How Good Is Gothamchess??

Playing trashy blitz moves quickly will definitely increase your blitz... and decrease your OTB. Nothing new there.

Part of it could also be that he isn't putting as much pressure on himself. The game is supposed to fun, he wasn't having fun playing competitive chess and that may have affected his performance. Now he seems to be having fun.

Actually, there is something new here.

If there was nothing new here, Levy's rating would be the same as before he retired from competitive chess.

But since he retired, his rating, on this site has gone up.

Can you see the new difference, now?

I don't even know what his rating was before. I guess it's 2800 now. Honestly I couldn't care less

He's got charisma and makes fun videos I guess. Other than that I don't respect him for anything. It's fine for you guys to like him, or whatever his fans do.

It's funny to read this thread and see people circling the wagons for their hero.  I'm sure he's a great guy.

You know celebrity culture has gone too far when people on webcams just talking about whatever are "celebrities".  The point is being missed.  You don't go see a movie because Ryan Gosling is in it, you go because it's an interesting premise/story.  You don't play chess to pretend you are buddy-buddy with other guys that play online chess and to talk to all your celebrity-worshipping friends about it, you play chess because you love the game yourself, and want to play it for it's own merits, not to be like somebody else.

Go out and live your lives and stop letting other people do it for you.  My renter is almost 30.  He doesn't know how to shop at a grocery store.  He doesn't know how to buy a car.  He doesn't know how interest works.  He doesn't know how to dice an onion.  The simplest things in life, he has not done and there's a constant refrain of "can you help me out?  I've never done that before...".  He looks up YouTube videos to try to learn how to do things, and then when the 5 minute video fails to tell him about some wrinkle, he's completely lost.  His goal is life right now is to buy a smartphone with 1 terabyte of storage .  It comes from living a detached life and watching everything instead of doing it yourself.  You can't learn to live by watching Tik-Tok videos..

That being said....it's your leisure time.  Just think about it, though.  I like to watch Naroditsky when I have some time myself.  Just don't miss the forest for the trees.

A line from the movie "Matilda" comes to mind. It's a fantasy story about a child genius, and there's some line like "at age 10 she had learned to do what most people don't learn until their 30s... how to take care of herself."

The movie came out in the 90s.

I'm not surprised a young renter may not know how interest works. He's obviously not very wealthy. I'm not surprised he can't cook. Maybe you're being a little hard on him... but of course I haven't met him/her.

If he were early twenties fresh out of school, fine, though even there you need to come out of childhood with *some* life skills.  That's my point,  Almost 30 is not "young".  His life is more than a third over (statistically) and he fundamentally cannot survive on his own.  I'm just using him as the handiest example, but I see this constantly now...and attitude of "I don't need to know anything/learn anything, I can just watch a video for 5 minutes later on and figure out anything I need to do in my life".  Nope, doesn't work.  That's the way to Idiocracy..."but Brawndo has electrolytes!".

I don't know how dopey he is, I've never met the guy.

I do know one winter the pilot light to my furnace went out, and I was able to fix it after watching a video on YouTube. How did people learn little things like this 50 years ago? Just asking friends or family members I imagine. Is it so different getting the same advice online?

In my 20s there were none of these digital driving directions. You kept a few paper maps in your car, and some people even kept a compass. I missed more than a few exits in my time... but not after I can have my phone give me audible directions -- get in the left lane, turn in 200 feet, etc. I don't think that makes me an idiot, it's just convenient.

You, may not do those things; doesn't mean other people  are the same.

There's a distinction between learning some nugget of information or a quick and simple procedure (or using Google maps) and using short clips and videos as one's primary learning method for everything from dating/relationships to geometry to stock market investing.  A pretty clear one, really .

I believe my statement makes that pretty clear...

The implication though is that everyone's subjective choices will all lead to productive and happy lives.  They will not.  Thus, the existence of the concept of advice.  Take it or leave it, but the "everyone's opinions [or in today's world, "facts"] are equally valid" mindset is objectively false.

Sure. If I want to learn something difficult I still ask around about good books.

"good" is subjective I find for most people good is based on their own personal experiences.  So if your magnus no one is good and if your my 9 year old almost everyone who plays more than a few times a year is good.  Then again we live in a world where people love to tell you why their subjective opinions are objective facts and their own logic the universal end all be all. On the flip side things that have had objective operational definitions for years people now go "nah i don't subscribe to that" so its really an impossible question to answer by any stretch of the imagination.  I like that he releases content daily for me to watch on lunchbreak and while i don't like the clickbait sellout nature of his channel that's just the only way to get big on YT and those platforms everyone in all the content i watch do the same thing.  Everyone bows to the algorithm or they don't and no one knows who they are.  In either case i care about how good he is at chess just as much as i do anyone else who isn't me or my children in that I don't. 

it doesn't stand for anything, it just means that they are really cracked at something

I like him...he's does well teaching and is well educated. With that being said I believe he is a very insecure young man that doubts himself daily....you can throw in there anxiety issues no doubt....regardless, I like him.

I'm not a fan of his sensationalist style but it's what brings him views and subscribers. As a player he's clearly no Hikaru but he could still win every game in a blindfold simul against everyone who posted in this thread.

Eh, pfren would destroy him

Never liked him. Comes off a bit arrogant and thinks he's wittier than he really is.  To each their own.

Now you tell me. I took it up because I thought it would help me with...."the ladies".