Anand for me. Not just because he's still convincingly competing with people 20-30 years younger than him even now, but also because his ideas over the board are just so beautiful (particularly with knights - cf. Aronian-Anand, 2013). He also seems to be a really good person, and someone who has universal respect among the top chess players.
I had chess lessons for about a year when I was 7 or 8 and our coach focused us on the Ruy Lopez. However, I always wanted to show everyone that I could learn things by myself, and using a book called "Chess for Beginners" I discovered Alekhine's Defense. The idea of throwing a knight out first really captured my imagination for some reason. I really heard it from my coach when I played that instead of the Ruy Lopez in my first match and lost terribly. That's how I discovered Alekhine. I've been trying to get Agadmator to do the Alekhine Saga for awhile, hopefully when he finishes with Morphy! Really appreciate the videos Andras! Thanks!
For me, the closest thing to a 'chess hero' must be John Bartholomew. I remember seeing his 2015 UT Dallas Fall FIDE Open analyses videos 4-5 years ago, and those videos, for some reason, made me love chess to this very day. I am not sure why those videos are the reason for my chess addiction, but I just loved the analyses on the wooden board, and all the side-variations he gave. I also rembember trying to play the Qd8 scandi... with little success :).
I like Paul Keres's games quite a bit and have read many of them but I've always thought it was hard to get obsessive about things as an adult the same way you do as a kid, and that makes it harder to have a "hero" in the same way. I remember absolutely worshipping a particular french horn player in the Berlin Philharmonic as an 11 year old and being obsessed with all kinds of classical music topics in my early teens onwards. Having started chess in my 20s, as much as I love playing, I don't think I can find the true passion Andras is talking about finding in Alekhine's games.
Agadmator's coverage of Tal's games is what got me back into chess a few years back but ironically I'd consider myself a calm, positionally minded player. In that regard Karpov is the ideal I strive towards. Also shout out to Ivanchuk. Love the guy's passion for the game
Mikhail Tal is the boss. He's sort of a jester in that he plays these crazy sacrifices which sometimes aren't even sound theoretically but complicate the position enough over the board that he generates a monster initiative. Also the Botvinnik vs Tal matches were a legendary showdown between 2 contrasting styles. Judit Polgar is amazing as well, another one of the greatest attacking, tactical players. It's like her whole army has a relentless bloodlust for the enemy king and anything else is of minor importance.
for me, it's Anish Giri. his accuracy, solidity and the fact he comes off as a really nice guy do it for me. also wouldnt complain about Ivanchuk's natural brilliance, or Dubov's wild sacrificies. I wonder if my parents had been more supportive of me playing when I was a kid, and not pulled the rug out, if I would have had a more formative experience during the early nineties. well, given Im American, it would have to have been Fischer or maybe Kasparov, right? I also think, maybe for the better or for the worse, that there is far less breathtaking chess today because everyone is so good, so there may be only a handful of brilliancies in an entire tournament, so someone's gotta impress me off the board too.
Lasker in his manual literally changed the way i see the word, and also took me to 2050 rating(lichess) and rising. He will forever be my hero. Great video as always !
I am about to embark on an endgame odyssey in terms of my own study so I imagine I’ll get quite cosy with guys like Rubinstein, but I just adore Fischer and Kasparov- they have everything.
Alekhine was my first. I’ve had a couple copies of Alekhine’s My Best Games 1908-1937. I like Botvinnik’s 100 selected games and the annotations were instructive. But my favorite became Bronstein. I like his style and the way he writes. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a great biography. The Zurich 1953 book is great and it’s why I started playing the KID. I of course had to buy ‘Bronstein On the King’s Indian’. Shirov is the strongest player I have ever played. I was of course destroyed but he was very cordial and friendly. We even discussed his thoughts on the Botvinnik Semi Slav. I used to play openings that were way above my understanding. The Botvinnik Semi Slav is crazy. I wanted to study Ivanchuk. On his best days he is an absolute genius but I just am not smart enough to understand his game plans.
Really nice video Andras. I like your lore and history based stuff. The perspective of chess learning you have from the end of soviet times is really interesting. Maybe you would share with us the journey and commitment you undertook on your path to IM when you were younger some time. As for chess heroes. A couple. Being from the UK, Nigel Short has a place in many peoples hearts. I am fond of David Howell. Really nice to see he is a face/voice for professional chess commentary. Overall though for real hero status I think I'd pick one of the contenders for GOAT status and go with Fischer. Whilst before my time his style of play, the fact he had to play against a united Russian front, largely on his own, is highly impressive. His work ethic and unbreakable attitude of being the best is truly admirable. Shame about his downturn later in life. I feel like anyone who has committed so much time into becoming the best at anything is probably troubled by something or other. He just happened to live in a time where no one understood mental health problems.
Not sure about a single hero, but learning the Nimzo (as per your next video) will start with a bunch of Korchnoi (such a fighter) and Karpov (such a python) - that should give me a variety of flavors!
My chess hero is Gata Kamsky. I like his style of play very much(Stein, Smyslov, Capablanca, Seirawan played similar). Most of his games are very instructional, lessons on simple, positional chess, rarely there's mess on the board, he's never overambitious, he converts advantageous endgames.
When I was a boy, in the 60s, Bent Larsen became my hero. Fischer may have been the greatest hope to end the Soviet grip on the World Championship, but Bobby's petulance kept him out of the chase for long periods of the 1960's decade. So, it fell upon Bent Larsen to carry the fight on behalf of the Western world. Larsen was always inventive, courageous and played original (if not always practical) chess against the Soviet machines -- making the candidate's matches semi-finals in 3 straight cycles. It's a shame that he's best remembered as the loser to Fischer 0-6 in their 1971 match. Larsen continued to play and invent and fight long after Fischer left the scene.
I'm going to be in the minority on this one. Easy question - Paul Keres. Early in my chess tournament career I came across his books best games collections, the art of the middle game, practical chess endings, power chess, later I was able to get a copy of how to open a chess game. He was the first author whos annotations that made complete sense to me and in general he was a fantastic writer.
I'm currently reading Mikhail Tal: The Street Fighting Years (just translated into English this past Feb) - understandable why he is the hero of so many!
Boris Spassky. He just plays phenomenal chess, all principled and plays the endgame like a Russian school boy. I got on to him by a Boris Spassky: Master of the Initiative. I wish i had his best games collection. I also like Spassky move by move by move and Spassky 100 best games by Keene but they are distant seconds. Also the reason. I got into chess on Fabiano Caruana. He honestly plays like Spassky with computer preparation. The moment Fabi creates a best games it will be on my shelf.
I just love John Nunn's and Capablanca's writing styles. I once spent half a day only reading chessbase games annotated by Nunn just because I liked his analysis. Not saying I understood anything, still have to work on that.
Hello Sir! Thanks for the exceptional chess content. Sir, I have problems reading chess books that contain too many variations on a physical chessboard as for a player like me, I am unable to remember the variations and it takes quite a lot of time for me. So could you please help in sorting my problem? Also, is it recommended to use a digital online board to do so. Thanks again!
Hey Andras! I've been watching your channel for a few weeks now and I'm loving how you explain the abstract concepts and ideas behind the game as an art. Lovely to hear about your chess hero being Alekhine. Your thoughts on attacking chess have helped me a bunch, but I'd love to hear your take on Players such as Capablanca or Karpov who explored more positional styles!
I"ve build my chess world around Alekhine and Kasparov too ^^ Then my parents offered me to choose a chess book for Xmas. I told them to buy Fire on Board by Shirov and my life changed forever :)
Weird question not related to chess heroes (though mine is Fisher); what are your thoughts on the Dragon vs Nimzo Sicillians? I know in another video you suggested that the Nimzo's pawn structures are more variable while the Dragon pawn structures are not as prevalent as in other Sicillians, so I was wondering if you could expand on those thoughts (or if your thoughts on this have changed over time). Regardless, fantastic video Andras! Keep up the great work :)
Meant the Najdorf 🤣 Though funny enough there is a Nimzowitch variation which plays e4 c5 Nf3 Nf6 (but I am not gonna play that anytime soon because the e5 push makes the Knight jump around and loses center!)
For me it was Fischer and Capablanca, for the "cleanliness" of their games (Fischer-Spassky game 6 had a big effect on me as a beginner, then later Fischer-Petrosian game 7). Recently, however, I've been experimenting with playing the Slav/Semi-Slav as Black (thanks to you!), which as a weaker player I had shied away from because I knew it could get very complicated, and I'm now considering picking up Shirov's "Fire on Board". Perhaps a new hero on the horizon!
I was 2 years old when Fischer beat Spassky and learned chess at 5 so what other hero was I going to have? As soon as I figured out that Bobby was a racist asshole I switched to Tal. Now I kinda want to play like Karpov 🤣
ChessCoach Andras is my chess hero!
The only correct answer !
Anand for me. Not just because he's still convincingly competing with people 20-30 years younger than him even now, but also because his ideas over the board are just so beautiful (particularly with knights - cf. Aronian-Anand, 2013). He also seems to be a really good person, and someone who has universal respect among the top chess players.
I had chess lessons for about a year when I was 7 or 8 and our coach focused us on the Ruy Lopez. However, I always wanted to show everyone that I could learn things by myself, and using a book called "Chess for Beginners" I discovered Alekhine's Defense. The idea of throwing a knight out first really captured my imagination for some reason. I really heard it from my coach when I played that instead of the Ruy Lopez in my first match and lost terribly. That's how I discovered Alekhine. I've been trying to get Agadmator to do the Alekhine Saga for awhile, hopefully when he finishes with Morphy! Really appreciate the videos Andras! Thanks!
For me, the closest thing to a 'chess hero' must be John Bartholomew. I remember seeing his 2015 UT Dallas Fall FIDE Open analyses videos 4-5 years ago, and those videos, for some reason, made me love chess to this very day. I am not sure why those videos are the reason for my chess addiction, but I just loved the analyses on the wooden board, and all the side-variations he gave. I also rembember trying to play the Qd8 scandi... with little success :).
I will tweet this, he will be delighted!
I like Paul Keres's games quite a bit and have read many of them but I've always thought it was hard to get obsessive about things as an adult the same way you do as a kid, and that makes it harder to have a "hero" in the same way. I remember absolutely worshipping a particular french horn player in the Berlin Philharmonic as an 11 year old and being obsessed with all kinds of classical music topics in my early teens onwards. Having started chess in my 20s, as much as I love playing, I don't think I can find the true passion Andras is talking about finding in Alekhine's games.
Agadmator's coverage of Tal's games is what got me back into chess a few years back but ironically I'd consider myself a calm, positionally minded player. In that regard Karpov is the ideal I strive towards. Also shout out to Ivanchuk. Love the guy's passion for the game
Kasparov and Fischer for the attack. It’s tough bc carlsen, nakamura are also amazing. Thanks for the stories. ✅
the reason why i started playing chess is because i loved Mikhail Tal
and bobby fishers playing styles and games
Mikhail Tal is the boss. He's sort of a jester in that he plays these crazy sacrifices which sometimes aren't even sound theoretically but complicate the position enough over the board that he generates a monster initiative. Also the Botvinnik vs Tal matches were a legendary showdown between 2 contrasting styles.
Judit Polgar is amazing as well, another one of the greatest attacking, tactical players. It's like her whole army has a relentless bloodlust for the enemy king and anything else is of minor importance.
1st Tal
2nd Fischer
3rd Capablanca
for me, it's Anish Giri. his accuracy, solidity and the fact he comes off as a really nice guy do it for me. also wouldnt complain about Ivanchuk's natural brilliance, or Dubov's wild sacrificies. I wonder if my parents had been more supportive of me playing when I was a kid, and not pulled the rug out, if I would have had a more formative experience during the early nineties. well, given Im American, it would have to have been Fischer or maybe Kasparov, right? I also think, maybe for the better or for the worse, that there is far less breathtaking chess today because everyone is so good, so there may be only a handful of brilliancies in an entire tournament, so someone's gotta impress me off the board too.
Yasser Seirawan’s lectures brought me to love the Magician from Riga
Lasker in his manual literally changed the way i see the word, and also took me to 2050 rating(lichess) and rising. He will forever be my hero. Great video as always !
His Manuel? Is there some book you specifically read or is it called “laskers manual”
@@EIIlast2791 Lasker's Manual of Chess
I like the way how he describes the logic of the combinations that he shows
@@dialecticsjunkie7653 gracias sir
I am about to embark on an endgame odyssey in terms of my own study so I imagine I’ll get quite cosy with guys like Rubinstein, but I just adore Fischer and Kasparov- they have everything.
Morphy, Capablanca games, John Bartholomew Fundamental series have inspired my learning ...and the CPR Series of course
Alekhine was my first. I’ve had a couple copies of Alekhine’s My Best Games 1908-1937. I like Botvinnik’s 100 selected games and the annotations were instructive. But my favorite became Bronstein. I like his style and the way he writes. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a great biography. The Zurich 1953 book is great and it’s why I started playing the KID. I of course had to buy ‘Bronstein On the King’s Indian’. Shirov is the strongest player I have ever played. I was of course destroyed but he was very cordial and friendly. We even discussed his thoughts on the Botvinnik Semi Slav. I used to play openings that were way above my understanding. The Botvinnik Semi Slav is crazy. I wanted to study Ivanchuk. On his best days he is an absolute genius but I just am not smart enough to understand his game plans.
My chess hero is definitely Boris Spassky. One of the greatest and most versatile world champions ever and such a personality.
Really nice video Andras. I like your lore and history based stuff. The perspective of chess learning you have from the end of soviet times is really interesting. Maybe you would share with us the journey and commitment you undertook on your path to IM when you were younger some time.
As for chess heroes. A couple.
Being from the UK, Nigel Short has a place in many peoples hearts.
I am fond of David Howell. Really nice to see he is a face/voice for professional chess commentary.
Overall though for real hero status I think I'd pick one of the contenders for GOAT status and go with Fischer. Whilst before my time his style of play, the fact he had to play against a united Russian front, largely on his own, is highly impressive. His work ethic and unbreakable attitude of being the best is truly admirable. Shame about his downturn later in life. I feel like anyone who has committed so much time into becoming the best at anything is probably troubled by something or other. He just happened to live in a time where no one understood mental health problems.
Karpov, he was great champion when I was a kid and I admired that he did not give up to fight back after he was dethroned
Not sure about a single hero, but learning the Nimzo (as per your next video) will start with a bunch of Korchnoi (such a fighter) and Karpov (such a python) - that should give me a variety of flavors!
Good luck, will be fun!
My chess hero is Gata Kamsky. I like his style of play very much(Stein, Smyslov, Capablanca, Seirawan played similar). Most of his games are very instructional, lessons on simple, positional chess, rarely there's mess on the board, he's never overambitious, he converts advantageous endgames.
Botvinnik for the way he played the Stonewall especially against Euwe and Flohr
I’ve read so many books about: Tal, Shirov, Fischer and Kasparov, just to name a few, but I still haven’t found my chess hero
When I was a boy, in the 60s, Bent Larsen became my hero. Fischer may have been the greatest hope to end the Soviet grip on the World Championship, but Bobby's petulance kept him out of the chase for long periods of the 1960's decade. So, it fell upon Bent Larsen to carry the fight on behalf of the Western world. Larsen was always inventive, courageous and played original (if not always practical) chess against the Soviet machines -- making the candidate's matches semi-finals in 3 straight cycles. It's a shame that he's best remembered as the loser to Fischer 0-6 in their 1971 match. Larsen continued to play and invent and fight long after Fischer left the scene.
Just saying hello to a fellow traveler, as fans of nimzowitsch’s other greatest disciple
@@beaut7811 Am I correct in assuming that your reference to the "other" disciple of Nimzowitsch is Tigran Petrosian?
I'm going to be in the minority on this one. Easy question - Paul Keres. Early in my chess tournament career I came across his books best games collections, the art of the middle game, practical chess endings, power chess, later I was able to get a copy of how to open a chess game. He was the first author whos annotations that made complete sense to me and in general he was a fantastic writer.
I'm currently reading Mikhail Tal: The Street Fighting Years (just translated into English this past Feb) - understandable why he is the hero of so many!
Boris Spassky. He just plays phenomenal chess, all principled and plays the endgame like a Russian school boy. I got on to him by a Boris Spassky: Master of the Initiative. I wish i had his best games collection. I also like Spassky move by move by move and Spassky 100 best games by Keene but they are distant seconds. Also the reason. I got into chess on Fabiano Caruana. He honestly plays like Spassky with computer preparation. The moment Fabi creates a best games it will be on my shelf.
José Raúl Capablanca
Trying to play like Anderssen didn't serve me the best tbh 🤣🤣
Viktor Korchnoi is my chess hero!
I started to love Nimzowitsch after reading chapter 3 of My System on the 7th rank
I just love John Nunn's and Capablanca's writing styles. I once spent half a day only reading chessbase games annotated by Nunn just because I liked his analysis. Not saying I understood anything, still have to work on that.
I love me some Ivanchuk madness!
Thanks for the great video. I'm inspired to read the Alekhine book. My chess hero is Morphy.
Hello Sir! Thanks for the exceptional chess content. Sir, I have problems reading chess books that contain too many variations on a physical chessboard as for a player like me, I am unable to remember the variations and it takes quite a lot of time for me. So could you please help in sorting my problem? Also, is it recommended to use a digital online board to do so. Thanks again!
3D board, play through all the lines , I don’t see the problem ?!
Hey Andras! I've been watching your channel for a few weeks now and I'm loving how you explain the abstract concepts and ideas behind the game as an art. Lovely to hear about your chess hero being Alekhine. Your thoughts on attacking chess have helped me a bunch, but I'd love to hear your take on Players such as Capablanca or Karpov who explored more positional styles!
I"ve build my chess world around Alekhine and Kasparov too ^^
Then my parents offered me to choose a chess book for Xmas. I told them to buy Fire on Board by Shirov and my life changed forever :)
Smart choices there!:)
Tigran Petrosian :)
Robert J Nemenyi ...oops Fischer, Frank James Marshall, Garry Kasparov, and Emanual Lasker. But mainly Lasker.
My favourite player is defenetly Boris Spassky and I think he's very underrated.
Spassky didn't write a book. He could write a great book of his games, but there is no sign he ever will.
He was world champ, how's that underrated? :) There's really just a handful of those for the past centuries.
What about Paul Keres? I've seen you've read his game collection too. What did you see from Alekhine that is not on Keres' games?
It's Tal and Karpov for me
Weird question not related to chess heroes (though mine is Fisher); what are your thoughts on the Dragon vs Nimzo Sicillians? I know in another video you suggested that the Nimzo's pawn structures are more variable while the Dragon pawn structures are not as prevalent as in other Sicillians, so I was wondering if you could expand on those thoughts (or if your thoughts on this have changed over time). Regardless, fantastic video Andras! Keep up the great work :)
Not sure what nimzo sicilians are 🤷♂️
Meant the Najdorf 🤣 Though funny enough there is a Nimzowitch variation which plays e4 c5 Nf3 Nf6 (but I am not gonna play that anytime soon because the e5 push makes the Knight jump around and loses center!)
Stockfish 13...the last versions always.
Karpov!
Welcome to Chess Rift
To me there can only be one chess hero. Bent Larsen, both a great player and perhaps the greatest author
TALL OF COURSE
I have 3 :( , cause im a very aggressive attacker : Tal , Topalov and Kasparov
I know this IM that's more of a hero than he realizes.
Alekhine Alekhine Alekhine Alekhine Alekhine ... I became obsessed by Alekhine Alekhine Alekhine...
For me it was Fischer and Capablanca, for the "cleanliness" of their games (Fischer-Spassky game 6 had a big effect on me as a beginner, then later Fischer-Petrosian game 7). Recently, however, I've been experimenting with playing the Slav/Semi-Slav as Black (thanks to you!), which as a weaker player I had shied away from because I knew it could get very complicated, and I'm now considering picking up Shirov's "Fire on Board". Perhaps a new hero on the horizon!
can you do a vid on chess theory?
My chess heroe is IM andras toth :)
Paul Keres inspired me
Leonid Stein is my chess hero :)
mine is Rashid Nezhmetdinov 😁
Yay! Alehkine the great.
1.e4... FIscher wins.
I was 2 years old when Fischer beat Spassky and learned chess at 5 so what other hero was I going to have? As soon as I figured out that Bobby was a racist asshole I switched to Tal. Now I kinda want to play like Karpov 🤣
by far the hardest to imitate!
Tolya all tha way.
Very nice
Please, if your chess hero is Alekhine, stop mispronouncing his surname 😃