I am going with Hikaru because he is a skilled player who likes to mix things up and I actually like Chess thanks to him
Name your idols in chess
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Aug 29, 2025
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#3
Nezhmetdinov was such a brilliant chess player, even though he never was GM.
I like gotham because he makes chess more interesting and fun its basic but sometimes basic is better
Aroon Nimzowistch
Korchnoi, Tal, Spassky, Bronstein, Ivanchuk, Carlsen, Caruana, Abdusattorov, D.Gukesh, Firouzja, and Jeffery Xiong.
Magnus Carlsen all the way.
garry kasparov
also somechessplayerguy
Sauce_pockets wrote:
Viroh.
XD
Kebert Solares
Great chess mentor, not just because he's my teacher, but because he's helped me grow as a person. His approach goes beyond the moves and strategies of the game. he’s taught me discipline, patience, and the importance of decision-making and that also applies for real life.
Dina Belenkaya
Incredible player, and I’ve learned so much from watching her games, especially the ones where she loses. It’s fascinating to see how she analyses her mistakes. Her ability to learn from her defeats is something I truly admire, and it’s a reminder that every loss is an opportunity for growth.
For me they are
Capablanca
It taught me you don't need to be some deep calculator or tactician, nor there is need for opening prep. A deep positional understanding and a strong intuition can also be dominating factor
Fischer
Despite initially struggling against players like Tal and Spassky, becoming a dominant player, a world champion and world no. 120 points higher than world no. 2
Tal
To take risks and complicated fight, clarity is not the thing that matter, but navigation through the position and making fewer mistakes than opponents matters where mistakes by both sides in a position in inevitable.
He also made me learn that positional and principled play as well as sound ideas can be combined with aggressive and potentially unsound ideas in a same game.
And then most importantly, his passion for chess. One month before his death he was supposed to be hospital as doctors said any moment can be his last. He secretly escaped the hospital and went to play the blitz tournament.
Petrosian and Korchnoi
Their games are masterclass how to punish aggressive players and counter unsound attacks. While players like Tal scored poorly against Nezhmetdinov (3 wins and in 4th one Nezhmetdinov was better but lost the advantage and then blundered into a loss), while Nezhmetdinov didn't even had a single win against them
Nezhmetdinov
Doesn't matter you start chess late, you can still compete amongst top level. Also you can combine aggression with accuracy
Who are your chess idols and why?