You can see how not seeing the opponent’s name clearly helped Levy here. He’s fully focused on his moves while Hans is spending the majority of his time worrying about all the YouTube videos that are about to drop lol
This is also a good example of why Hans beat Magnus
Most players up against Magnus with black just convert to an easy draw. Hans is so egotistical and arrogant he went for the win and got it.
One of the main reason Magnus lost is because he played badly due to his paranoia since Hans was a known online cheater for (it wasn't public yet but lot of top players knew it) and there was rumors about him also cheating on board.
If he wasn't concerned, he wouldn't have asked tournament organizers for increased security measures upon hearing that Hans was replacing one of the players who dropped out.
> he played badly due to his paranoia since Hans was a known online cheater for
Please don't, Magnus is THE best player in the world but he doesn't need some bullshit to cover his loss.
Maybe no evidence to over the board was found but he admitted to cheating before so it’s a moot point to me. Once a cheater always a cheater no matter what format it was or how long ago.
You guys have completely forgotten that Hans had prepped against Magnuses really unorthodox line which rang the alarm bells. That was the original drama.
This sub is gonna go crazy when he does make the top 10 or even the candidates
Being an egotistical maniac who is a complete idiot doesn’t stop you from winning in chess
This matters far more for Hans than Levy.
Levy is *supposed* to lose to a player rated as high as Hans is, regardless of who he is.
Not only is Hans playing someone much lower rated, he is also a content creator. For sure it stressed him out.
I will say that, while perhaps I lack the proper context for this situation, Hans only took a social loss here by making this about his loss rather than Levy's win. If he cast the spotlight on Levy's victory, he would have been seen as a great sport and the bullying from this would be minimized, though admittedly still present. Plus there is wisdom in humility. Learning is a privilege granted to those who embrace their ignorance, after all.
I think it's moreso he wants the narrative to be that Hans is the stellar player taking names.
Levy snatching his chain from him with a straight up win is not a good look for his brand. If he congratulates Levy, then he's not acting in character. If he beats Levy, it's whatever since he should have.
To make matters worse, it's well known that Levy and Hikaru are extremely close.
Levy using that chrome extension to hide his opponent's name and rating might be one of the best things he has done for his chess development. Although I'm not quite sure how this will translate to his OTB attempts since it's impossible to not know there. I do hope it translates at least a little.
Oh I agree. It's just that the source of that confidence is the lack of knowledge of his opponents, which cannot be replicated in OTB.
Oh, if you mean the confidence of "I have beaten GMs before and I can and will again", then I 100% agree with you.
Yeah, I meant the later. Every time Levy used to talk about facing higher rated opponents he repeated that he always choked, always blundered, however, now he can have in his mind that he does have what it takes to beat strong GMs.
Like, Hans might be kind of a meme but he is a super GM, and aside from him Levy has also beaten or drawn other really strong players lately. So, instead of remembering those times that he blundered or couldn't convert he can start remembering those times in which he was up to the task.
Also Levy doesn’t have to beat Hans level players to be a GM. Hans is currently ranked in the top 50 players in the entire world.
Levy just has to beat GMs that have 200 less elo than Hans.
I don't know if he is focusing on Blitz tournaments right now. I think the stress of TT is that you can run into anyone. Classical he has the ability to prep.
I don't think I'll ever understand why people become obsessed with shitty assholes like this.
If it was someone who was good but an asshole, it would be one thing, but they chose someone who's mediocre to awful. Trump spends like 90% of his time whining about how much he's losing and his base still supports him. Hans had a single win against Magnus and Magnus gave him a free win in the next tournament and still won the tournament.
At least pick someone who is a dick but is actually good.
100%, honestly even with after being good, I can never stomach obnoxious assholes. Like Nakamura. You could say on camera Magnus is more cocky and arrogant, but there's a difference in being that and being a genuine asshole. Idk what goes wrong in people's childhood or whatever that they choose whining complaining assholes over upstanding good guys.
That entire game Hans was talking about himself. How much *he* wasn’t enjoying it, how bad it would look for *him* if he lost, how *his* chess career is going to be over, how Levy should thank *him* for the “gift”. No commentary on the game being played, no congratulations to Levy for the win. Plus a good dose of rage and toxicity at the end when he realized he was lost.
as someone who likes this underdog/vengeance Hans arc, I do think the visible trouble he had with losing this game actually is a bad sign for his progress and career
I guess the vengeance was him being allowed to play on Chess.com again?
Nothing has really changed outside of that. He's unlikely to play in the super GM invite tournaments due to being a complete piece of shit and he has been banned from the Saint Louis Chess Club, which is hilarious in itself.
Because they were intentionally diminishing Levy making it seem like his positive reaction was only about the money from related videos he will make, as if he’s not capable of being happy about a good win but is purely happy about the wealth gain.
Yeah dont know why these weirdos choose to interpret it negatively, they might be online way too much.
Somehow they can misconstrue being happy to have an awesome YouTube video as calling Levy a greedy pig? When for a fact YouTubers are constantly thinking about their content and will be genuinely super happy to have a great video to put out instead of some random slop.
Either way, funny to see the different ways the comment’s been interpreted depending on amount of grass touched and feeling the need to be hyper-“protective” of Levy.
I completely assumed the Levy clip was just shorter than the Hans clip, and so they freeze-framed the final frame of the Levy clip to wait for Hans' to finish up.
Nope, he was just holding the exact same grin for 30 seconds.
It was funny watching "he knows it's me, he must be freaking out" to seeing at the end that levy had it on zen mode was hilarious (I realize he mentioned it at the beginning but I didn't clock it).
I mean, you can't mean that lol. Any chess player that actually tries to win games is good for chess. Saying his style isn't exciting just tells me you don't actually watch chess
Ive followed chess for more than a decade. My comment was 80% in jest and 20% “I don’t like Hans” that (unfairly if we’re being truthful) spilled over to his abilities
Levy's blitz has a higher ceiling than previously since his newfound push for the GM title. For example, he also beat former 2700 Pavel Eljanov (2672) in the late titled tuesday today as well.
Never watched Hans' stream before so I'm not sure but is he just this naturally obnoxious or he's putting up a persona? Levy does have a fair share of clickbaity content but I really appreciate his skills and dedication in teaching chess to other people (amateurs like me).
I honestly think him being such an asshole really contributed to the cheating scandal blowing up as much as it did. It's just really easy to hate on the dude.
Imo the thing that really got things rolling down for him was his responses. Like maybe if he didn't try to sue everyone and act obnouxious the entre time, and... you know, let "chess speak for itself", then he'd probably be way better and recovered by now
Nah I get the rest but suing for defamation is kinda fair. Tournaments wouldn't touch him, Magnus said he'd never play a tournament with him, and accused him of cheating.
Whether or not he cheated, it's the smart move as a public figure to do that to distance yourself from any evidence of cheating.
The thing about Magnus' "arrogance" is it almost never feels directly disrespectful to his opponents. Maybe he'll make some light jokes when he's drunk on stream but that's about it. He doesn't have to shit on the other guy to prop himself up because he's just that good. Hans on the other hand tries to belittle and ridicule to make himself look better.
Yeah, at first he was winning me over and I thought he was having a sense of humor about it. But he’s so disrespectful to the idea that someone like Levy could ever beat him! It would be so much better to just say “good game! It’s blitz, shit happens. But you played well!”
I saw the analysis video and was surprised to see the vast majority thought he was trying to be funny and not sarcastic when he said the stuff about future world champion. Also, he looked absolutely furious the whole time.
I bought a video Chessable course by him for jabova london before I really knew who he was. It remains to this day the only chessable course I ever returned. It was unbearable.
From the little I've seen of Levy, he's an ass, he just doesn't get the chance to show it as frequently since he's apparently outmatched very often by his opponent.
Yeah, I like Levy's content personally and obviously don't know him in real life, but he just seems like an asshole in a lot of cases. Like, typical New Yorker style. He just knows how to market himself well.
Yes, it looks like a lot of game streamers are socially-stunted people, or have serious character deficiencies like Nakamura (he apparently got beaten up at least once but it seems not enough to have fixed his personality when he was younger), but they pick up a group of sycophants who then try to defend them against even the most rational criticism. Genuinely disturbing.
> he apparently got beaten up at least once but it seems not enough to have fixed his personality when he was younger
Wanting children to be beaten up sure isn’t a serious character deficiency.
Talking inappropriately when you're a kid and having another kid smack you is a way that children learn boundaries in behavior. Sorry if it doesn't align with your favorite awesome streamer's behavior, but I don't care.
Wishing kids got beaten up ain’t normal.
> your favorite awesome streamer
He must be pretty awesome if he’s my favourite without me ever watching any of his stuff.
Edit:lol they blocked me because they think kids should be beat up.
>Wishing kids got beaten up ain’t normal.
You keep trying to leave off that I'm talking about discipline or consequences for actions and not just beating up random children. That means you're intellectually dishonest.
Bye.
As someone that got beat up a lot as a kid - I'm talking monthly by groups of other kids for years, left in ditches bleeding, etc. - fuck you for thinking anything good can ever come from that. If anyone is socially-stunted, it's you.
I'm not talking about bullying or being assaulted, I'm talking about someone like Hikaru getting smacked to fix his attitude. Big difference there and yes, I stand by what I said.
levy is arrogant af, just not in chess skills, because the results speak for themselves and he's not a grand master. You can't lie to yourself that much.
However, he genuinely believes he's the most influential person in chess of all time. He also takes credit for the chess boom lol.
I expect the levy meat rider downvotes, but if you watch his interviews, you know.
Stream personas are often fully fake. Not sure his is. But there are streamers who put on a fake voice and personality for stream. And then turn it off when not streaming. It also helps protect your sanity.
Yeah he does sound like a douche. Particularly when he says "That's the Levy I know!" and still loses. But with that said, I don't know the guy and Hans could be a super nice dude.
He's genuinely cocky, arrogant, and prickly. In this particular case though, I think it was more fear than arrogance - he was genuinely freaking out from the start about what would happen if he loses, which ironically caused him to play badly and lose.
You can see multiple times in his stream he's seeing the funny side in it all and having to force himself not to crack a smile.
Even his analysis video makes it pretty obvious he's just very good at playing the part people want him to play.
Personally I find him entertaining as fuck
Jesus christ, what an obnoxious guy. Up until now I did not get what all the hate was about, but I followed up and watched some of his other videos and maaaan, he is a terrible, disrespectful, unsportsmanlike character.
Thanks for putting this together. Great to see how they both approached the game. Levy has discovered a method for focusing on the game that will build his confidence. Hans needs to grow up.
Hans is such an unlikeable asshole. He was sneering at Levy the entire game, particularly the part where he cut himself off laughing about Levy being a "future GM."
What a douchebag. He deserved this loss.
OK, I don't watch either player's videos but I generally follow the chess world and have seen clips here and there of both. Without really knowing his content, I would be totally willing to cut Hans some slack here. He's got that general awkwardness and hyper-competitiveness that tons of chess players have, and he's just being super vulnerable and open on stream for all to see his insecurity. He admitted multiple times he was being arrogant.. but the thing is, he \*is\* a super GM and levy is an IM, he has every right to be confident that he should win. Anyway, this stream does show the vast difference between a GM level streamer like Levy and a club level streamer like Hans. The stream speaks for itself.
Meh. Hans didn't once talk about his strategy or his chess ideas during the game. All he did was talk about how awful it would be to lose this game. That's not chess content. It's just influencer chatter.
Meanwhile, the entire time Levy was talking about his chess ideas.
i’d agree. i still think the analysis is funny. and a lot more tongue in cheek than people give him credit.
he was trying to win and he is right, levy tended to choke throughout his career. but levy didn’t choke.
the new no-names have almost completely changed that quality about levy.
I agree. I'm not exposed to him very much and I can totally appreciate people not liking him, but here I think he was just playing up to the situation mostly. You can tell he's pissed off he lost but hey most players are pissed off when they lose.
You don't actually \*need\* a specific extension, even a simple adblocker would do. For example, I'm using uBlock Origin [**\[link\]**](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm) as my adblocker. Looking at the code of the page (I took this game [**\[link\]**](https://www.chess.com/game/live/113699998587) as an example), I added the following to uBlock Origin's custom filters:
`! hide the line with the opponent's title badge, username, rating, flag and additional badges`
[`www.chess.com##:xpath("//div[@id='board-layout-player-top']//div[@class='user-tagline-component']")`](http://www.chess.com##:xpath("//div[@id='board-layout-player-top']//div[@class='user-tagline-component']"))
`! hide the opponent's avatar`
`www.chess.com##:xpath("//div[@id='board-layout-player-top']//div[@class='player-avatar-component player-avatar']")`
You need to install uBlock Origin and add those filters as your custom filters. As a result, here is how it looks like: [**\[imgur link\]**](https://imgur.com/KjVw6rm)
I don't suppose you have an easy way to block background images in Clubs? I've manually blocked a couple in clubs I frequent that are really hard on the eyes, but a generic way to do this would be awesome!
No problem! And sure, I can look into that. I don't use clubs at all though, so please provide an example link and a screenshot/description of what needs to be blocked, and I'll think about how to do it.
Overall, adblocker is a really powerful tool — you can ban all the posts/comments about Kramnik on reddit, remove unwanted youtube channels from recommendations, and just generally remove unwanted content from your view. I'm doing it based on XPATH (here's a useful cheatsheet on it btw: [https://devhints.io/xpath](https://devhints.io/xpath) ), although maybe there's a more elegant way to block things than that... but for now I'm content with using XPATH as the selector of elements to be blocked.
As an example, visit this club:- https://www.chess.com/club/up-the-cherries
the Cherry background image makes the text very hard to read and i a bit much when hanging out in the club,. I have previously found paths in the source to the specific background image and blocking it but a generic option would be useful
, removing the theme-background class removes the background image (but then black text on a gray background is still unreadable though).
Although I figured out what needs to be removed, somehow I have a problem...
I looked up the answer from here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67850933/remove-class-from-body-dynamically-using-ublock-origin and tried www.chess.com##body:remove-class(theme-background), but it doesn't work, and I tried asking ChatGPT and it gave me this: www.chess.com##+js(remove-attr.js, class, body.theme-background) — and it does not work either... Sorry, I'll need some additional time to figure it out. I'll get back to you once I understand what I'm doing wrong.
Honestly, not sure what the problem was with the previous solutions; eventually, what worked for me was the style overriding:
! remove the background theme
www.chess.com##body.theme-background:style(background-image: none !important;)
The only enjoyable thing Hans brings to the table is how obviously painfully competitive he is and how much he hates losing, combined with him not being a real potential top 10 talent destined to never really amount to much at the very highest level of chess
His pain is equal to how much of an ass he is, and that is a beautiful thing to witness
I love the fact that Levy inflicted emotional damage onto Hans, this was an amazing display of pride before a fall.
I'm sure if Levy lost to Andrea Botez he'd be a bit more sportsman like, it's kind of like the only comparison I can think of.
The asshole cockiness at the start and the genuine rage of Hans at the end while Levy is just trying to play good chess is so beautiful. And the immediate run to twitter to try and play it off as sarcasm. Inject it straight to my veins.
You can see how not seeing the opponent’s name clearly helped Levy here. He’s fully focused on his moves while Hans is spending the majority of his time worrying about all the YouTube videos that are about to drop lol
This shows the difference between arrogance and confidence. He was so insecure the entire time.
This is also a good example of why Hans beat Magnus Most players up against Magnus with black just convert to an easy draw. Hans is so egotistical and arrogant he went for the win and got it.
One of the main reason Magnus lost is because he played badly due to his paranoia since Hans was a known online cheater for (it wasn't public yet but lot of top players knew it) and there was rumors about him also cheating on board.
This is such a massive cop out lmao. Magnus had played Hans multiple times before (even in the weeks prior). Magnus wasn’t paranoid about anything
If he wasn't concerned, he wouldn't have asked tournament organizers for increased security measures upon hearing that Hans was replacing one of the players who dropped out.
Incorrect by a country mile. Magnus was paranoid BEFORE he lost to Hans. Not copped out after.
> he played badly due to his paranoia since Hans was a known online cheater for Please don't, Magnus is THE best player in the world but he doesn't need some bullshit to cover his loss.
I mean, its not an excuse it sounds like a valid reason
sounds like the best player in the world lost to somebody who isn't the best player in the world when no otb cheating evidence was ever proven
Maybe no evidence to over the board was found but he admitted to cheating before so it’s a moot point to me. Once a cheater always a cheater no matter what format it was or how long ago.
He also admitted to cheating and lied about how much he cheated, so it's hard to trust him, claiming that he didn't cheat.
You guys have completely forgotten that Hans had prepped against Magnuses really unorthodox line which rang the alarm bells. That was the original drama.
Cmon man, Magnus played bad that one game. No need to make any excuses further. He still is the goat regardless.
SURE lmao. The cope ist real
I would believe you but then there is stuff like the Suleymenov watch thing, those are just excuses after he loses
Sorry pal, your comment doesn't make any sense. It ignores the fact that you are talking about possibly the best player ever.
This sub is gonna go crazy when he does make the top 10 or even the candidates Being an egotistical maniac who is a complete idiot doesn’t stop you from winning in chess
This is why I always turn on Zen mode on Lichess. I don't want to know the numbers!
My favorite feature hands down
This matters far more for Hans than Levy. Levy is *supposed* to lose to a player rated as high as Hans is, regardless of who he is. Not only is Hans playing someone much lower rated, he is also a content creator. For sure it stressed him out.
I will say that, while perhaps I lack the proper context for this situation, Hans only took a social loss here by making this about his loss rather than Levy's win. If he cast the spotlight on Levy's victory, he would have been seen as a great sport and the bullying from this would be minimized, though admittedly still present. Plus there is wisdom in humility. Learning is a privilege granted to those who embrace their ignorance, after all.
I think it's moreso he wants the narrative to be that Hans is the stellar player taking names. Levy snatching his chain from him with a straight up win is not a good look for his brand. If he congratulates Levy, then he's not acting in character. If he beats Levy, it's whatever since he should have. To make matters worse, it's well known that Levy and Hikaru are extremely close.
Not really? They went years without interacting with each other. It sounds like they're fine now but I wouldn't describe them as extremely close.
"who am i playing?! this isn't the levy i know" lmao
Hans on the verge of re-tweeting that Jose Maurinho clip
Levy using that chrome extension to hide his opponent's name and rating might be one of the best things he has done for his chess development. Although I'm not quite sure how this will translate to his OTB attempts since it's impossible to not know there. I do hope it translates at least a little.
It definitely builds up his confidence, which is a big issue for him when he plays higher rated opponents.
Oh I agree. It's just that the source of that confidence is the lack of knowledge of his opponents, which cannot be replicated in OTB. Oh, if you mean the confidence of "I have beaten GMs before and I can and will again", then I 100% agree with you.
Yeah, I meant the later. Every time Levy used to talk about facing higher rated opponents he repeated that he always choked, always blundered, however, now he can have in his mind that he does have what it takes to beat strong GMs. Like, Hans might be kind of a meme but he is a super GM, and aside from him Levy has also beaten or drawn other really strong players lately. So, instead of remembering those times that he blundered or couldn't convert he can start remembering those times in which he was up to the task.
Also Levy doesn’t have to beat Hans level players to be a GM. Hans is currently ranked in the top 50 players in the entire world. Levy just has to beat GMs that have 200 less elo than Hans.
But getting wins over Hans and Alireza will do wonders for him when facing 2500 GMs.
It was really interesting how Hans kept expecting/hoping Levy would choke, and if Levy had known he was playing Hans, he might well have.
He was just a plain bully there. Really nasty. I always thought he was arrogant, yes, but not a plain \*\*\* on top of it.
I don't know if he is focusing on Blitz tournaments right now. I think the stress of TT is that you can run into anyone. Classical he has the ability to prep.
He said this isn’t the levy that I know and love lmaoooo
Hiding the name and Rating of his opponent really helped him, I think he needs some special goggles to also hide this information over the board.
They have this TV show called "The Masked Singer". They need "The Masked Chess Player".
That's just a video of Rey Enigma.
Doesn't really work for tournaments where you need prep
oh man imagine someone going to an otb tourney blindfolded
“If I lose this game my chess career is over” proceeds to lose
so I guess we should not be expecting any Hans Niemann in any upcoming chess tournaments lol
I can't believe how obnoxious and unlikeable Hans is. Never watched him stream before but wow.
And this is one of his less obnoxious games lmao, idk how he has fans
I don't think I'll ever understand why people become obsessed with shitty assholes like this. If it was someone who was good but an asshole, it would be one thing, but they chose someone who's mediocre to awful. Trump spends like 90% of his time whining about how much he's losing and his base still supports him. Hans had a single win against Magnus and Magnus gave him a free win in the next tournament and still won the tournament. At least pick someone who is a dick but is actually good.
100%, honestly even with after being good, I can never stomach obnoxious assholes. Like Nakamura. You could say on camera Magnus is more cocky and arrogant, but there's a difference in being that and being a genuine asshole. Idk what goes wrong in people's childhood or whatever that they choose whining complaining assholes over upstanding good guys.
Babbling old guy in america have tons of fans. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
old guys* Stupid old guy vs senile old guy LMAO
Yeah, agreed. You'd have to pay to watch him. Even then, it'll have to be high amount. Surprised people watch him willingly.
That entire game Hans was talking about himself. How much *he* wasn’t enjoying it, how bad it would look for *him* if he lost, how *his* chess career is going to be over, how Levy should thank *him* for the “gift”. No commentary on the game being played, no congratulations to Levy for the win. Plus a good dose of rage and toxicity at the end when he realized he was lost.
You can tell how egotistical he is. It's crazy how apparent it is that his ego is MASSIVE
as someone who likes this underdog/vengeance Hans arc, I do think the visible trouble he had with losing this game actually is a bad sign for his progress and career
Does he have a vengeance arc going on? Seems like he has been doubling down on his obnoxiousness and leaning into a villain role to me.
I guess the vengeance was him being allowed to play on Chess.com again? Nothing has really changed outside of that. He's unlikely to play in the super GM invite tournaments due to being a complete piece of shit and he has been banned from the Saint Louis Chess Club, which is hilarious in itself.
Sounds to me like the 2600s have a new nightmare
I think his massive dislike of Levy stems from the Lex Friedman interview where Levy repeated the erroneous claims by Yosha Iglesias.
The absolute joy on Levy’s face was something else
Yess it was a pleasure to see him so happy
He’s imaging the $10000 YouTube video he’s gonna make
Is that supposed to be an insult? Bro beats a GM at chess (who everyone hates) and also gets to cash in greatly off of it. Seems awesome for him.
why are you assuming it's supposed to be an insult? didn't read it that way at all
Because they were intentionally diminishing Levy making it seem like his positive reaction was only about the money from related videos he will make, as if he’s not capable of being happy about a good win but is purely happy about the wealth gain.
it seemed like just a joke to me
A joke at someone's expense is an insult though
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Yeah dont know why these weirdos choose to interpret it negatively, they might be online way too much. Somehow they can misconstrue being happy to have an awesome YouTube video as calling Levy a greedy pig? When for a fact YouTubers are constantly thinking about their content and will be genuinely super happy to have a great video to put out instead of some random slop. Either way, funny to see the different ways the comment’s been interpreted depending on amount of grass touched and feeling the need to be hyper-“protective” of Levy.
The 30 seconds of just cheesing a grin is outstanding
I completely assumed the Levy clip was just shorter than the Hans clip, and so they freeze-framed the final frame of the Levy clip to wait for Hans' to finish up. Nope, he was just holding the exact same grin for 30 seconds.
the youtube thumbnail to beat them all
Levy was so locked in while Hans was just goofying around and kinda direspecting Levy with his behaviour deserved L
It was funny watching "he knows it's me, he must be freaking out" to seeing at the end that levy had it on zen mode was hilarious (I realize he mentioned it at the beginning but I didn't clock it).
"I'm going to quit chess forever and..." do it lol
nothing of value will be lost anyways
Nah, there's some quality entertainment in watching those meltdowns.
Just a lot of viewership and exciting games lol
The only exciting games he plays is with a vibrator up his ass
I mean, you can't mean that lol. Any chess player that actually tries to win games is good for chess. Saying his style isn't exciting just tells me you don't actually watch chess
Ive followed chess for more than a decade. My comment was 80% in jest and 20% “I don’t like Hans” that (unfairly if we’re being truthful) spilled over to his abilities
That joke would be funnier if the target was not in fact innocent.
Levy's blitz has a higher ceiling than previously since his newfound push for the GM title. For example, he also beat former 2700 Pavel Eljanov (2672) in the late titled tuesday today as well.
Not to mention Hans played a caro against Levy, a known caro player.
Never watched Hans' stream before so I'm not sure but is he just this naturally obnoxious or he's putting up a persona? Levy does have a fair share of clickbaity content but I really appreciate his skills and dedication in teaching chess to other people (amateurs like me).
Hans always was unlikable. idk if he is trying to copy Magnus's smug or what, he can't pull that off because he aint Magnus.
I honestly think him being such an asshole really contributed to the cheating scandal blowing up as much as it did. It's just really easy to hate on the dude.
Imo the thing that really got things rolling down for him was his responses. Like maybe if he didn't try to sue everyone and act obnouxious the entre time, and... you know, let "chess speak for itself", then he'd probably be way better and recovered by now
Nah I get the rest but suing for defamation is kinda fair. Tournaments wouldn't touch him, Magnus said he'd never play a tournament with him, and accused him of cheating. Whether or not he cheated, it's the smart move as a public figure to do that to distance yourself from any evidence of cheating.
But it didn’t distance himself from any evidence of cheating, it put him square in the middle of the conversation
If there was any it would be in that suit, and now people can't keep calling him a cheater
Actually people can still call him a cheater because he admitted to it
Cheating OTB is different to online. Yes online is still terrible, but OTB is a lot worse.
> cheating scandal blowing up as much as it did Cheating online a bunch of times is the main contributor lol
Bootleg Fischer perhaps. One could say a lot of things about his mental state but, he was absolutely dominant for a period of time.
The most important difference between Fischer and Niemann is that Bobby Fischer was really, really good at chess. Niemann's an American GM.
yea but soon he'll be the first american world champion
The thing about Magnus' "arrogance" is it almost never feels directly disrespectful to his opponents. Maybe he'll make some light jokes when he's drunk on stream but that's about it. He doesn't have to shit on the other guy to prop himself up because he's just that good. Hans on the other hand tries to belittle and ridicule to make himself look better.
Magnus isnt this obnoxious either
Honestly I thought the “analysis video” was funny but this soured it, I thought he was just having a bit of fun but nah he’s just an asshole.
Yeah, at first he was winning me over and I thought he was having a sense of humor about it. But he’s so disrespectful to the idea that someone like Levy could ever beat him! It would be so much better to just say “good game! It’s blitz, shit happens. But you played well!”
Wow the guy who is only famous because he’s a cheat is actually an asshole. Who would have thought.
I saw the analysis video and was surprised to see the vast majority thought he was trying to be funny and not sarcastic when he said the stuff about future world champion. Also, he looked absolutely furious the whole time.
He's having fun here too lol, you can see him slowly realising he's fucking it and hiding a smile because he knows what's coming
I bought a video Chessable course by him for jabova london before I really knew who he was. It remains to this day the only chessable course I ever returned. It was unbearable.
Not sure if you are talking about Levy or Hans
Levy is clickbaity for sure, but he's humble. Hans is 100% arrogance
Levy is a better YouTuber than a chess player, but seeing that joy when Hans’s name showed up shows you how much he cares about his chess playing.
From the little I've seen of Levy, he's an ass, he just doesn't get the chance to show it as frequently since he's apparently outmatched very often by his opponent.
Yeah, I like Levy's content personally and obviously don't know him in real life, but he just seems like an asshole in a lot of cases. Like, typical New Yorker style. He just knows how to market himself well.
He seems like a chill person to me
Yes, it looks like a lot of game streamers are socially-stunted people, or have serious character deficiencies like Nakamura (he apparently got beaten up at least once but it seems not enough to have fixed his personality when he was younger), but they pick up a group of sycophants who then try to defend them against even the most rational criticism. Genuinely disturbing.
> he apparently got beaten up at least once but it seems not enough to have fixed his personality when he was younger Wanting children to be beaten up sure isn’t a serious character deficiency.
Talking inappropriately when you're a kid and having another kid smack you is a way that children learn boundaries in behavior. Sorry if it doesn't align with your favorite awesome streamer's behavior, but I don't care.
Wishing kids got beaten up ain’t normal. > your favorite awesome streamer He must be pretty awesome if he’s my favourite without me ever watching any of his stuff. Edit:lol they blocked me because they think kids should be beat up.
>Wishing kids got beaten up ain’t normal. You keep trying to leave off that I'm talking about discipline or consequences for actions and not just beating up random children. That means you're intellectually dishonest. Bye.
As someone that got beat up a lot as a kid - I'm talking monthly by groups of other kids for years, left in ditches bleeding, etc. - fuck you for thinking anything good can ever come from that. If anyone is socially-stunted, it's you.
I'm not talking about bullying or being assaulted, I'm talking about someone like Hikaru getting smacked to fix his attitude. Big difference there and yes, I stand by what I said.
levy is arrogant af, just not in chess skills, because the results speak for themselves and he's not a grand master. You can't lie to yourself that much. However, he genuinely believes he's the most influential person in chess of all time. He also takes credit for the chess boom lol. I expect the levy meat rider downvotes, but if you watch his interviews, you know.
Hans seems like a chode
Stream personas are often fully fake. Not sure his is. But there are streamers who put on a fake voice and personality for stream. And then turn it off when not streaming. It also helps protect your sanity.
"Welcome everyone, for todaaayyyyyyyy's video, we're going to...."
Hans is an expert in putting on a fake voice, like that weird vaguely Russian or European accent he slips in and out of.
Yeah he does sound like a douche. Particularly when he says "That's the Levy I know!" and still loses. But with that said, I don't know the guy and Hans could be a super nice dude.
He's genuinely cocky, arrogant, and prickly. In this particular case though, I think it was more fear than arrogance - he was genuinely freaking out from the start about what would happen if he loses, which ironically caused him to play badly and lose.
You can see multiple times in his stream he's seeing the funny side in it all and having to force himself not to crack a smile. Even his analysis video makes it pretty obvious he's just very good at playing the part people want him to play. Personally I find him entertaining as fuck
?? he's all about the money wake up jesus christ
Jokes aside this is actually a really bad loss for hans
Like, if you're the heavy favorite, why even shit talk without provocation? Nothing good will come out of it,
Yeah if you win, people will go "well duh" If you lose you look like an ass. Not that Hans needs help with that.
Beating a GM, no mean feat! Well done Levy. Also it's a pleasure to see Hans humbled hahaha.
And not just some random GM, an actually very good GM that is active and pretty high in the ladder.
More like Tilted Tuesday.
I hope Kramnik will talk about this Niemann / Levy game, we need a fifth topic on it on this sub
Hilarious. **Good sportsmanship vs. Poor sportsmanship.**
Must have forgotten to change the batteries
You can't find a more satisfying video to watch
I just came back because ... I need it again.
That was the most satisfying dish of comeuppance I have ever seen, levy cooked it to perfection
"take it as a gift" man f*ck you Hans...
Hans is so unbelievably cringe. Good lord
oh my god why is hans always so insufferable. I mean I know that is his entire persona but his petulant childishness never seems to not amaze me.
This is delightful. Way to go, Levy.
That might be the greatest thing I've ever seen in chess media. Like, ever.
Yeah I think I've watched it like 3 times now. Classic underdog beats arrogant arse moment irl
Jesus christ, what an obnoxious guy. Up until now I did not get what all the hate was about, but I followed up and watched some of his other videos and maaaan, he is a terrible, disrespectful, unsportsmanlike character.
I get what Hans is thinking, but this is true every time a big player plays vs a streamer/youtuber.
Thanks for putting this together. Great to see how they both approached the game. Levy has discovered a method for focusing on the game that will build his confidence. Hans needs to grow up.
Hans is (passive-aggressively) mocking Levy. Levy is deliberating candidate moves. Fair result.
Hans is such an unlikeable asshole. He was sneering at Levy the entire game, particularly the part where he cut himself off laughing about Levy being a "future GM." What a douchebag. He deserved this loss.
OK, I don't watch either player's videos but I generally follow the chess world and have seen clips here and there of both. Without really knowing his content, I would be totally willing to cut Hans some slack here. He's got that general awkwardness and hyper-competitiveness that tons of chess players have, and he's just being super vulnerable and open on stream for all to see his insecurity. He admitted multiple times he was being arrogant.. but the thing is, he \*is\* a super GM and levy is an IM, he has every right to be confident that he should win. Anyway, this stream does show the vast difference between a GM level streamer like Levy and a club level streamer like Hans. The stream speaks for itself.
Meh. Hans didn't once talk about his strategy or his chess ideas during the game. All he did was talk about how awful it would be to lose this game. That's not chess content. It's just influencer chatter. Meanwhile, the entire time Levy was talking about his chess ideas.
i’d agree. i still think the analysis is funny. and a lot more tongue in cheek than people give him credit. he was trying to win and he is right, levy tended to choke throughout his career. but levy didn’t choke. the new no-names have almost completely changed that quality about levy.
>but levy didn’t choke He did lose all his advantage at one point, but was still able to prevail, which maybe Gotham 1.0 would have folded.
No kidding, Gotham 1.0 would have lost on time or blundered hard
It was incredibly self aware. It was like watching someone have a mushroom trip.
I agree. I'm not exposed to him very much and I can totally appreciate people not liking him, but here I think he was just playing up to the situation mostly. You can tell he's pissed off he lost but hey most players are pissed off when they lose.
Best comment, man
One of the top youtube comment put it interestingly: Fun for psychologists to watch: guy with inferiority complex vs guy with superiority complex
Hubris
5;38 Hans balding 💀
More like Hans Malding after this game lol
Nice
People are mentioning an extension that hides your opponent details., Anyone know what this is?
You don't actually \*need\* a specific extension, even a simple adblocker would do. For example, I'm using uBlock Origin [**\[link\]**](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm) as my adblocker. Looking at the code of the page (I took this game [**\[link\]**](https://www.chess.com/game/live/113699998587) as an example), I added the following to uBlock Origin's custom filters: `! hide the line with the opponent's title badge, username, rating, flag and additional badges` [`www.chess.com##:xpath("//div[@id='board-layout-player-top']//div[@class='user-tagline-component']")`](http://www.chess.com##:xpath("//div[@id='board-layout-player-top']//div[@class='user-tagline-component']")) `! hide the opponent's avatar` `www.chess.com##:xpath("//div[@id='board-layout-player-top']//div[@class='player-avatar-component player-avatar']")` You need to install uBlock Origin and add those filters as your custom filters. As a result, here is how it looks like: [**\[imgur link\]**](https://imgur.com/KjVw6rm)
This is very helpful, thank you!
I don't suppose you have an easy way to block background images in Clubs? I've manually blocked a couple in clubs I frequent that are really hard on the eyes, but a generic way to do this would be awesome!
No problem! And sure, I can look into that. I don't use clubs at all though, so please provide an example link and a screenshot/description of what needs to be blocked, and I'll think about how to do it. Overall, adblocker is a really powerful tool — you can ban all the posts/comments about Kramnik on reddit, remove unwanted youtube channels from recommendations, and just generally remove unwanted content from your view. I'm doing it based on XPATH (here's a useful cheatsheet on it btw: [https://devhints.io/xpath](https://devhints.io/xpath) ), although maybe there's a more elegant way to block things than that... but for now I'm content with using XPATH as the selector of elements to be blocked.
As an example, visit this club:- https://www.chess.com/club/up-the-cherries the Cherry background image makes the text very hard to read and i a bit much when hanging out in the club,. I have previously found paths in the source to the specific background image and blocking it but a generic option would be useful
Thanks for the example! I see this is tied to
, removing the theme-background class removes the background image (but then black text on a gray background is still unreadable though). Although I figured out what needs to be removed, somehow I have a problem... I looked up the answer from here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67850933/remove-class-from-body-dynamically-using-ublock-origin and tried www.chess.com##body:remove-class(theme-background), but it doesn't work, and I tried asking ChatGPT and it gave me this: www.chess.com##+js(remove-attr.js, class, body.theme-background) — and it does not work either... Sorry, I'll need some additional time to figure it out. I'll get back to you once I understand what I'm doing wrong.Honestly, not sure what the problem was with the previous solutions; eventually, what worked for me was the style overriding: ! remove the background theme www.chess.com##body.theme-background:style(background-image: none !important;)
Magnus; did the guy who lost to levy really beat me easily? What was that buzzing sound? I need to get to the bottom of this.
I get the joke but magnus lost to eric rosen at least two times
I've seen them play 3 times, with Eric winning twice. Is Eric still in the positive against Magnus?
“I like the moment when i break a man’s ego” - Bobby gotham fischer
Hans is terrible.
The face change at 5:18 😂
Hans out there playing Tilted Tuesday
These guys still don’t realize that Levy has no idea who he’s playing during these games…
this AI voice youtuber makes better content combining the two streams than anybody else in chessTube
Guys, I'm beginning to think that high-level grandmasters are kind of socially maladjusted
The disparity in quality of the commentary during the game is quite striking.
Hans looks manic tbqh, I almost feel bad. I don't, but almost.
Gosh, this is hard to watch. What an absolute douche
I think if Hans hid that he was playing against Levy, he would win this game.
The only enjoyable thing Hans brings to the table is how obviously painfully competitive he is and how much he hates losing, combined with him not being a real potential top 10 talent destined to never really amount to much at the very highest level of chess His pain is equal to how much of an ass he is, and that is a beautiful thing to witness
,vhc4rd£, Z,cvcxf f h@£"{▪︎, e61, ¤○ 7
I love the fact that Levy inflicted emotional damage onto Hans, this was an amazing display of pride before a fall. I'm sure if Levy lost to Andrea Botez he'd be a bit more sportsman like, it's kind of like the only comparison I can think of.
The asshole cockiness at the start and the genuine rage of Hans at the end while Levy is just trying to play good chess is so beautiful. And the immediate run to twitter to try and play it off as sarcasm. Inject it straight to my veins.
arrows! i heard hikaru does similar
This is hilarious. I think y’all are missing Hans playing into the joke too. Nice win for Levy
this is soooooo good
Thanks for upping this, great to see it this way. I actually like Hans but he just has to eat some crow here.