Very scary. Like Microsoft buying Apple. Worried about the european commentators, is chess commentating only done by americans in the future. There is a big diffenrence, and diversity is good.
@@HansHenrikBay Hopefully they will keep everyone, just merging the companies. Danny talked about Danya, Hess, but also about Howell and Jovanka in the context of commentators
Great podcast as always . Fair points by Caruana not bucking down to popular opinion . Though he is not a fan of running out the clock in SCC , he correctly points out that Magnus himself has employed this tactic in earlier versions . I am also ambivalent about the slow decline of classical chess . Chesscom is now the Disney equivalent in chess world but i think competition is necessary so as to further innovation . There is a danger of decisions being made which can be detrimental to the growth of chess as a whole . Hope more classical events are conducted . Best of luck for the rapid and blitz championship Caruana . Shame that Nordirbek and Alireza are not playing .
Great podcast. I played Cristian on his stream one time and I still think it's really cool that I got to play a GM. He played the game out too instead of destroying me in the opening which I appreciated.
merry christmas and happy holidays guys thanks for this podcast, has been a very welcome addition to chess community and really appreciate all the effort you both have put into it! onwards and upwards in 2023!
Thanks for this wonderful Christmas Gift. As usual, listening to you guys is always very refreshing. Good luck in your tournament, Fabiano. I am looking forward to watching you exchanging blows with the elite. Happy holidays! 🎄
The pay for the fighters in Ludwigs chess boxing was 20k usd up front for coaches and training, I think Fabi would definitely need more for it to be worth it if he doesn't already have an interest in trying the sport out
I think interest is the main factor. For many of the participants of the chessboxing event, 20k is not a lot of money, especially after deducting expenses. It was their willingness to train to fight in front of millions that motivated them, not the money.
Fabi is so slight and so good at chess it'd be almost impossible to find him a fair matchup. Even Alireza has a few inches on him, and no one else is as skinny.
100% agreed! There is nothing more satisfying than spending a great deal of time figuring out difficult moves and their continuations in critical chess positions!
Nobody is trying to take it away from you guys. The weekend club players won't even notice any change, because they are without any public interest, and don't depend on sponsors. It's top level competition that is changing
Regarding classical chess I think it would be a huge loss if its phased out. I think in lower time controls its about cunningness and classical is about deep understanding of chess. Its like classical vs 960 in a way. A good chess player can win in 960 because he/she has a very good understanding of game not only memorized some openings and training some tactics. And although is quite tiring for commentators (I assume) I believe that for amateur players like myself we benefit considerably from the deep analysis done by GMs on those classical matches. I particularly like to watch Fabi, Danya and Hess commentating together as their explanations are clear and they do go extremely deep sometimes. It’s a bit like being in an offline class where we pick up not only moves but the thought process behind them. I hope these events continue as it makes chess a more accurate and beautiful game to play and watch.
Regarding Hikaru's milking/running down the clock strategy... In modern pinball games, some modes are less lucrative than others (but need to be played to reach more lucrative levels of the game). So, in tournaments, players would start a mode, then trap the ball on the flipper, then wait tens of seconds until the mode stopped, then start the next mode. This was not good for pinball. The manufacturer solved this problem by changing how the mode clock counts down -- it now stops after a few seconds if no switch/contact has been triggered. So, in this chess format, the overall clock should stop after say 10 seconds of inactivity by a player. But their game clock continues to count down. The result would be only 10 seconds of "benefit" for each milking/delaying move.
Only solution would be to change the format and just have a set amount of games for each time control...like 8 5-1, 10 3-1, and 12 1-1 or something like that.
Authors or the SCC definitely had similar thoughts, but I guess the more exciting format to watch won in the end. Also I don't like the idea that the amount of games increases as the time control reduces, it should be even number for every time control because you don't wanna make one time control more important in the match than the others.
@@fonteinbloem3067 Well the reason for the more games for faster time controls is actually it's called the "SPEED" chess championship. Also it evens out the time per format a bit. If you played 10 of each time format the 5 minute section could last 3 or 4 hours while 10 1 minute games could last less than 20 minutes.
@@jazzyrick Yeah, but "speed" refers to all 3 fast time controls, 5+1, 3+1, 1+1. That's why you have to be equally the best in all time controls and not only in bullet.
55:00 I think Chess will move in a direction similar to the game of Cricket. 30,40 years ago Test Cricket was the main format, a single match lasted around 5 days and sometimes, (in-fact often) ending in draw, long and boring... Then when the ODI(One day International) came, Test cricket quickly faded into background and ODI World Cup became the biggest event in cricket. Some 10,15 years ago as people’s attention spans decreased further, twenty-twenty format of cricket came along, one match lasting a few hours, extremely exciting, lot of money invested, lots of celebrities attending and now twenty twenty world cup is the biggest thing. However, Test Cricket still remains the main benchmark for determining true talent, a sort of critics’ choice if you will….just as I believe, classical chess will(or should) remain the main benchmark for an all rounded chess talent, you can play as many blitz and bullets you want but ultimately its the classical that will move your game forwards….anyway thats my take
It seems entirely possible, and weirdly, the reasons for long form chess and cricket stem from the same source: a 19th century (particularly in the English speaking world) obsession with achieving perfection, trying to create a true test of competitors without artificial constraints to see their best possible play. In cricket and in chess, the 5 day test and multi-hour (but still on the clock) classical format only came about because the previously unlimited games were taking impractical amounts of time. There were also wrestling bouts that lasted an hour or more. I quite like the suggestion (I think from Magnus) that it might be interesting to have classical chess move closer to the shorter end of what counts as classical. It's still a long game, but something around an hour each is significantly shorter than the six hour Magus v Nepo game, for example.
@@Stu939 “obsession with achieving perfection and trying to create a true test of competitors without any artificial constraints to see their best possible play” Yes that concept really attracts and fascinates me ☺️ And yeah one hour classical format would probably not take much(if at all) away from what makes it essentially classical… Im fairly new to online chess and I can’t really do anything below Rapid, and not just because I do poorly under time stress, but also because blitz and bullet don’t really seem to have what attracts me towards chess in the first place;….
Fabi is an incredibly cool and objective guy. Always on point with the analysis and despite the trash talk from all trolls and wanna-be-fans he still rocks and is up there when it comes to chess knowledge and skills. He may or may not be the best at the faster formats, but I'll choose him as a commentator any day of the week over the over-hyped chess players with huge egos, an example being Hikaru.
According to Ludwig, each participant in the chess boxing event got paid $20K USD. It was supposed to go to their boxing training and expenses, but I don't think it had to go there.
Chess boxing is wrong and naive. I watched MMA for many years and had a podcast talking about it with a partner. Eventually we stopped because we realised the ramifications are hard to witness. Brain damage is real and if you can earn any living from chess, commentary or content creation you better stay away from boxing. It’s not worth it, someone will get seriously hurt in a very real life altering way and when it happens everyone will realise that getting punched in the head is not fun and not a game and yes… a single bad punch can mess you up for the remaining of your life. Beyond that, seeing out of shape people with zero fighting ability trying to fight is far from attractive or impressive and in my opinion only makes the people and the sport become less.
Classical chess should not be phased out at the to level. As an observer and a bad chess player, I find it riveting the positions and theory battles that the top GMs play. I also think the preparation for a classical chess match helps players improve overall. Hope that's the case anyways
27:25 Noob here. Is top chess so extreme that you basically cannot stay away from chess for a couple of days/weeks and expect to perform on your highest level?
@Kent Lofgren: You ask an interesting question. A big factor is how closely you schedule tournaments on your calendar. Scheduling tournaments too close leaves less time for proper preparation against the top ranked opponents you see on a regular basis. They likely prepared for you.
@@kennethwoods6525 Ah, I get it now. It's not just preparations in general, which I thought. Instead, it's about being prepared against a specific opponent.
@@kentlofgren : There's much competing for your time besides tournament preparation. Sponsorships (with appearances and promotions), streaming, collaborations, merchandise development and marketing, updating social media accounts, family and friends, dating (!), an exercise routine, etc...
56:00 classical chess will survive, as in cricket when T20 cricket (3hrs time ) arrived all thought of test cricket would die,but it made a test cricket (5 days game) from draw games (similar to chess) to result producing. It all depends on fide.
As a spectator sport, I think that chess should be going a bit more in the rapid style time controls. Long enough that there's a bit of time to think, and that we're likely to see a chess conclusion to the game (rather than what can be unsatisfying with the running out the clock strategy, at least for me), but short enough that it's easy for people to sit down and watch it. Classical chess is much harder to watch with how long of a time commitment it takes and how often it ends in a draw, at least for me - it's something that I like exists, but I'll just read the results later. Bullet/blitz are slightly better to watch, but it moves quickly and it's almost a different game given how much some of the other factors matter (eg, reaction speed). Definitely glad it exists, even if it's not for me personally.
I was pretty upset by that Magnus match. Days like that happen sometimes. No worries. Looking forward to your show in the World Rapid & Blitz. All the best.
It's like Hank Jr said: "The hangovers hurt more than they used to." I think if Andrea had an uppercut in her repertoire, she could've put Dina on the mat.
I don't think that classical will go, I love the big open tournaments. Isle of Man, Gibraltar etc ... They are pretty cool , with outsiders doing really well. I always find it very exciting, It is a bit difficult for coverage, ideally you might want two or three pairs of commentators looking at games analysing. But it is a bit like le-mans for motosport. With the difference that you have overtakes evey 30 seconds. And the world championship, if it doesn't have magnus in it , it could be exciting again ...
And all sports have rules to prevent the abuse of that part of the game. There's a difference between skillfully chewing the clock and outright denying your opponent a chance to win.
I partly agree with @azurealliance1060. It's totally fine when someone stalls the clock at the end when it really matters for the final score, what I don't enjoy is playing forcing lines just to sit 3 mins on the clock when there's like 2 hours of the match left. I understand it's within the rules, but don't blame people that doesn't enjoy/favor this kind of behavior. Everything has its limits even if it's within the rules because in some cases rules were created to limit the extremums (in behavior) and if someone is reaching the extremum all the time, people don't enjoy it even if it's fair with the rules.
Great show guys and happy holidays safe travels fabi and I'm upset Alireza it's not playing World rapid and blitz championship wow that's crazy I was looking forward of seeing him playing over the board haven't seen him in a while that's very unfortunate cuz that's my favorite player it's not good for the fans man
The reason why I think Alireza is not playing much nowadays might be something to do with the situation in Iran currently. Because the timing of his “leave” coincides with the Iran situation.
Boxing is significantly harder than it looks, getting hit really takes it out of you and all that training where you hit the bag can quickly go out the window.
Any monopoly is bad for consumers. Chesscom buying PMG is just bad news for consumers, all around. Hans hitting 2700 is good news though at least but the acquisition is definitely not ideal. I will stick to Lichess, only good viable competitor left to the greedy chesscom!
Lichess is terrible. I've seen 1500-1600s still fall for Scholars Mate on there. The ratings are extremely overrated because there are tons of beginners and low intermediates there.
@@hypercubemaster27291600 of Lichess is not the same as 1600 of chesscom. Elo is a relative scale. They use different calculations. 1600 elo of Lichess is not the same as 1600 elo of chesscom, that's like saying 100 dollars is equal to 100 rupees. Elo is just a relative measure of how good you are. Whether you are 400 or 4000 or 40000 elo doesn't mean anything, only tells you how good you are in comparison to other players on the same elo system.
@@hypercubemaster2729 1500s don't fall for scholars mate on lichess unless they are 1500? Which means they just opened a lichess account and they get 50th percentile rating
Cristian, running down a clock is not a special rule in the last 2 minutes of American football. You can run 40 seconds off the clock when you kneel (the same applies if you run the ball and get tackled) but there are disadvantages to doing it in the middle of the game. Normally, you use all four downs to use up 160 seconds, and in the middle of a game, you'd give the ball to the opposition. But the same happens in chess. Running down the clock can occur at any time. It's not a special rule at the end of a final chess game.
I called it on the other vid and I'll say it again, Aman was putting on weight while Lawrence was cutting. That fight looked like the guy who put on weight had twice the energy levels of the guy cutting. Having been in just that situation, it's no joke how much better you feel when you can actually eat as much as your body wants. I want to see Fabi-Levon in chessboxing, but with only like 2-4 weeks of training. Just enough so you don't hurt yourself by punching, how to actually throw hands without breaking your wrist. You two are the most mild mannered, least likely to fight anyone ever, that's the only reason. I also feel like neither one of you would want to actually hit the other guy but you're both competitive enough that someone would land a very gentle hit, then it'd start escalating slowly. Would either one of you avoid the boxing for the chess, or would you both feel like you have to include the boxing? The world may never know.
LOL, just watching, how did Dina and Andrea both win? Andrea was crushed on the chess board, getting mated. The best match was Aman knocking Lawrence tfo. And btw, Lawrence looked very slow in the practice videos I saw. Also, Lawrence should give up boxing, he can't take a punch, and that probably can't be fixed.
In regard to Nakamura stalling in his recent speed match against Magnus: I think this is totally legitimate. I'm reminded of MMA where the referee comes and tells the fighters to get busy, I find that so annoying. From my point of view: If a player decides to stall because it gives him a match advantage, then it's up to skilled commentators to use the time with maximal efficiency. Often in these fast games there is not enough time to analyze moves. Well, now you have time.
For your NFL comparison, this is only true if you have have no timeouts. What if you just put a minimal amount of games on the last round? Find an avg amount of games that are played normally and set it. As a viewer I find it pretty boring when this happens, it's the main reason why I don't watch football/soccer it can just get so boring when one teams is winning.
Great commentators. Dina needed some of the same training Aman received: (1) cardio; (2) slip/duck right, step forward, jab, jab; (3) shoulder roll & counter-right cross; (4) chin down; and (5) more cardio, then go for a run, then more cardio...
Speed chess is obviously more entertaining to watch. Most people do not have time to watch all day long classical games. That’s why Levi and hikaru are so popular because they break the classical games down in 20 minutes for busy viewers. With that being said classical is is the only way to determine who the best player in the world is. You will never be able determine the best player in the world with a 5 minute or less game. Shortening the format to less classical games would be the best move. Less games would mean both sides would have to go for broke every game and have the time to play their best chess.
Clock Running: While the rules allow it then it is, by definition, part of the game. But it does highlight an obvious weakness in the ruleset. Learn from the match and update the ruleset. Question is: How?
The only way realistically would be to force a set number of games in each format. That's it. Otherwise like fabi said, games would end just being debate matches with the arbiter over what is or isn't stalling. And that would NOT be a better alternative than what currently exists.
I think several things make chess difficult for ESPN. During the pandemic when few sports were being broadcast, they showed cornhole. This is a game where you toss a beanbag into a small hole some distance away. The players are quite good. But it requires almost no knowledge to follow the sport. Scoring is simple. Also, they have sponsors, and even a small audience. If the Twitch audience would actually pay for the watching chess, say, a dollar per tournament, that might raise enough money to get sponsors involved. You need a way to teach chess to those just watching as a newbie as well. If more fans played chess, more would watch it. Relying on rich people to fund chess makes it too unreliable.
Time management is an integral part of the format. Draining time when winning is no different than resigning early in a game with a bad position, to play an extra game. Taking time management out of it, it would just go back to the boring let's play a fix number of games and see who wins more.
@@Evan-gl3vp ahh i see. that's a shame for the players. sounds like something straight out of the stone age but i guess humans will never quit being human no matter how much we appear to advance
The chess-boxing stuff to me is really gross. There's something sick about it that we are wanting people to beat each other to see how it effects their mental acuity. MMA, boxing, football are already very violent, but there's just something extra about the chess aspect that makes it vile in my opinion, and I'm someone who isn't queasy at all or averse to very transgressive things.
This is why I'm much more interested in the suggestion of combining chess with jiu-jitsu, because it doesn't rely on brain injury to keep things interesting and there is some parallels between the sports.
It's more silly to me than anything, and I doubt it's going anywhere. None of these players will sign up for more than 2 or 3 fights, they're too smart to risk damaging themselves for a clownish publicity stunt. Chess boxing will inject some WWE-flavored hype into chess for a little while, then fade away..kinda like Beadman.
she is cleary stronger than 1600. I think 1900 is a good guess as to her strength (her FIDE Elo is lagging behind her strength, because she didnt play lots of FIDE events in the last years)
@@foobar5809 thanks for this info - I went and checked, Andrea is 1995 in classical but only 1624 in rapid play, so I guess we were both partly right, I've only ever seen Andrea play rapid/blitz and so 1600 is about right given what I have seen there, but I can appreciate she is obviously quite a bit stronger in classical.
Also I'm glad Magnus is playing for next WC. He does not appreciate classical chess. Even though Magnus is better player than Nepo or Liren, he does not have appreciation for classical chess as much and so I think Nepo/Liren will be better WCs. If Magnus wants to see rapid or Blitz in world championship, he should just play R&B World championships. For me personally classical chess is the most enjoyable format to watch so I really hope Magnus is utterly wrong with his takes.
Do you think Chess.com 's acquisition of the Play Magnus Group is good for chess? Let us know in the comments...
Yes
No. Monopolies don't usually go well.
Very scary. Like Microsoft buying Apple. Worried about the european commentators, is chess commentating only done by americans in the future. There is a big diffenrence, and diversity is good.
Monopolies aren't good.
@@HansHenrikBay Hopefully they will keep everyone, just merging the companies. Danny talked about Danya, Hess, but also about Howell and Jovanka in the context of commentators
Just love the the way how Fabi speaks his heart out in all matters including his own matters. Love these podcasts.
Great podcast as always . Fair points by Caruana not bucking down to popular opinion . Though he is not a fan of running out the clock in SCC , he correctly points out that Magnus himself has employed this tactic in earlier versions . I am also ambivalent about the slow decline of classical chess . Chesscom is now the Disney equivalent in chess world but i think competition is necessary so as to further innovation . There is a danger of decisions being made which can be detrimental to the growth of chess as a whole . Hope more classical events are conducted . Best of luck for the rapid and blitz championship Caruana . Shame that Nordirbek and Alireza are not playing .
Great podcast. I played Cristian on his stream one time and I still think it's really cool that I got to play a GM. He played the game out too instead of destroying me in the opening which I appreciated.
merry christmas and happy holidays guys thanks for this podcast, has been a very welcome addition to chess community and really appreciate all the effort you both have put into it! onwards and upwards in 2023!
Excellent synergy between Fabiano and Cristian. I expect this channel to grow exponentially as the content and presentation is spot on!
Thanks for this wonderful Christmas Gift. As usual, listening to you guys is always very refreshing. Good luck in your tournament, Fabiano. I am looking forward to watching you exchanging blows with the elite. Happy holidays! 🎄
How does Cristian look so fresh and pumped everytime? We should have one podcast on "chess players and fitness".
I noticed the same. I think the man hits the gym.
The pay for the fighters in Ludwigs chess boxing was 20k usd up front for coaches and training, I think Fabi would definitely need more for it to be worth it if he doesn't already have an interest in trying the sport out
I think interest is the main factor. For many of the participants of the chessboxing event, 20k is not a lot of money, especially after deducting expenses. It was their willingness to train to fight in front of millions that motivated them, not the money.
Is not about money
@@harshilsangal6226 it's about the money
Fabi is so slight and so good at chess it'd be almost impossible to find him a fair matchup. Even Alireza has a few inches on him, and no one else is as skinny.
@@jackwilliams7193 I don't think he's as skinny as you think. And I believe he works out and is probably stronger than you think
How eagerly I wait for this podcast!!! 🎉
Looking forward to Fabi's course! 😄
Classic chess is most important mode. Disgraceful if it phases out.
100% agreed! There is nothing more satisfying than spending a great deal of time figuring out difficult moves and their continuations in critical chess positions!
Nobody is trying to take it away from you guys. The weekend club players won't even notice any change, because they are without any public interest, and don't depend on sponsors. It's top level competition that is changing
It was so great to have you guys and Danny play at CoffeeChess! Thank you so much for fitting us in your busy schedule! You are always welcome here!
Regarding classical chess I think it would be a huge loss if its phased out. I think in lower time controls its about cunningness and classical is about deep understanding of chess. Its like classical vs 960 in a way. A good chess player can win in 960 because he/she has a very good understanding of game not only memorized some openings and training some tactics. And although is quite tiring for commentators (I assume) I believe that for amateur players like myself we benefit considerably from the deep analysis done by GMs on those classical matches. I particularly like to watch Fabi, Danya and Hess commentating together as their explanations are clear and they do go extremely deep sometimes. It’s a bit like being in an offline class where we pick up not only moves but the thought process behind them. I hope these events continue as it makes chess a more accurate and beautiful game to play and watch.
Regarding Hikaru's milking/running down the clock strategy...
In modern pinball games, some modes are less lucrative than others (but need to be played to reach more lucrative levels of the game).
So, in tournaments, players would start a mode, then trap the ball on the flipper, then wait tens of seconds until the mode stopped, then start the next mode.
This was not good for pinball.
The manufacturer solved this problem by changing how the mode clock counts down -- it now stops after a few seconds if no switch/contact has been triggered.
So, in this chess format, the overall clock should stop after say 10 seconds of inactivity by a player. But their game clock continues to count down.
The result would be only 10 seconds of "benefit" for each milking/delaying move.
I can't believe people have an opinion that such a monopoly is a good thing.
Only solution would be to change the format and just have a set amount of games for each time control...like 8 5-1, 10 3-1, and 12 1-1 or something like that.
Authors or the SCC definitely had similar thoughts, but I guess the more exciting format to watch won in the end. Also I don't like the idea that the amount of games increases as the time control reduces, it should be even number for every time control because you don't wanna make one time control more important in the match than the others.
@@fonteinbloem3067 Well the reason for the more games for faster time controls is actually it's called the "SPEED" chess championship. Also it evens out the time per format a bit. If you played 10 of each time format the 5 minute section could last 3 or 4 hours while 10 1 minute games could last less than 20 minutes.
@@jazzyrick Yeah, but "speed" refers to all 3 fast time controls, 5+1, 3+1, 1+1. That's why you have to be equally the best in all time controls and not only in bullet.
I don’t even play chess and I enjoy their podcasts
well David, learn chess and hop in! You'll love it!
55:00 I think Chess will move in a direction similar to the game of Cricket. 30,40 years ago Test Cricket was the main format, a single match lasted around 5 days and sometimes, (in-fact often) ending in draw, long and boring...
Then when the ODI(One day International) came, Test cricket quickly faded into background and ODI World Cup became the biggest event in cricket.
Some 10,15 years ago as people’s attention spans decreased further, twenty-twenty format of cricket came along, one match lasting a few hours, extremely exciting, lot of money invested, lots of celebrities attending and now twenty twenty world cup is the biggest thing.
However, Test Cricket still remains the main benchmark for determining true talent, a sort of critics’ choice if you will….just as I believe, classical chess will(or should) remain the main benchmark for an all rounded chess talent, you can play as many blitz and bullets you want but ultimately its the classical that will move your game forwards….anyway thats my take
It seems entirely possible, and weirdly, the reasons for long form chess and cricket stem from the same source: a 19th century (particularly in the English speaking world) obsession with achieving perfection, trying to create a true test of competitors without artificial constraints to see their best possible play. In cricket and in chess, the 5 day test and multi-hour (but still on the clock) classical format only came about because the previously unlimited games were taking impractical amounts of time. There were also wrestling bouts that lasted an hour or more.
I quite like the suggestion (I think from Magnus) that it might be interesting to have classical chess move closer to the shorter end of what counts as classical. It's still a long game, but something around an hour each is significantly shorter than the six hour Magus v Nepo game, for example.
@@Stu939 “obsession with achieving perfection and trying to create a true test of competitors without any artificial constraints to see their best possible play”
Yes that concept really attracts and fascinates me ☺️
And yeah one hour classical format would probably not take much(if at all) away from what makes it essentially classical…
Im fairly new to online chess and I can’t really do anything below Rapid, and not just because I do poorly under time stress, but also because blitz and bullet don’t really seem to have what attracts me towards chess in the first place;….
@@drjawad92 @stuart sharp never watched a cricket match in my life but that was an interesting analogy
@@cordobes yeah, same thing, never watched cricket, but I got the analogy and the idea, and I agree
Fabi is an incredibly cool and objective guy. Always on point with the analysis and despite the trash talk from all trolls and wanna-be-fans he still rocks and is up there when it comes to chess knowledge and skills. He may or may not be the best at the faster formats, but I'll choose him as a commentator any day of the week over the over-hyped chess players with huge egos, an example being Hikaru.
According to Ludwig, each participant in the chess boxing event got paid $20K USD. It was supposed to go to their boxing training and expenses, but I don't think it had to go there.
Love this podcast!
Lichess is not focusing on entertainment. Chess24 is. I think you mix these sites up. Lichess has 100.000 players all the time
Christian is the best chessboxer at the moment - change my mind
best of luck fabi for rapid and blitz
Merry Christmas guys
Abdusattorov is actually listed for both rapid and blitz championships, so joined late perhaps?
Chess boxing is wrong and naive.
I watched MMA for many years and had a podcast talking about it with a partner.
Eventually we stopped because we realised the ramifications are hard to witness.
Brain damage is real and if you can earn any living from chess, commentary or content creation you better stay away from boxing. It’s not worth it, someone will get seriously hurt in a very real life altering way and when it happens everyone will realise that getting punched in the head is not fun and not a game and yes… a single bad punch can mess you up for the remaining of your life.
Beyond that, seeing out of shape people with zero fighting ability trying to fight is far from attractive or impressive and in my opinion only makes the people and the sport become less.
guys keep the good content! is a great podcast
Classical chess should not be phased out at the to level.
As an observer and a bad chess player, I find it riveting the positions and theory battles that the top GMs play. I also think the preparation for a classical chess match helps players improve overall. Hope that's the case anyways
27:25 Noob here. Is top chess so extreme that you basically cannot stay away from chess for a couple of days/weeks and expect to perform on your highest level?
@Kent Lofgren: You ask an interesting question. A big factor is how closely you schedule tournaments on your calendar. Scheduling tournaments too close leaves less time for proper preparation against the top ranked opponents you see on a regular basis. They likely prepared for you.
@@kennethwoods6525 Ah, I get it now. It's not just preparations in general, which I thought. Instead, it's about being prepared against a specific opponent.
@@kentlofgren : There's much competing for your time besides tournament preparation. Sponsorships (with appearances and promotions), streaming, collaborations, merchandise development and marketing, updating social media accounts, family and friends, dating (!), an exercise routine, etc...
56:00 classical chess will survive, as in cricket when T20 cricket (3hrs time ) arrived all thought of test cricket would die,but it made a test cricket (5 days game) from draw games (similar to chess) to result producing. It all depends on fide.
Great show ya’ll!! Exciting chess times we are in. Happy Holidays!
As a spectator sport, I think that chess should be going a bit more in the rapid style time controls. Long enough that there's a bit of time to think, and that we're likely to see a chess conclusion to the game (rather than what can be unsatisfying with the running out the clock strategy, at least for me), but short enough that it's easy for people to sit down and watch it.
Classical chess is much harder to watch with how long of a time commitment it takes and how often it ends in a draw, at least for me - it's something that I like exists, but I'll just read the results later.
Bullet/blitz are slightly better to watch, but it moves quickly and it's almost a different game given how much some of the other factors matter (eg, reaction speed). Definitely glad it exists, even if it's not for me personally.
Great job guys 👏 keep it up
Nice podcast like usual
This hasn't dropped on google podcasts yet
I was pretty upset by that Magnus match. Days like that happen sometimes. No worries. Looking forward to your show in the World Rapid & Blitz. All the best.
High quality content thank you for the great job 👏👏
I was in LA same time as y’all. Small world.
26:34 🥺
It's like Hank Jr said: "The hangovers hurt more than they used to."
I think if Andrea had an uppercut in her repertoire, she could've put Dina on the mat.
Comparing US Internet promoted events, with global events, on a platform that is predominantly American is debatable
Great pod
I don't think that classical will go, I love the big open tournaments. Isle of Man, Gibraltar etc ... They are pretty cool , with outsiders doing really well. I always find it very exciting, It is a bit difficult for coverage, ideally you might want two or three pairs of commentators looking at games analysing. But it is a bit like le-mans for motosport. With the difference that you have overtakes evey 30 seconds. And the world championship, if it doesn't have magnus in it , it could be exciting again ...
37:12 The clock is part of the game in speed chess. Chewing the clock is done in sports, & it's fine here. Even Magnus agreed with this when asked.
And all sports have rules to prevent the abuse of that part of the game. There's a difference between skillfully chewing the clock and outright denying your opponent a chance to win.
I thought stalling was a issue.
I partly agree with @azurealliance1060. It's totally fine when someone stalls the clock at the end when it really matters for the final score, what I don't enjoy is playing forcing lines just to sit 3 mins on the clock when there's like 2 hours of the match left. I understand it's within the rules, but don't blame people that doesn't enjoy/favor this kind of behavior. Everything has its limits even if it's within the rules because in some cases rules were created to limit the extremums (in behavior) and if someone is reaching the extremum all the time, people don't enjoy it even if it's fair with the rules.
1:16:57 Abdusattarov's name on the list of participants in chess-results.
What's that weird cut at around 12:01 ?
Great show guys and happy holidays safe travels fabi and I'm upset Alireza it's not playing World rapid and blitz championship wow that's crazy I was looking forward of seeing him playing over the board haven't seen him in a while that's very unfortunate cuz that's my favorite player it's not good for the fans man
The reason why I think Alireza is not playing much nowadays might be something to do with the situation in Iran currently. Because the timing of his “leave” coincides with the Iran situation.
Great editing
The speed chess championship why yave that format if you don’t stall when you are winning
Was waiting on the match recap... He was moving head wasn't in the game... But Magnus is still Magnus....
Happy holydays to the chess world
Can someone explain what Magnus's famous 'stuck in the mud' comment was, and was in regards to? I can't find anything about it using web searches.
What incredible minds, to be a GM damn
Boxing is significantly harder than it looks, getting hit really takes it out of you and all that training where you hit the bag can quickly go out the window.
Love your podcast guys.
Fabi would love to show you around Almaty in the evenings or during the weekend! Let me know if you need a guide here
Any monopoly is bad for consumers. Chesscom buying PMG is just bad news for consumers, all around. Hans hitting 2700 is good news though at least but the acquisition is definitely not ideal. I will stick to Lichess, only good viable competitor left to the greedy chesscom!
Lichess is terrible. I've seen 1500-1600s still fall for Scholars Mate on there. The ratings are extremely overrated because there are tons of beginners and low intermediates there.
@@hypercubemaster27291600 of Lichess is not the same as 1600 of chesscom. Elo is a relative scale. They use different calculations.
1600 elo of Lichess is not the same as 1600 elo of chesscom, that's like saying 100 dollars is equal to 100 rupees. Elo is just a relative measure of how good you are. Whether you are 400 or 4000 or 40000 elo doesn't mean anything, only tells you how good you are in comparison to other players on the same elo system.
@@hypercubemaster2729 Its almost as if lichess uses different rating system.
@@hypercubemaster2729 1500s don't fall for scholars mate on lichess unless they are 1500? Which means they just opened a lichess account and they get 50th percentile rating
One thing going on here is a failure to understand how difficult boxing is on the body. Hope you guys like shoulder surgery
Cristian, running down a clock is not a special rule in the last 2 minutes of American football. You can run 40 seconds off the clock when you kneel (the same applies if you run the ball and get tackled) but there are disadvantages to doing it in the middle of the game. Normally, you use all four downs to use up 160 seconds, and in the middle of a game, you'd give the ball to the opposition. But the same happens in chess. Running down the clock can occur at any time. It's not a special rule at the end of a final chess game.
Fabi deserves alot of respect for speaking about such a bad match!
Stalemate is not a draw should perhaps be trialled in a tournament, but for consistency, it seems to me, you should not allow zugzwang.
How will people get OTB titles if classical chess is phased out?
I called it on the other vid and I'll say it again, Aman was putting on weight while Lawrence was cutting. That fight looked like the guy who put on weight had twice the energy levels of the guy cutting. Having been in just that situation, it's no joke how much better you feel when you can actually eat as much as your body wants.
I want to see Fabi-Levon in chessboxing, but with only like 2-4 weeks of training. Just enough so you don't hurt yourself by punching, how to actually throw hands without breaking your wrist. You two are the most mild mannered, least likely to fight anyone ever, that's the only reason. I also feel like neither one of you would want to actually hit the other guy but you're both competitive enough that someone would land a very gentle hit, then it'd start escalating slowly. Would either one of you avoid the boxing for the chess, or would you both feel like you have to include the boxing? The world may never know.
LOL, just watching, how did Dina and Andrea both win? Andrea was crushed on the chess board, getting mated. The best match was Aman knocking Lawrence tfo. And btw, Lawrence looked very slow in the practice videos I saw. Also, Lawrence should give up boxing, he can't take a punch, and that probably can't be fixed.
on time controls. long games are not watchable so they wont ever get a bigger draw. we live in a millisecond world
Good commentating, production, and graphics are helpful
Should do chess fencing
About the time wasting in the Speed Chess Championship, the easiest most elegant fix is to add back the obvious time wasted by players as extra time.
Would you guys consider doing an opening tier list like hikaru and levy did? I think it would be entertaining...
Merry Christmas btw!
Will you guys have Magnus as guest sometime? It would be epic!
Fabiano's Petrov?
In regard to Nakamura stalling in his recent speed match against Magnus: I think this is totally legitimate. I'm reminded of MMA where the referee comes and tells the fighters to get busy, I find that so annoying. From my point of view: If a player decides to stall because it gives him a match advantage, then it's up to skilled commentators to use the time with maximal efficiency. Often in these fast games there is not enough time to analyze moves. Well, now you have time.
For your NFL comparison, this is only true if you have have no timeouts. What if you just put a minimal amount of games on the last round? Find an avg amount of games that are played normally and set it. As a viewer I find it pretty boring when this happens, it's the main reason why I don't watch football/soccer it can just get so boring when one teams is winning.
You never heard of Chessbase?
Good videi
The demise of classical chess seems like fan service. Didn't anyone see the last few seasons of Game of Thrones to know how that goes :-)
Great commentators. Dina needed some of the same training Aman received: (1) cardio; (2) slip/duck right, step forward, jab, jab; (3) shoulder roll & counter-right cross; (4) chin down; and (5) more cardio, then go for a run, then more cardio...
Speed chess is obviously more entertaining to watch. Most people do not have time to watch all day long classical games. That’s why Levi and hikaru are so popular because they break the classical games down in 20 minutes for busy viewers. With that being said classical is is the only way to determine who the best player in the world is. You will never be able determine the best player in the world with a 5 minute or less game. Shortening the format to less classical games would be the best move. Less games would mean both sides would have to go for broke every game and have the time to play their best chess.
Clock Running: While the rules allow it then it is, by definition, part of the game. But it does highlight an obvious weakness in the ruleset. Learn from the match and update the ruleset. Question is: How?
The only way realistically would be to force a set number of games in each format. That's it. Otherwise like fabi said, games would end just being debate matches with the arbiter over what is or isn't stalling. And that would NOT be a better alternative than what currently exists.
I think several things make chess difficult for ESPN. During the pandemic when few sports were being broadcast, they showed cornhole. This is a game where you toss a beanbag into a small hole some distance away. The players are quite good. But it requires almost no knowledge to follow the sport. Scoring is simple. Also, they have sponsors, and even a small audience. If the Twitch audience would actually pay for the watching chess, say, a dollar per tournament, that might raise enough money to get sponsors involved. You need a way to teach chess to those just watching as a newbie as well. If more fans played chess, more would watch it. Relying on rich people to fund chess makes it too unreliable.
Just make it like 10 games 5+1, 10 games 3+1, 20 games 1+1 and do away with the timed segments in SCC to prevent stalling
Lawrence looked bigger to me. I thought he'd do better.
Time management is an integral part of the format. Draining time when winning is no different than resigning early in a game with a bad position, to play an extra game. Taking time management out of it, it would just go back to the boring let's play a fix number of games and see who wins more.
Ludwig said he paid the boxers $20,000 each
Nice
can someone explain to me what the situation is with israeli players? they wont play people from a certain country or ?
Iran prevents their players from playing against Israelis.
@@Evan-gl3vp ahh i see. that's a shame for the players. sounds like something straight out of the stone age but i guess humans will never quit being human no matter how much we appear to advance
Are Fabi and Christian a couple?
I can confirm that
You must be joking. What would give you that idea??
@@hypercubemaster2729 They make a good couple
Cristian is engaged to a woman….
The chess-boxing stuff to me is really gross. There's something sick about it that we are wanting people to beat each other to see how it effects their mental acuity. MMA, boxing, football are already very violent, but there's just something extra about the chess aspect that makes it vile in my opinion, and I'm someone who isn't queasy at all or averse to very transgressive things.
This is why I'm much more interested in the suggestion of combining chess with jiu-jitsu, because it doesn't rely on brain injury to keep things interesting and there is some parallels between the sports.
I see where you're coming from, but at the end of the day it's entertainment.
Then don't watch it...
@@douwehuysmans5959 or even tennis. a lot of chess players play tennis
It's more silly to me than anything, and I doubt it's going anywhere. None of these players will sign up for more than 2 or 3 fights, they're too smart to risk damaging themselves for a clownish publicity stunt. Chess boxing will inject some WWE-flavored hype into chess for a little while, then fade away..kinda like Beadman.
Yes, keep us updated with Hans and his Adventures. I know Hikaru trying to keep him down since he sees him as a risk to his US chess domination.
Lmao, keep dreaming. Hans is nothing compared to Hikaru or Magnus.
Fabi with a super GM move putting Magnus and Hans in the title for hits. You don't hit 2700 if you can't make that move.
fEELING fABI TO WIN THE BLITZ EDIT : I chose LT
Fabi didn't have a great showing in SCC, I wouldn't count on it for Blitz. For Rapid yeah maybe, Fabi is a great player.
@@margeshphirke3534 Yeah , strange eh.
What the hell is LT ? I think I forgot almost instantly.
Chess Boxing is utterly mad, don't go anywhere near it! Getting banged in the head is not a great idea.
Sara Khadem will be in danger if she comes back to Iran after the recent Fide Women tournament.
Alireza Firuzja has been awfully quiet about these topics but Mitra Hejazipour and Atousa Pourkashiyan will probably talk about it.
I hate that Carlsen is on a crusade to kill classical chess
Andrea Botez is nowhere near 1900 strength. Probably 1600. She looked great in the boxing though.
she is cleary stronger than 1600. I think 1900 is a good guess as to her strength (her FIDE Elo is lagging behind her strength, because she didnt play lots of FIDE events in the last years)
her USCF is almost 2000(which is slighty inflated compared to FIDE though)
@@foobar5809 thanks for this info - I went and checked, Andrea is 1995 in classical but only 1624 in rapid play, so I guess we were both partly right, I've only ever seen Andrea play rapid/blitz and so 1600 is about right given what I have seen there, but I can appreciate she is obviously quite a bit stronger in classical.
Classical chess is dead no one practice for it
what happened is fabi was a jobber for the magnus hikaru match. welcome to the chess entertainment era, wwe style chess.
Beer does dehydrate you because you must pee all the time so you losing much more water than you actually drink
Also I'm glad Magnus is playing for next WC. He does not appreciate classical chess. Even though Magnus is better player than Nepo or Liren, he does not have appreciation for classical chess as much and so I think Nepo/Liren will be better WCs. If Magnus wants to see rapid or Blitz in world championship, he should just play R&B World championships.
For me personally classical chess is the most enjoyable format to watch so I really hope Magnus is utterly wrong with his takes.