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When will GothamChess become a grandmaster?

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DrSpudnik

magipi
DrSpudnik wrote:

I really, really can't force myself to watch a 20-minute Rozman-video, I got fed up after like 20 seconds. Can you sum up what's going on?

DrSpudnik
magipi wrote:
DrSpudnik wrote:

I really, really can't force myself to watch a 20-minute Rozman-video, I got fed up after like 20 seconds. Can you sum up what's going on?

He laments his decades-long time spent with chess and then goes over the most excruciating game between two 400 players (who use very little of their 10 minutes) and who engage in both brilliancies and errors, ending with White, down massive material and in mate-in-1 positions accidentally mating Black. The title is rather misleading, leaving us all wondering what part of chess he's done with. I'd be done with looking at games by dunderheads and devote more time to my own prep, were I to aspire to leap from IM to GM, but he never goes into that.

magipi
DrSpudnik wrote:
magipi wrote:
DrSpudnik wrote:

I really, really can't force myself to watch a 20-minute Rozman-video, I got fed up after like 20 seconds. Can you sum up what's going on?

He laments his decades-long time spent with chess and then goes over the most excruciating game between two 400 players (who use very little of their 10 minutes) and who engage in both brilliancies and errors, ending with White, down massive material and in mate-in-1 positions accidentally mating Black. The title is rather misleading, leaving us all wondering what part of chess he's done with. I'd be done with looking at games by dunderheads and devote more time to my own prep, were I to aspire to leap from IM to GM, but he never goes into that.

Thank you for the summary.

When I remember that this guy is the most popular chess content creator, I always want to cry.

Mazetoskylo
magipi wrote:

When I remember that this guy is the most popular chess content creator, I always want to cry.

Chess content creator? Hardly so.

But he is a decent entertainer for dumb kids, you can't deny that.

DrSpudnik
Mazetoskylo wrote:
magipi wrote:

When I remember that this guy is the most popular chess content creator, I always want to cry.

Chess content creator? Hardly so.

But he is a decent entertainer for dumb kids, you can't deny that.

Dubious Distinction Award material for sure.

vinaxelius
magipi wrote:
Stockfishdot1 wrote:

Gotham posted a video not long ago stating that he might return to tournament play with the goal of getting his GM. I'm sure he could do it. It would add to his credibility.

If he just plays in GM-norm tournaments in his current form, he'll get slaughtered. In order to have any shot, he should get much better, better than he was in his top form, many years ago. That would require an incredible amount of effort (take a step back from streaming and youtubing, hire a GM coach, train hard for months) with no guarantee for success.

That's just not going to happen.

When he announced he's going to try for GM, he wasn't serious. It was just clickbait (like every other stuff he says and does).

Update: he is not getting slaughtered, he just beat the top seed (2535) and drew the 2nd seed (2493) at the Madrid Chess Festival, both games with black. He has been training with a GM, but has kept uploading daily

He's still got a tough road to even get a norm this tournament, he has to go 5/7 with 4 games as white as the bottom seed, but he's proven he is absolutely serious about this push for GM

QathetMike

Now 4 out of 5 with 1 win as black, 1 win as white, and 1 draw as black against the 3 GM's in his group. 2 draws against the other players; all of the players in his group have higher elo than Levy

4 out of 5 is good for a .5 lead in his group.

last 4 games he faces no GMs at all

6 IM Adrian Suarez Uriel2401 Levy plays black
7 IM Aaron Alonso Garcia2460 Levy is white

8 IM Julio Suarez Gomez2477 Levy black

9 FM Dani Tabuenca Mendataurigoitia2355 Levy plays white

2.5 out of the last 4 gets his first GM norm.-and even if he doesn't get it- his elo will take a large jump.

his GM coach has done some fine work here.

QathetMike

Just saw his game 5 recap- he has gained 25 elo, from these last 5 games.

round 6 starts at 8 am pacific-about 10 minutes from now.

vinaxelius
QathetMike wrote:

Now 4 out of 5 with 1 win as black, 1 win as white, and 1 draw as black against the 3 GM's in his group. 2 draws against the other players; all of the players in his group have higher elo than Levy

4 out of 5 is good for a .5 lead in his group.

last 4 games he faces no GMs at all

6 IM Adrian Suarez Uriel2401 Levy plays black
7 IM Aaron Alonso Garcia2460 Levy is white

8 IM Julio Suarez Gomez2477 Levy black

9 FM Dani Tabuenca Mendataurigoitia2355 Levy plays white

2.5 out of the last 4 gets his first GM norm.-and even if he doesn't get it- his elo will take a large jump.

his GM coach has done some fine work here.

Absolutely. In terms of securing a norm, it will still be pretty tough. Realistically he needs 3 draws and one win. If he manages two wins, which is relatively unrealistic, he could get away with one loss.

The good news is Levy has been super solid this tournament. He hasn't made many mistakes and has only really been losing in two games and both times, the winning move was pretty much impossible to find.

The likeliest scenario in my mind is that he goes 6/9, winning one game, drawing two, and losing one. Realistically, he'll make a mistake at some point and get punished for it. Getting two wins in 4 games, even against the "weaker" opposition is a tough task, but not impossible.

As you said, though, the good news is whatever happens, his elo will take a big jump, and perhaps more importantly, so will his confidence. He now knows the target of GM is absolutely achievable, and his strength is likely somewhere in the 2500s. We'll see how he can close out this tournament, and what he can do over the long term, it'll be interesting for sure.

QathetMike

Levy got a draw, while playing black.

The computer eval was going back and forth a bit, and showed Levy with some winning chances- but that is just what the machine saw. Funny- hanging out at lichess for the chat during the game- and so many experts-at reading stockfish, talking up a storm; but if you check out their ratings, they wouldn't know a 2000 elo move if they saw it.

3 games left -needs 2 more points- but plays as white twice- so ---time will tell.

QathetMike

after a draw in round 7 Levy now needs 1.5 points in his last 2 games, to get his first GM norm.

hasn't lost a game in this tourney

1 as white, 1 as black and currently sits at 5 of 7

round 8 in .5 hours.

vinaxelius
QathetMike wrote:

after a draw in round 7 Levy now needs 1.5 points in his last 2 games, to get his first GM norm.

hasn't lost a game in this tourney

1 as white, 1 as black and currently sits at 5 of 7

round 8 in .5 hours.

The big problem for him is he's facing perhaps the strongest opponents yet in the next two games. Both have had great tournaments and both are also battling for norms, so I would be relatively surprised if he pulls out a win and a draw, but I'm not counting him out yet

Mando
QathetMike wrote:

after a draw in round 7 Levy now needs 1.5 points in his last 2 games, to get his first GM norm.

hasn't lost a game in this tourney

1 as white, 1 as black and currently sits at 5 of 7

round 8 in .5 hours.

To be honest…I like how unique Levy is with his title he has now, because most people who have a title move on to the GM title, so it would make him more special…idk. He won’t be the same if he gets his GM title…

magipi
MandotheMango1067 wrote:

most people who have a title move on to the GM title

That is absolutely not true. Not even close.

Mazetoskylo

A loss at round 8, and the norm is gone. Still a nice 25-point gain before the last round.

magipi

Levy is playing much better that I thought he would. Previously I figured he has a 0% chance, but now I don't. If he can keep this up for a year or two...

QathetMike

5.5 out of 9, with 1 loss.

win as black, win as white, draw as black- against the GMs in his group.

Seemed to tire in the last few games- appeared to be winning round 8- then suffered a cranial cramp, pulling defeat from the jaws of victory.

All in all, a very good return to competitive chess. imo

Mazetoskylo
magipi wrote:

Levy is playing much better that I thought he would. Previously I figured he has a 0% chance, but now I don't. If he can keep this up for a year or two...

Nah, he needs to play at least 5 GM title round robins each year, plus a few more tournaments to get the needed 150 point hike. Plus of course a few hours of work every day to improve his play. This won't happen as long as he's spending most of his time creating streaming stuff.