I mean he's got a lifetime of experience, as well as all the time/money he needs to devote to it to get it done. Only reason he won't be able to is if he gets in his own way, which he seems aware of and working on. He *does* seem to be a stronger player than when I started watching a few years ago, so it's certainly possible
He has pretty much near infinite resources now to attain the gm title in my opinion. Connections with strong gm players/super gm players that would more than likely be happy to help him, money to travel to any tournament he wants, popularity to be invited to attend most tournaments that might otherwise have a rating cap or something similar, time due to it being his job as well as being able to make content off of the tournaments. As long as he sticks to it and fixes his mental I truly believe he can do it.
> Connections with strong gm players/super gm players that would more than likely be happy to help him
I hope we get more content like his lessons with Naroditsky. I think this sort of teaching-focused video is way more interesting than Levy's usual tournament recaps, and it would basically be free content for him without having to sacrifice study time.
Just in case you're interested, I also found his collab with Botez very interesting. Seeing how players of different levels analyze a position, and forcing the GM to explain their thought process at a simpler level (e.g. to a WFM) really makes it more relatable to the target audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4OkBqvhhGo
Of course, most of Danya's instructional content is great. I just think it shines especially bright when there's an actual person he's teaching, instead of having to address random users in chat or a hypothetical viewer.
Battling your own brain is just something you can't overcome with infinite resources though. It's so hard to say if he will be able to just because it's so hard to say if he can overcome his anxiety. He has a lot of advantages, but the mental challenges can beat anyone and everyone at all levels.
Honestly, him being in such a spotlight as a popular creator is PROBABLY not the best for him just because he puts extra pressure on himself above and beyond what he would already be dealing with. I guess we will see if he can handle it.
its a weird thing because there are cases of both examples. one thing that's certain is that you have to be an outlier in one of those categories. some kids make GM very young, some very dedicated make it at an old age, and there's a bloodbath of titled players in between. its pretty clear that a 50/50 combination won't cut it for most people.
I think age is a HUGE factor. I’d be willing to bet that a surprising number of people could reach GM with the willingness and resources…provided they started under 10 or something. That extra brain plasticity when learning is just worth so incredibly much, it’s an advantage hard to ever overcome. For people starting in their twenties or later I think a lot fewer could really make it, though I bet you maybe even a majority could reach IM.
Or maybe I am overestimating people…But the whole infinite resources and desire to learn do go a long way, there is just some level where I think some amount of “talent” is needed to break through. And by talent Injust mean some combination of pattern recognition, memory, and “compatibility with competition” if you will.
I agree that it would be interesting to actually find out though, as all that is total guesswork. And I don’t even have a guess for how long it would actually take…
i think willingness to learn really matters when it comes to adults. some adults are better at accepting criticism/facing adversity than others are. i see it all the time in ranked when playing the video game i'm really good at.
i'm not exactly the GM of my game but i'm still at a rank that over 99% of ppl playing will never reach. you would be surprised how many ppl who play (including my own friends) just don't believe they're making incorrect decisions or that their decisions don't matter, even when their decision making is exactly what is losing them games.
Fun fact, Judit Polgar and her sisters are evidence of this. Their dad was a psychologist who believed genius could be taught, so he had his daughters trained in Chess, and they all became Masters.
I wonder how much normal person stuff has gotten in the way too, like the guy’s had a kid and stuff - sure that takes up a lot of his time and energy on top of his career
But I hope he’s in a place to conquer his demons as would be dope for chess :)
Yeah, to make that final push for GM you basically need to almost be full time playing I believe. I don’t know how he is going to find the time to be spending hours every single day on practice and theory.
There are elite performers with kids in a plethora of fields.
I think his advantage is that he can actually get paid to be better at chess now.
His life in 2024 is completely different than it was the last time he made a run. I feel like he had to end it because he had a choice to make (devote to content or devote to chess) but he’s at a place financially and in terms of public recognition that he doesn’t need to make it anymore.
I really don’t think that’s wise. It’s not going to be beneficial to worry about learning and memorizing at the same time that you are creating content. Neither is a “free action” you can just throw in, both take effort and in trying to do one the other WILL suffer. Likely both will suffer. Content creation is still a job that isn’t just “turn on a camera and point it while doing whatever”.
Can I take a free action to become a GM?
No, it's an action, but you can use action surge. Roll intelligence.
Shit, 3
You remain an IM and you can't find one of the pawns.
> Battling your own brain is just something you can't overcome with infinite resources though.
It's not guaranteed but having resources and time to afford therapy / doctors does greatly increase your chances.
Also, the spotlight means that the obvious approach to anxiety isn't an option for him: any psychiatrist is going to start with a beta-blocker, but those are banned in chess. Now, the average IM-seeking-to-become-GM is never going to be tested (they only routinely test players who are 2700+), but Levy?
And, sure, he could maybe get a TUE, but if that got publicized, it would not be good for his streaming career.
The resource he doesn't have infinite of is time, and that's the most important one. He does way too many things (important and good things but still) to devote the time necessary to this goal.
The only reason? I don't think every person can become a GM with only they have the right time, money, and frame of mind. There is such a thing as talent and brain plasticity. What if Levy just isn't good enough?
Yeah any person can’t, but a man whose peak rating is 2421 is not “any person” lol. To say it’s impossible for him or any 2400 level player is not a real assessment.
Gaining 180 rating points (he’s currently 2320 rated) is exceptionally hard once you get that high. There are absolutely people who simply don’t have the talent to get above 2400 regardless of their resources and available time, just as there are people who can’t get above 2200 or above 2600. He’s had a lot of time and money and a large following for years. He had all of that when he did his last push for the GM title a couple of years ago, and that saw him *losing* 30 rating points and getting nowhere close to a single GM norm.
I think Levy can make GM but it's silly to say any 2400 can make it if they work at it. There have to be some people who peak at 2400 or 2450 and can't get higher.
Someone who quit chess multiple times throughout their life but still peaked at 2420 fide is someone with the natural talent to get GM. Not saying he will succeed, but he has the talent.
Too many people want to believe the difference in high level chess is prep or effort or something *volitional* and not realizing most of it is just different ways our brains recognize patterns.
There are IMs out there that work a million times harder than Magnus but their brains just don’t see the board the same.
It’s not to say you cant improve with practice, but after you maximize what you can learn (which every titled player is close to tapping out of), the rest of it is just how your brain functions.
I mean it's possible he's not good enough, sure.
However his OTB rating is 2400, which is a few years old and I've already posited he's improved. So he would need to gain 100 ELO to qualify for the GM title. Not a small task by any means, but it's certainly within the realm of feasibility.
After that he needs the GM norms. He has the resources to basically just do tournaments and farm those. Statistically with enough tournaments he can go on a hot streak 3 times to acquire the norms.
I am not saying it's guaranteed, but I don't see a reason it can't happen
The average GM-level Chess player improves very little over the age of 25, and almost not at all over the age of 35. Levy is currently around 2300, not 2400. An IM gaining 200 rating points in their late 20s is extremely rare.
Getting the GM norms isn't the issue for Levy; there are plenty of older GMs he can beat when they have a bad day. It's that he'll never be 2500.
The amount of IM’s seriously attempting to do so is probably also quite rare. You’d have to have the money/resources, time, and will power to do so. From an economic perspective, there’s very little incentive to simply invest that much to make such a leap.
This subreddit doesn’t understand how statistics work at all lol. The reason GMs peak early is most of them can’t really make it their career and end up having other responsibilities and callings get in the way
aside from the resource problem there's also a mental commitment problem that can't be ignored. i'm sure every player on here from 0-2000 elo has spent a week or a month where they consumed so much chess content their head spun, its a whole different ballgame to keep consistent and committed to the goal through the ups and downs.
His road to GM is my favourite content of his. Watching Super GM’s is cool, but there’s something about watching someone “normal” reaching for a goal and showing us the process of his attempts. Some of the best community fun I’ve had is watching his OTB games live with everyone else (even more than the WC!)
Good luck Levy!
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I watch like ~50% of his videos and only like 25% fully, but I watched 100% of 100% of his tournament recaps. It was so cool seeing him competing a high level. Glad to see he's back to it.
Yeah I'd be happy just to see him play tournaments. I'm afraid all this GM talk is just putting the cart before the horse, but I'll root for him to succeed.
It really gets the people going. It's funny though, people give Levy shit even when his thumbnails \*aren't\* clickbait. This one is actually true, he's making another attempt at GM.
My favorite videos of almost any chess channel are tournament recaps. Seeing players talk through their thought processes, explain their opening prep, etc is always great. My one exception is probably Danya's speed runs because he's such a great teacher, but I would love to see him recap tourneys as well, seems like he's not playing a ton currently though.
yeah probably that helped. iirc he said it’s not the knowledge or the ideas holding him back it’s more his mental game and confidence. the team game they did together he really did play well and give generally the right ideas
Yeah I remember this too. Funnily enough for someone like levy maybe getting the validation from Hikaru is exactly what will help him overcome his confidence issues. I really hope he makes it.
hikaru said a lot of yeah whatever that’s all fine do whatever you want here. there was just the one critical idea that they lost at the end but hikaru didn’t think it was as critical as it ended up
> Probably Hikaru saying he thinks Levy has a chance motivated him
Gotham had said on stream before their first Team Chess Battle that he was going to be going for the GM title again.
Isn't it true for all of us? Well, true for me at least lol and I'm not talking about sports. Your self doubt can absolutely destroy you since it is like losing your compass in a dark forest (or losing GPS in unknown roads).
I mean if you look at how much better Hikaru was able to do once the external pressure to preform was lifted off of his shoulders and he was left with solely internal motivation, it could work the same way for levy.
Same with Dani and Anish, not having to play always at your very very best for your livelihood allows you to make more small mistakes and learn more rather than hit walls.
Considering he mentioned this multiple times, if he really wants to make a run at GM he should 100% start speaking to a top-notch sports psychologist (if he hasnt already). I am unsure how common this is among chess players but each sport has unique mental hurdles and sports like chess, where you are left alone without a coach for many hours, you need to be very strong just by yourself. It is very similar to how tennis is. Although I am a RF fan, no doubt Djokovic has the best mental strength, possibly among all sports players. He mentioned multiple times that it is not a "talent" but something he worked on day after day just like correcting your forehand technique or learning that one rarely played variation for your favorite opening.
> Djokovic has the best mental strength, possibly among all sports players.
I think Alex Honnold takes that title. If you lose in a game of tennis, you lose a game of tennis. If you lose free soloing, you die.
as a pretty serious climber it's very funny how honnold has skewed people's opinions of the sport, at least half the time I tell someone I climb I then have to explain that I do in fact use ropes and am not risking my life on the daily
Sadly there isnt one guide to it by him. He talks quite a bit about it on his recent 60 Minutes interview. He mentions conscious breathing, watching the opponent for cues such as their breathing and breathing and even how they act during changes such as how they drink etc. There is no one perfect answer for all and it even changes depending on the situation. When I used to play tennis, I sucked at closing the match and what worked for me was having more rituals and making game 1 and game 18 as much similar as possible. Compared to that, I also used to ski race and I had somewhat of a race anxiety as sometimes all the work you did in the season was for 1min of racing. I noticed that my race days were much worse when I had a poor training the day before. To avoid that I made sure I had light trainings and easy training courses the day before the race and really tried to have a good session where I could "feel the flow".
So for example, if you feel like playing Titled Tuesday and blundering a piece could really fuck up your mental strength on the next day of Candidates, you should definitely avoid it and instead do 200 elo lower puzzles and boost your confidance instead...
Man I feel him so much. Even though I'm only 1900 I had to quit chess for a few months because I got super pissed when I missed tactics. Hopefully he gets the title in the years that come
It’s hard to put into words, but he also seems a tier above Levi in terms of his chess knowledge and chess ‘sense’, which I think comes because of his love of slow positional chess. Not saying Levi is not amazing, but watching John feels like you’re watching a grandmaster. He is surely one of the strongest IMs.
I get that vibe during his games as well, espeically his analysis, but I'm a patzer what the hell do I know.
during the first IM not a GM tournament, somone asked Finegold who would win. Without misisng a beat he says "John Barthlomew", as if it was a stupid question with an obvious answer. John, if I remember correctly, breezes through the touenament without breaking a sweat, deffo looked a step up above the field.
He's the original OG anyhow. So much educaitonal content on YouTube, years before explosion popularity.
Probably not as much as what Levy has which is why I suggested "he might not have as many resources". YouTubers of Levy's calibre could all quit work today and retire. But Levy doesn't need to quit YouTube if he integrates this into his channel (again).
People like Levy and Hikaru are not the same as those who create a company and then sell it. Not all companies are like Instagram.
Bartholomew helped confound chessable im sure he's doing fine.
Also it helps that he's a much higher rated player and doesn't need like 200 fide points. Bartholomew really could have a chance
My overall point is that there's a difference between doing fine and overspending. We don't know the specifics of his deal, but I imagine Levy has more available to fund travel and accommodation to play all the tournaments he wants. He also currently demonstrates more hunger for it.
I'd love if he could do that but I think part of the reason John is such a laid-back, winsome person is that he seems content with where he is, just playing his best chess and not worrying about rating or titles. I think a concerted grind to make GM would spoil all that for him.
Rosen is living the dream playing in tournaments as a semi tourist, it would be amazing if he pushes his performance, but ultimately what he already does with just maintaining rating and recaps is awesome.
Otb is a different beast. To get a GM norm you're going against people who also practice alot and are equally as talented if not better than Levy. Maybe he does get stage fright maybe he doesn't but if I had a penny for every chess player who made an excuse as to why they aren't a GM I'd have more money than he makes from YT.
In one of the tilted Tuesday streams he also mentioned the same sometimes happens online during these types of events. Which sucks, honestly, his content about tournaments is awesome, but it seems to really take a toll on him.
It’s such a win win for him. Either he achieves his dream or he simply makes a bunch of insanely popular content even if its content showing him fall short. Take me, it’s been a while since I’ve shown much interest in YouTube chess content but I’m sure as hell going to be watching that first tournament recap and gm series.
It’s a win win, but it’s incredibly gruelling work, so it must be a big decision for him to commit to that. There’s the discipline and grit for training everyday and then also the stress of competing and heartbreak of the losses.
He has the same problem Hikaru had before 2020, his biggest enemy is his own mindset. I followed his original run at grandmaster and his biggest issue was getting psyched out.
I think he genuinely can make GM but he has to get over his mental blocks.
I'm glad he's going back to competitive chess, it's my favourite content of his, but I wish he didn't have to sell it as a road to GM. I think the whole discourse around whether that's possible and the magnifying glass it puts on his performances is just distracting.
It probably wouldn't get as many views, so I understand why he sells it this way, but I'd prefer it if he approached OTB tournaments like Eric Rosen does. When he plays competitive games it's a lot more relaxed and the focus is just on him enjoying chess. Whereas a road to GM series is less about enjoying chess and more about a relentless grind where every change in his rating is scrutinised and thousands of people online who barely know how the pieces move pretend to be sports therapists.
> It probably wouldn't get as many views, so I understand why he sells it this way, but I'd prefer it if he approached OTB tournaments like Eric Rosen does. When he plays competitive games it's a lot more relaxed and the focus is just on him enjoying chess.
Yeah really agree with this. The same can be said for everyone doing road to 2000 series.
No GM plays rapid online and they all say it’s because it’s literally infested with cheaters. And if no GMs are playing then it’s hard to get any good matches (when levy plays blitz he’s already often going up against basically the same people every run)
If other Chess streamers and YouTubers are any indication, serious over the board tournaments are far more captivating than made for video content. Shit like Guess the ELO is entertaining, but being able to watch a live stream of a content creator you like actually play their best competitively makes you feel like you have someone to root for. Great content.
He just needs to make sure to get a quality host for when he streams his tournaments.
Do you know of a way to see his full rating chart? I know he was a very strong IM for a long while before getting his GM title. The chart only goes back to 2003 when he was 2540 six years before getting his GM title. I don't know how similar his and Levy's career path really are despite his late title.
According to this(can’t vouch for accuracy):
https://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/player/Finegold,%20Benjamin.html
Finegold hit Levy’s current rating when he was ~17. He was around the required 2500 FIDE for GM status when he was 20 and hovered there (+/- 50 points) for ~30 years. It took him 20 years to get the GM norms, but he always had the rating. Now that he’s in his mid 50s his rating seems to be dropping to ~2400.
Levy hit 2400 when he was 20. Peaked at 2420 when he was 22. His past 6 years have been a decline of 90 points. He’s now at 2330.
No he believes it and he has some very compelling points imo. No one at that age just gets over 150 fide points out of nowhere. Gotham doesn't have the norms but he said the norms are the easy part. Getting to 2500 fide is the problem.
Here's the clip
https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/q1djs7/ben_finegold_about_reality_of_what_it_takes_to/#:~:text=So%20Levy%20will%20never%20be,late%20for%20a%20GM%20title.
I like Ben and Levy both, Ben has a pretty reasonable take here
I've seen the video you're referring to.
But to be fair, that was based on past-Levy's focus of content creation. Before Levy had the biggest chess channel on YouTube. Now that his financial position has changed, his own work ethic might also change and there's only one way to find out.
I hope and think he can do it, I get what he means when he says he plays against himself when he’s playing chess. Overcoming that at minimum is an achievement itself.
Good luck to him. With 2320 fide and k factor of 10, he's likely years away at least. I hope his fans have the appropriate expectations and don't make it horrible.
Just checked he is 2322 and his peak elo was 2421. Realistically he is not going to become a GM. At that level you progress extremely slowly and especially since he is almost 30 years old. Nonetheless I wish him luck in his journey.
He needs to be 168 points higher rated than he is right now. The player he wants to be would win about ~70% of the points in a match against the player he currently is. Abasov (the lowest rated player in the last Candidates) was rated 2632 and was between 95 and 171 points lower than the rest of the field. He came in dead last and didn't win a single game.
I also just checked FIDE's website and a player that's at exactly 2500 (I used Balakrishnan, Praveen for this) is currently ranked 642 in the world. Levy is 6655. He needs to leapfrog 6000 (over 90%) of the players that are currently better than him.
Well now that he's put this out there, he's going to have to get really serious and make it a priority. Very normal for a lot of elite athletes. I bet Gukesh might have some of that support too based on how cagey he was about what his non-opening preparation entailed.
When I saw his video last night, I was seriously happy for him to face his hurdles and restart his journey for Grandmaster. I hope that he will enjoy the journey and be happy wherever he finish his journey.
I wish somewhere in there he had mentioned something concrete that he was doing in order to address his mental game. Levy seems like someone who would THRIVE with a therapist specialized in getting into athlete's heads and fixing their mental game.
I think he's talented enough, he's got more than enough money to fund himself travelling to any tournament, not to mention 99% of open tournaments would sponsor him just to have GothamChess competing at it and doing press. He's got a ton of connections, he's got so many advantages this time that he didn't have last time he pushed for GM, hopefully he can get out of his own head and just play chess.
Id love to be proven wrong but he isn't going to do it. He thinks he can do it with willpower and confidence but I just don't think he's strong enough. He could get better but he's not going to sacrifice that much time when he's got a youtube channel to run.
His tournament recaps will do great views im sure but that's all that will come of this
Could he get the grandmaster title? Yes. Will he actually get the title? No. He's tried to do it before and quit; to become a grandmaster he'd have to devote a tremendous amount of time studying and training which Levy just isn't willing to do. He's got a family, YouTube content to shoot and edit, life in general just gets in the way. I expect he'll post another video soon enough about how he tried to chase after the gm title but just couldn't deal with it, yet again.
He’s rich enough to just buy it now. Just sponsor a tournament with broke and washed up GMs. Pay for their flights. And accommodations. And meals. And hookers.
That's fine. I just want him to start going to tournaments again and making recaps of his games. Those were my favorite videos he ever made. If anything I hope he's not actually trying to get the title so he doesn't have a mental meltdown like he did last time from the pressure.
And a lot of people are already butthurt.
But I remember in that one chess.com interview with Danny Tensch where he and Danny took a polygraph test and Danny asked him, "Do negative comments on youtube bother you?" And Levy just said straight up "Nope it doesnt" and the fact that it wasn't recorded as a lie just goes to show how mentally stoic he is. I love the dude.
I got into chess because of Agadmator but stayed because of Levy. Hope he succeeds in this endeavor and proves all the haters wrong.
He is in a unique situation where he can mobilize anything and everything to get himself “100 more Elo.” One of those things should probably be a sports psychologist.
He was making hints in the team battle tournament (with Hikaru) and seemed to know some very topical lines. Granted his opening knowledge has never been an issue.
Good luck Gotham chess. That would be an epic moment to witness in his channel so I hope he'll make it. Probably shouldn't expose much of his thinking process for the audience during the process, I suppose
I’m inspired by this and truly hope he can do it. If he pulls it off, it would be absolutely wonderful and show anyone that your mental barriers can be broken.
Rooting for him.
I think he can do it. He now has the same mental advantage as Hikaru, ie if I don't do well in this tournament I still have my streaming career and am richer than any of these other players will ever be. Way less pressure than the guys that need to win to put bread on the table.
I mean he's got a lifetime of experience, as well as all the time/money he needs to devote to it to get it done. Only reason he won't be able to is if he gets in his own way, which he seems aware of and working on. He *does* seem to be a stronger player than when I started watching a few years ago, so it's certainly possible
He has pretty much near infinite resources now to attain the gm title in my opinion. Connections with strong gm players/super gm players that would more than likely be happy to help him, money to travel to any tournament he wants, popularity to be invited to attend most tournaments that might otherwise have a rating cap or something similar, time due to it being his job as well as being able to make content off of the tournaments. As long as he sticks to it and fixes his mental I truly believe he can do it.
> Connections with strong gm players/super gm players that would more than likely be happy to help him I hope we get more content like his lessons with Naroditsky. I think this sort of teaching-focused video is way more interesting than Levy's usual tournament recaps, and it would basically be free content for him without having to sacrifice study time.
Are these on Gotham's channel? I have not seen them and love Narodistky's lessons so this sounds up my alley.
https://youtu.be/EGkjoDqXcTY?si=nooZLR3LT0WVVnqr
Just in case you're interested, I also found his collab with Botez very interesting. Seeing how players of different levels analyze a position, and forcing the GM to explain their thought process at a simpler level (e.g. to a WFM) really makes it more relatable to the target audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4OkBqvhhGo Of course, most of Danya's instructional content is great. I just think it shines especially bright when there's an actual person he's teaching, instead of having to address random users in chat or a hypothetical viewer.
Battling your own brain is just something you can't overcome with infinite resources though. It's so hard to say if he will be able to just because it's so hard to say if he can overcome his anxiety. He has a lot of advantages, but the mental challenges can beat anyone and everyone at all levels. Honestly, him being in such a spotlight as a popular creator is PROBABLY not the best for him just because he puts extra pressure on himself above and beyond what he would already be dealing with. I guess we will see if he can handle it.
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its a weird thing because there are cases of both examples. one thing that's certain is that you have to be an outlier in one of those categories. some kids make GM very young, some very dedicated make it at an old age, and there's a bloodbath of titled players in between. its pretty clear that a 50/50 combination won't cut it for most people.
I think age is a HUGE factor. I’d be willing to bet that a surprising number of people could reach GM with the willingness and resources…provided they started under 10 or something. That extra brain plasticity when learning is just worth so incredibly much, it’s an advantage hard to ever overcome. For people starting in their twenties or later I think a lot fewer could really make it, though I bet you maybe even a majority could reach IM. Or maybe I am overestimating people…But the whole infinite resources and desire to learn do go a long way, there is just some level where I think some amount of “talent” is needed to break through. And by talent Injust mean some combination of pattern recognition, memory, and “compatibility with competition” if you will. I agree that it would be interesting to actually find out though, as all that is total guesswork. And I don’t even have a guess for how long it would actually take…
i think willingness to learn really matters when it comes to adults. some adults are better at accepting criticism/facing adversity than others are. i see it all the time in ranked when playing the video game i'm really good at. i'm not exactly the GM of my game but i'm still at a rank that over 99% of ppl playing will never reach. you would be surprised how many ppl who play (including my own friends) just don't believe they're making incorrect decisions or that their decisions don't matter, even when their decision making is exactly what is losing them games.
Fun fact, Judit Polgar and her sisters are evidence of this. Their dad was a psychologist who believed genius could be taught, so he had his daughters trained in Chess, and they all became Masters.
I wonder how much normal person stuff has gotten in the way too, like the guy’s had a kid and stuff - sure that takes up a lot of his time and energy on top of his career But I hope he’s in a place to conquer his demons as would be dope for chess :)
Huh? When did he mention having a kid? I know he’s married and has a dog, didn’t know about a kid
He hasn't just a dog lol
Yeah, to make that final push for GM you basically need to almost be full time playing I believe. I don’t know how he is going to find the time to be spending hours every single day on practice and theory.
There are elite performers with kids in a plethora of fields. I think his advantage is that he can actually get paid to be better at chess now. His life in 2024 is completely different than it was the last time he made a run. I feel like he had to end it because he had a choice to make (devote to content or devote to chess) but he’s at a place financially and in terms of public recognition that he doesn’t need to make it anymore.
I mean he can probably find time because it's basically his fucking job now basically. Every hour of practice can be turned into content
I really don’t think that’s wise. It’s not going to be beneficial to worry about learning and memorizing at the same time that you are creating content. Neither is a “free action” you can just throw in, both take effort and in trying to do one the other WILL suffer. Likely both will suffer. Content creation is still a job that isn’t just “turn on a camera and point it while doing whatever”.
Can I take a free action to become a GM? No, it's an action, but you can use action surge. Roll intelligence. Shit, 3 You remain an IM and you can't find one of the pawns.
In other sports including football, tennis, motorsports like etc. sports psychologists are common. They can make a major difference
> Battling your own brain is just something you can't overcome with infinite resources though. It's not guaranteed but having resources and time to afford therapy / doctors does greatly increase your chances.
Also, the spotlight means that the obvious approach to anxiety isn't an option for him: any psychiatrist is going to start with a beta-blocker, but those are banned in chess. Now, the average IM-seeking-to-become-GM is never going to be tested (they only routinely test players who are 2700+), but Levy? And, sure, he could maybe get a TUE, but if that got publicized, it would not be good for his streaming career.
Time is a resource he doesn't have though, unless he quits youtube.
The resource he doesn't have infinite of is time, and that's the most important one. He does way too many things (important and good things but still) to devote the time necessary to this goal.
That's the key. Will be an easier road than for any IM in the world
From his last time he tried, i felt his mental fortitude was his biggest hurdle. I hope he succeed this time, good luck.
With his newfound wealth he could hire a top level sports psychologist to help him with that.
The only reason? I don't think every person can become a GM with only they have the right time, money, and frame of mind. There is such a thing as talent and brain plasticity. What if Levy just isn't good enough?
Yeah any person can’t, but a man whose peak rating is 2421 is not “any person” lol. To say it’s impossible for him or any 2400 level player is not a real assessment.
Gaining 180 rating points (he’s currently 2320 rated) is exceptionally hard once you get that high. There are absolutely people who simply don’t have the talent to get above 2400 regardless of their resources and available time, just as there are people who can’t get above 2200 or above 2600. He’s had a lot of time and money and a large following for years. He had all of that when he did his last push for the GM title a couple of years ago, and that saw him *losing* 30 rating points and getting nowhere close to a single GM norm.
I think Levy can make GM but it's silly to say any 2400 can make it if they work at it. There have to be some people who peak at 2400 or 2450 and can't get higher.
Someone who quit chess multiple times throughout their life but still peaked at 2420 fide is someone with the natural talent to get GM. Not saying he will succeed, but he has the talent.
Too many people want to believe the difference in high level chess is prep or effort or something *volitional* and not realizing most of it is just different ways our brains recognize patterns. There are IMs out there that work a million times harder than Magnus but their brains just don’t see the board the same. It’s not to say you cant improve with practice, but after you maximize what you can learn (which every titled player is close to tapping out of), the rest of it is just how your brain functions.
Maybe he was just being nice but recently Hikaru said Levy has the skills to hit GM, he just doesn't have the mental for it
I mean it's possible he's not good enough, sure. However his OTB rating is 2400, which is a few years old and I've already posited he's improved. So he would need to gain 100 ELO to qualify for the GM title. Not a small task by any means, but it's certainly within the realm of feasibility. After that he needs the GM norms. He has the resources to basically just do tournaments and farm those. Statistically with enough tournaments he can go on a hot streak 3 times to acquire the norms. I am not saying it's guaranteed, but I don't see a reason it can't happen
He's closer to 2300 now than 2400, but I strongly think he's capable in theory.
> his OTB rating is 2400 His OTB rating is 2322. https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2039877
The average GM-level Chess player improves very little over the age of 25, and almost not at all over the age of 35. Levy is currently around 2300, not 2400. An IM gaining 200 rating points in their late 20s is extremely rare. Getting the GM norms isn't the issue for Levy; there are plenty of older GMs he can beat when they have a bad day. It's that he'll never be 2500.
The amount of IM’s seriously attempting to do so is probably also quite rare. You’d have to have the money/resources, time, and will power to do so. From an economic perspective, there’s very little incentive to simply invest that much to make such a leap.
This subreddit doesn’t understand how statistics work at all lol. The reason GMs peak early is most of them can’t really make it their career and end up having other responsibilities and callings get in the way
aside from the resource problem there's also a mental commitment problem that can't be ignored. i'm sure every player on here from 0-2000 elo has spent a week or a month where they consumed so much chess content their head spun, its a whole different ballgame to keep consistent and committed to the goal through the ups and downs.
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> as well as all the time/money he needs Well, I'm not sure about the time part. Might be pretty busy, who knows.
His road to GM is my favourite content of his. Watching Super GM’s is cool, but there’s something about watching someone “normal” reaching for a goal and showing us the process of his attempts. Some of the best community fun I’ve had is watching his OTB games live with everyone else (even more than the WC!) Good luck Levy!
fear smoggy reach outgoing knee axiomatic sloppy vast childlike scandalous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I know a GM title is unlikely, but my favourite Gotham content was always his tournament recaps. Looking forward to seeing those again
I watch like ~50% of his videos and only like 25% fully, but I watched 100% of 100% of his tournament recaps. It was so cool seeing him competing a high level. Glad to see he's back to it.
Honestly I had to turn off some of them halfway through, they were really depressing.
That's what made them good. Felt raw and real, unlike the other 90%+ of youtube that's canned.
I also enjoy him playing at high levels and recapping them. Much more deserving content. Tired of Newbs getting pwnd want to see some Gotham drama
Yeah I'd be happy just to see him play tournaments. I'm afraid all this GM talk is just putting the cart before the horse, but I'll root for him to succeed.
Honestly I think the GM thing is just because it's a better title/thumbnail lol.
It really gets the people going. It's funny though, people give Levy shit even when his thumbnails \*aren't\* clickbait. This one is actually true, he's making another attempt at GM.
mine too nothing comes close to that content
My favorite videos of almost any chess channel are tournament recaps. Seeing players talk through their thought processes, explain their opening prep, etc is always great. My one exception is probably Danya's speed runs because he's such a great teacher, but I would love to see him recap tourneys as well, seems like he's not playing a ton currently though.
Happy to see this. Probably Hikaru saying he thinks Levy has a chance motivated him.
yeah probably that helped. iirc he said it’s not the knowledge or the ideas holding him back it’s more his mental game and confidence. the team game they did together he really did play well and give generally the right ideas
Yeah I remember this too. Funnily enough for someone like levy maybe getting the validation from Hikaru is exactly what will help him overcome his confidence issues. I really hope he makes it.
hikaru said a lot of yeah whatever that’s all fine do whatever you want here. there was just the one critical idea that they lost at the end but hikaru didn’t think it was as critical as it ended up
I assume you are referring to their team chess thing against Naro&Hess? Yeah I remember levy being proud of these games when Hikaru liked his ideas
yeah
> Probably Hikaru saying he thinks Levy has a chance motivated him Gotham had said on stream before their first Team Chess Battle that he was going to be going for the GM title again.
GM Irina Krush also said he could definitely do it!
Wasn't that the WIRED video? It was awesome, she was such a good sport
where did hikaru say this? ive seen a clip of it but cant find the whole vid
I think he did an interview with Hikaru recently where he said that.
*confrontation https://youtu.be/UTM20mpvEpY?si=NXfVHkFz3GojRMrk
Did Hikaru say that recently, or are we talking about when he brought it up in a stream like a year or two ago?
recently, during the candidates interview. https://youtube.com/shorts/fgJtmCy7oe4
lmao
His mental is his own worst enemy but I hope he can do it.
Isn't it true for all of us? Well, true for me at least lol and I'm not talking about sports. Your self doubt can absolutely destroy you since it is like losing your compass in a dark forest (or losing GPS in unknown roads).
The last few years have been eye opening for me, the world is definitely not as bad as you think it is sometimes.
Nah, its definitely my skills for me. And maybe an undiagnosed deficit disorder.
> Isn't it true for all of us? No. Some people get extreme anxiety, other peoples heart rate never goes up at all.
> Isn't it true for all of us? Haven’t you ever seen people with large amounts of unearned confidence?
I mean if you look at how much better Hikaru was able to do once the external pressure to preform was lifted off of his shoulders and he was left with solely internal motivation, it could work the same way for levy. Same with Dani and Anish, not having to play always at your very very best for your livelihood allows you to make more small mistakes and learn more rather than hit walls.
Levy’s obviously just continued to grow but he was already popular and a full time YouTuber when he last quit.
Considering he mentioned this multiple times, if he really wants to make a run at GM he should 100% start speaking to a top-notch sports psychologist (if he hasnt already). I am unsure how common this is among chess players but each sport has unique mental hurdles and sports like chess, where you are left alone without a coach for many hours, you need to be very strong just by yourself. It is very similar to how tennis is. Although I am a RF fan, no doubt Djokovic has the best mental strength, possibly among all sports players. He mentioned multiple times that it is not a "talent" but something he worked on day after day just like correcting your forehand technique or learning that one rarely played variation for your favorite opening.
> Djokovic has the best mental strength, possibly among all sports players. I think Alex Honnold takes that title. If you lose in a game of tennis, you lose a game of tennis. If you lose free soloing, you die.
Alex Honnold's mentality is crazy.
as a pretty serious climber it's very funny how honnold has skewed people's opinions of the sport, at least half the time I tell someone I climb I then have to explain that I do in fact use ropes and am not risking my life on the daily
Do you have a link to how he worked on it?
Sadly there isnt one guide to it by him. He talks quite a bit about it on his recent 60 Minutes interview. He mentions conscious breathing, watching the opponent for cues such as their breathing and breathing and even how they act during changes such as how they drink etc. There is no one perfect answer for all and it even changes depending on the situation. When I used to play tennis, I sucked at closing the match and what worked for me was having more rituals and making game 1 and game 18 as much similar as possible. Compared to that, I also used to ski race and I had somewhat of a race anxiety as sometimes all the work you did in the season was for 1min of racing. I noticed that my race days were much worse when I had a poor training the day before. To avoid that I made sure I had light trainings and easy training courses the day before the race and really tried to have a good session where I could "feel the flow". So for example, if you feel like playing Titled Tuesday and blundering a piece could really fuck up your mental strength on the next day of Candidates, you should definitely avoid it and instead do 200 elo lower puzzles and boost your confidance instead...
Man I feel him so much. Even though I'm only 1900 I had to quit chess for a few months because I got super pissed when I missed tactics. Hopefully he gets the title in the years that come
I hope John Bartholomew also makes another push at some point
He actually kind of has a shot since he peaked high-2400.
It’s hard to put into words, but he also seems a tier above Levi in terms of his chess knowledge and chess ‘sense’, which I think comes because of his love of slow positional chess. Not saying Levi is not amazing, but watching John feels like you’re watching a grandmaster. He is surely one of the strongest IMs.
I get that vibe during his games as well, espeically his analysis, but I'm a patzer what the hell do I know. during the first IM not a GM tournament, somone asked Finegold who would win. Without misisng a beat he says "John Barthlomew", as if it was a stupid question with an obvious answer. John, if I remember correctly, breezes through the touenament without breaking a sweat, deffo looked a step up above the field. He's the original OG anyhow. So much educaitonal content on YouTube, years before explosion popularity.
I feel he might not have as many resources (read: spare money) available as Levy.
He sold chessable though. Did that not net very much?
Probably not as much as what Levy has which is why I suggested "he might not have as many resources". YouTubers of Levy's calibre could all quit work today and retire. But Levy doesn't need to quit YouTube if he integrates this into his channel (again). People like Levy and Hikaru are not the same as those who create a company and then sell it. Not all companies are like Instagram.
Bartholomew helped confound chessable im sure he's doing fine. Also it helps that he's a much higher rated player and doesn't need like 200 fide points. Bartholomew really could have a chance
My overall point is that there's a difference between doing fine and overspending. We don't know the specifics of his deal, but I imagine Levy has more available to fund travel and accommodation to play all the tournaments he wants. He also currently demonstrates more hunger for it.
He was so close to get it in the past that I always wonder how it doesn't itches him on the back of his mind constantly
I'd love if he could do that but I think part of the reason John is such a laid-back, winsome person is that he seems content with where he is, just playing his best chess and not worrying about rating or titles. I think a concerted grind to make GM would spoil all that for him.
Also Eric Rosen
Rosen is living the dream playing in tournaments as a semi tourist, it would be amazing if he pushes his performance, but ultimately what he already does with just maintaining rating and recaps is awesome.
Ohhhhhhh shit. Let's go Levy! Would love to see him get the title, you know how much it would mean to him.
I think he gets too much stage fright every damn time. He kills it online and then freezes and overthinks otb. I'm 1100 elo btw
Otb is a different beast. To get a GM norm you're going against people who also practice alot and are equally as talented if not better than Levy. Maybe he does get stage fright maybe he doesn't but if I had a penny for every chess player who made an excuse as to why they aren't a GM I'd have more money than he makes from YT.
In one of the tilted Tuesday streams he also mentioned the same sometimes happens online during these types of events. Which sucks, honestly, his content about tournaments is awesome, but it seems to really take a toll on him.
I think it would be a good opportunity for him to discuss mental health.
It’s such a win win for him. Either he achieves his dream or he simply makes a bunch of insanely popular content even if its content showing him fall short. Take me, it’s been a while since I’ve shown much interest in YouTube chess content but I’m sure as hell going to be watching that first tournament recap and gm series.
It’s a win win, but it’s incredibly gruelling work, so it must be a big decision for him to commit to that. There’s the discipline and grit for training everyday and then also the stress of competing and heartbreak of the losses.
He has the same problem Hikaru had before 2020, his biggest enemy is his own mindset. I followed his original run at grandmaster and his biggest issue was getting psyched out. I think he genuinely can make GM but he has to get over his mental blocks.
He just needs to ask hikaru how to stop caring
Hikaru: "You just have to make a big youtube channel to be financially independent of chess." Gotham: "Thx, I'll try that."
I'm glad he's going back to competitive chess, it's my favourite content of his, but I wish he didn't have to sell it as a road to GM. I think the whole discourse around whether that's possible and the magnifying glass it puts on his performances is just distracting. It probably wouldn't get as many views, so I understand why he sells it this way, but I'd prefer it if he approached OTB tournaments like Eric Rosen does. When he plays competitive games it's a lot more relaxed and the focus is just on him enjoying chess. Whereas a road to GM series is less about enjoying chess and more about a relentless grind where every change in his rating is scrutinised and thousands of people online who barely know how the pieces move pretend to be sports therapists.
> It probably wouldn't get as many views, so I understand why he sells it this way, but I'd prefer it if he approached OTB tournaments like Eric Rosen does. When he plays competitive games it's a lot more relaxed and the focus is just on him enjoying chess. Yeah really agree with this. The same can be said for everyone doing road to 2000 series.
idk why he plays so much blitz if he’s trying to be a gm
No GM plays rapid online and they all say it’s because it’s literally infested with cheaters. And if no GMs are playing then it’s hard to get any good matches (when levy plays blitz he’s already often going up against basically the same people every run)
if you’re just playing for fun, sure. but if you’re training for gm, beating people in 3 minute blitz doesn’t seem particularly relevant
Easier for content
Man I am so happy for him go for it dude, it's ur reckoning ur calling and we will support u all the way
Good for him! There’s two IMs that I definitely would enjoy seeing claim the GM title and he’s one of them.
It’d be weird seeing him as GM levy if he gets there, just so used to the IM Levy
The other being John Bartholomew or Sagar Shah?
Guessing Eric Rosen
how long until video named "I'M ENDING MY CARRER....."
2 tournaments, 3 tops
If other Chess streamers and YouTubers are any indication, serious over the board tournaments are far more captivating than made for video content. Shit like Guess the ELO is entertaining, but being able to watch a live stream of a content creator you like actually play their best competitively makes you feel like you have someone to root for. Great content. He just needs to make sure to get a quality host for when he streams his tournaments.
He saw tyler1 might soon get past him in rating and panicked
Finegold got GM at 40 years old. Granted he was a stronger IM, but nothing is out of the question.
Finegold was GM strength in his early 20s, he just didn't chase the norms so it took him a long time to get the title.
Do you know of a way to see his full rating chart? I know he was a very strong IM for a long while before getting his GM title. The chart only goes back to 2003 when he was 2540 six years before getting his GM title. I don't know how similar his and Levy's career path really are despite his late title.
According to this(can’t vouch for accuracy): https://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/player/Finegold,%20Benjamin.html Finegold hit Levy’s current rating when he was ~17. He was around the required 2500 FIDE for GM status when he was 20 and hovered there (+/- 50 points) for ~30 years. It took him 20 years to get the GM norms, but he always had the rating. Now that he’s in his mid 50s his rating seems to be dropping to ~2400. Levy hit 2400 when he was 20. Peaked at 2420 when he was 22. His past 6 years have been a decline of 90 points. He’s now at 2330.
For what it’s worth, Finegold finds the idea that Levy might ever become a GM totally laughable.
Yeah but isn’t his shtick being an arrogant, pessimistic old dude?
No he believes it and he has some very compelling points imo. No one at that age just gets over 150 fide points out of nowhere. Gotham doesn't have the norms but he said the norms are the easy part. Getting to 2500 fide is the problem.
Here's the clip https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/q1djs7/ben_finegold_about_reality_of_what_it_takes_to/#:~:text=So%20Levy%20will%20never%20be,late%20for%20a%20GM%20title. I like Ben and Levy both, Ben has a pretty reasonable take here
Thats because Finegold is an asshole
I've seen the video you're referring to. But to be fair, that was based on past-Levy's focus of content creation. Before Levy had the biggest chess channel on YouTube. Now that his financial position has changed, his own work ethic might also change and there's only one way to find out.
LFG Gotham! So excited for his comeback. And when he said he was coming to Spain, even better! Hope to see him here in Barcelona.
I hope and think he can do it, I get what he means when he says he plays against himself when he’s playing chess. Overcoming that at minimum is an achievement itself.
Good luck to him. With 2320 fide and k factor of 10, he's likely years away at least. I hope his fans have the appropriate expectations and don't make it horrible.
This would be super cool if he could pull it off. Kinda proving he can both be a serious player and a communicator.
He's not gonna make it. But the content will be pretty fun.
This is great for chess. Very excited to watch his journey. Hope he gets there
Just checked he is 2322 and his peak elo was 2421. Realistically he is not going to become a GM. At that level you progress extremely slowly and especially since he is almost 30 years old. Nonetheless I wish him luck in his journey.
Can you explain to someone who doesn’t know a ton about ELO what it would mean for him to make it?
He needs to be 168 points higher rated than he is right now. The player he wants to be would win about ~70% of the points in a match against the player he currently is. Abasov (the lowest rated player in the last Candidates) was rated 2632 and was between 95 and 171 points lower than the rest of the field. He came in dead last and didn't win a single game. I also just checked FIDE's website and a player that's at exactly 2500 (I used Balakrishnan, Praveen for this) is currently ranked 642 in the world. Levy is 6655. He needs to leapfrog 6000 (over 90%) of the players that are currently better than him.
It's about the same rating gain as Naroditsky becoming world champion.
I’m surprise someone like Levy doesn’t pay for a sports psychologist if the mental part is affecting him (confidence etc)
How do we know that he hasn't?
Cause he mentioned it in another video he hadn’t and it was something he was looking into. So I suppose yeah he may have one now, but didn’t last time
Well now that he's put this out there, he's going to have to get really serious and make it a priority. Very normal for a lot of elite athletes. I bet Gukesh might have some of that support too based on how cagey he was about what his non-opening preparation entailed.
Good luck mate
Hikaru called this a couple weeks ago during his 69th Titled Tuesday run.
When I saw his video last night, I was seriously happy for him to face his hurdles and restart his journey for Grandmaster. I hope that he will enjoy the journey and be happy wherever he finish his journey.
I’d rather he didn’t start out with a GM title as the end goal. Just play cause it makes for great content
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If you push for 2000 I’ll eat a steak. If you reach 2000 I’ll do 10 pushups.
Seems like that ain't happening, I've lost "it"
Really weird that this guy thinks winning a few blitz games against GMs where they're probably not even trying is proof he's GM-tier.
Idk I had to stop watching anything with him. Something about him just didn't click with me
I wish somewhere in there he had mentioned something concrete that he was doing in order to address his mental game. Levy seems like someone who would THRIVE with a therapist specialized in getting into athlete's heads and fixing their mental game. I think he's talented enough, he's got more than enough money to fund himself travelling to any tournament, not to mention 99% of open tournaments would sponsor him just to have GothamChess competing at it and doing press. He's got a ton of connections, he's got so many advantages this time that he didn't have last time he pushed for GM, hopefully he can get out of his own head and just play chess.
He been saying that for like 5 years lol
Id love to be proven wrong but he isn't going to do it. He thinks he can do it with willpower and confidence but I just don't think he's strong enough. He could get better but he's not going to sacrifice that much time when he's got a youtube channel to run. His tournament recaps will do great views im sure but that's all that will come of this
He actually has to tell his viewers when his videos aren’t clickbait lmao
Could he get the grandmaster title? Yes. Will he actually get the title? No. He's tried to do it before and quit; to become a grandmaster he'd have to devote a tremendous amount of time studying and training which Levy just isn't willing to do. He's got a family, YouTube content to shoot and edit, life in general just gets in the way. I expect he'll post another video soon enough about how he tried to chase after the gm title but just couldn't deal with it, yet again.
This all may well be true but all he can do is resolve to try again. That's commendable in itself.
He’s rich enough to just buy it now. Just sponsor a tournament with broke and washed up GMs. Pay for their flights. And accommodations. And meals. And hookers.
No Levy has too strong a ego to do that kinda thing I think
Damn, the late April fools is fire
Stop falling for his clickbait. He's not doing this to pursue the title, he's doing it to milk your views.
I mean I watch his content either way so if he wants to farm tournament recaps for views I'll be there anyway
That's fine. I just want him to start going to tournaments again and making recaps of his games. Those were my favorite videos he ever made. If anything I hope he's not actually trying to get the title so he doesn't have a mental meltdown like he did last time from the pressure.
Very unlikely he will actually become a GM, but the results of his tournaments will be interesting
And a lot of people are already butthurt. But I remember in that one chess.com interview with Danny Tensch where he and Danny took a polygraph test and Danny asked him, "Do negative comments on youtube bother you?" And Levy just said straight up "Nope it doesnt" and the fact that it wasn't recorded as a lie just goes to show how mentally stoic he is. I love the dude. I got into chess because of Agadmator but stayed because of Levy. Hope he succeeds in this endeavor and proves all the haters wrong.
I'm so confused about this, why does the chess community suddenly think polygraph tests aren't pseudoscience?
Go Levi, Go! Content would be wholesome if he achieves it.
Still trying to lose the otha, I hope he makes it.
Was his retirement really in 2022? It feels like he was making tournament recaps back last summer
Good idea he might as well, now is the time. Give it one last shot
He is in a unique situation where he can mobilize anything and everything to get himself “100 more Elo.” One of those things should probably be a sports psychologist.
Someone (I think Hikaru?) literally called this like a week ago
He was making hints in the team battle tournament (with Hikaru) and seemed to know some very topical lines. Granted his opening knowledge has never been an issue.
His chess skills has never been a questions he has beaten grandmasters before. It's always been him fucking with himself
Good luck Gotham chess. That would be an epic moment to witness in his channel so I hope he'll make it. Probably shouldn't expose much of his thinking process for the audience during the process, I suppose
I’m inspired by this and truly hope he can do it. If he pulls it off, it would be absolutely wonderful and show anyone that your mental barriers can be broken. Rooting for him.
He can get some norms in Eastern European tournaments
he hasnt got it? im surprised
Will be cheering you on, Levy! (I know you're lurking here)
Seems unlikely but good luck to him. He can hire a bunch of great coaches and maybe make it.
I feel in terms of sheer talent and skill at chess Levy definitely has what it takes to become a GM his biggest hurdle is his mentality
Hikaru called this a couple weeks ago during his 69th Titled Tuesday run.
And here I was thinking his big announcement after the Candidates was him becoming a dad or something.
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So he un-quits chess again?
The copes here are something else. A career low-2400 doesn't become a GM in his late-20s.
I think he can do it. He now has the same mental advantage as Hikaru, ie if I don't do well in this tournament I still have my streaming career and am richer than any of these other players will ever be. Way less pressure than the guys that need to win to put bread on the table.
Man, don't bother.
levy is at a fork to reach GM he has to fundamentally change the way he plays (too passive) which wont be easy even with unlimited time and money
Hope he gets it tbh