. he's proved how great of a player he is - magnus doesn't play the world championship - hikaru can pass on this - gives other players a chance - we know the US is up there as one of the best chess nations (with India, China, Norway, and Russia I'd say)...yeah no reason for people to be mad
Damn, these thumbnails getting better and better
Hikaru talks like the players play in the olympia for money, none of them play for money lol
What’s Naka on about? How much money does he think he’s supposed to get? From the USA federation? What’s the pay and what do you get for getting a gold medal?
I think the idea is having a contract for a paycheck instead of relying on probability to win.
@@crazykhespar8487 but how much do the USA players get from the Olympiad this year for getting 2nd place?
Money over country
its beneath him at this point in his career, Naka getting old
these people are not native's
@@ap-rw3mjyou talking about the country of immigrants?😂
@@ap-rw3mj us is the country of immigrants , other than red indians everybody is immigrant .
It's not always about the money, man. It's an opportunity to represent your country. Your abandonment will not get more sponsors. You will not win the World championship if you don't participate in the grueling tournaments like these.
Money is the reason why Wesley So abandoned the Philippines😂😂
Everybody should skip the Olympiad until FIDE opens the books and makes the revenue they generate public.
Its your own Country FFS ! Everything shouldn't be about Money, it's just 10-12 days of Chess. You might not win it anyway but at least give it a shot. Make videos after your games and earn from them
Money ruins everything.
If it's any consolation to Wesley and USA, in the 2022 Olympiad, Gukesh blundered against Abdusattorov and India came 3rd. This year India won. If history repeats, USA should win in 2026!
what did usa hoped to achive with hikaru and hans on the bench
Hikaru doesnt need the money that he would miss out on making for the 2 week period. Hes making a point by not playing in hopes that we press for nore sponsors
There are many tournaments to make money, this is about country. Like NBA stars doesn't want to play in Olympics.
This video should be on the main channel
Adding another million dollars per couple of months to already big net worth isnt really "earning a living" plus Hikaru also said himself he made more money from stocks and trades than content.
Hikaru, I really enjoy your content, but not everything has to be about money and motivations. I don't think Magnus is playing in the Olympiad for money, and many streamers played there with pride for their countries. There’s honor in representing your country, and I believe you'd create great content from the experience. Taking 10 days off wouldn't hurt-it might even help you gain more subscribers. I hope you'll consider it in 2 years and won't retire before then.
You are this stupid or just clueless. He is trying to make the next generation get paid for what they are worth. Not everyone can stream and make a living. It is always easy to sit from your home and tell players hey take 1 week off and you should be fine when they can barely stay afloat.
US team is in that weird void where once young talented players get weary but new ones haven't yet come up. A newer, hungrier batch of GMs may have performed better at the olympiad.
Poor Hikaru the money grubber.
I think what Wesley said was meant by way of a compliment to Hikaru. And Wesley is being super modest.
yea
Bruhh vidit beat hikaru twice in candidates and he was on board 4 in Olympiad. Just leaving at that.
But he beat prag who was on board 2 where hikaru would probably have played so whats the point xd
@@anorlondo2002hikaru would have played on board 1
we take shit for granted way too much
Really don't get you... the only one having nothing to win playing olympiad.. is Magnus Carlsson
Understandable
Great take. At first before hearing your side I was curious to why you didn't want to compete. Like wheres the competitive edge that you showed when you whooped Hans in the SCC. But know I see. It's for a higher purpose. To move forward the support of our game within the states. Respect it.
Do people forget that Hikaru is 5x US Chess champion?
Wesley is such a great human being - self critical oozing with humility. For other countries chess has a lot more profile compared to the U.S.
Hikaru cares about that bag nothing else lol.
Looking back, Indian chess boom was completely different from American chess boom. While in american boom, streamers and ppl around chess infrastructure were winners, in India the players have been winners whereas ppl like sagar are still underappreciated. I am not saying one is better than the other, but definetly interesting angle to look at.
Hikaru Should have Played for USA & for chess
When you don’t win any gold medals in the Olympics like India you’ve got to dump money into chess to not be a complete embarrassment
He was a sk8rboy, he said see ya l8r boys
God that’s such an old song - I used to listen to that in high school 😂
Hikaru is annoyed that America doesn’t really care for chess very much, and won’t give some elaborate awards like 🇺🇿 or 🇮🇳. Fair I guess, but do recall JFK’s quote, where he stated “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can do for your country.”
That's an absurd exploitative quote by JFK. The relationship between people and the nation should be symbiotic.
After hearing Hikaru's reasoning for not playing, I feel that the concept of patriotism is very different in the USA compared to India, Russia, or China.
This difference comes from the fact that the USA is a country of immigrants. It seems that people in the USA are proud primarily because of the country’s achievements whereas in other countries, pride comes foremost from a deep love for the land and its history which unites all citizens.
Most immigrants to the USA go there to become part of a success story and to gain the bragging rights of being called American but they may never feel the same connection to the soil as people in countries like India or China do.
This is just my observation, which I find very interesting.
Of course, Hikaru can play or not play for any reason at all. But his explanation is pure BS. He simply makes more money streaming than playing. It has NOTHING to do with trying to help future generations.
Hikaru next time you will get 2 million dollars,a car and a house and you will get chance to meet the president. I'm requesting you to play next Olympiad please 🙈
hikaru plays with bot judit polgar to a classic rhythm
Guys usa win silver in open and bronze in women that is actually great result. Us team played very well .
It def benefited you guys. You’re literally celebs now
If Hikaru had played, Arjun and Gukesh would have become 2 or 3rd ranked maybe. And for Hikaru, money is more important than Country. What a shame!!
He isn't even American. Lmao😆
Tbf no one is except the red indians
Even though I am German, I totally agree - there is so little support in Germany and it is so sad. I am very grateful for Jan Henric Buettner for his support and ideas! I hope this will make a difference in the upcoming years. Germany has a promising team!
You need to play events to maintain relevance. It makes your content more exciting to watch
You and Levy could definitely create a supportive chess players foundation to lay out the structure and public and political voice for it, at least for the USA or first just pick a certain state in it, and this can start small
"I love Wesley. I mean, not literally." Who would've guessed?
A lot of people are not seeing Hikaru’s point. If Hikaru played this olympiad and they win the funding won’t be increased and its ok for the US but now that they wont he number 1 would raise some flags and hopefully they will realize why they did not get the best players.
What hikaru is saying is so true chess needs to be funded more otherwise it's really hard to keep playing chess for great players.
when only 20-30 players can live off of chess you know the system is broken. if a sport can't generate more than that...its broken.
Love of money is the root of all evil.
Maybe it's time to start asking what these top players are doing to expand the game...? I guess Fabi has a podcast he occasionally is on. (it's a good podcast, but that isn't audience expanding). The biggest streamers are 2000 rated women who frankly have very little reason to expand chess (little ROI here). No disrespect meant here, but I'm talking about bringing money to the olympiad and other top level events which they aren't playing in. Nor is Gotham. Danya isn't really either. I think I can count the number of semi-regular streamers in the top 100 on 1 hand. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong.
How many top 100 players are trying to do what Hikaru is doing? (i'm not even talking about streaming, because I'd give Magnus credit too) I get it that they might not all be great personalities on camera (though, did you see Hikaru when he first started???) but sponsors aren't bending over backwards to throw money at a tournament with a bunch of people no one cares about (outside of the chess community).
So few of them are working on building brands that of course there isn't much money flowing into chess. This isn't a 5 minute fix.
Can you imagine what would happen if Gukesh booted up a twitch stream? That chat would crash Twitch.
Also, someone like Mishra should be streaming /right now/. The goal is to get good at streaming by the time you are also elite at chess.
He really has some valid points on the future of professional chess in different parts of the world.
Good for him not wanting to take an 80%+ paycut
Fair enough to Hikaru’s explanation for not playing the Olympiad…. I have another question or so, but not in an open forum.
HIKARU ,FABI ,WESLEY AND HANS WOULD BE JUST CRAZY 🥶
what solution for 2000 players? retiring?
I think with Hikaru in the lineup that America is at least 2-2 against India. Fabi, Hikaru, So, and Levon. Likely wouldn’t have also been in the situation where a draw wasn’t acceptable anymore, which is what got fabi in trouble. India is a great team but that American team is also great.
Hikaru would probably play board 2. So fabi still loses, and prag already lost (but maybe with hikaru he is more cautious, but let's assume he loses). Now it's upto wesely vs arjun, I do feel arjun has an edge. He's playing white and will be on the offensive here
@@hydrocult3508 as I said, fabi lost due to playing more aggressive lines because America couldn’t afford a draw. The reason for that is because they were so behind in match points. Which I don’t think they would have been if you add someone the level of Hikaru to the team. It’s all just speculation, but adding a top player in the world to your team is a pretty big difference. We wouldn’t have went 2-2 vs Romania and we would have likely beat Ukraine for example. If fabi is playing for a draw he has a good shot to hold.
Just love Hikaru ❤️
Your reasons are extremely thought out for not playing. I really hope America can get behind our top chess minds
US Federation just makes tournaments that charge $2000 for entry fee if you want to play in Super Swiss Open
Money isn't everything. Sometimes you just do what you gotta do. There are so many countries that has less budget and their players are eager to play. I don't think Hikaru is right.
Love the honesty and blunt reply.. not many can do this
I am so glad that he mentioned this and it is a shame that the US doesn't support the players.
Start your own chess federation and be the change
India team has like 2 players borderline of becoming 2800. It's ridiculous.
It’s good to have new players represent the US so that when this generation retires the US has a bench of new players who can compete at the highest level.
Thanks for explaining your ambitions. Looking forward to seeing you still go after the candidates and world championship
he isnt playing candidates anymore. i thought the last one was last one.
@@2596mr13:56