I just watch his YouTube videos. Very instructive. He overhypes positions a bit but the theory is solid.
Igor Smirnov?
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Jun 11, 2025
0
#4
TitledNotTilted wrote:
His short form content is garbage. His long videos are ok.
Any YT short is going to be garbage. You just can't get enough detail in.
He's solid but one thing I hate about him is how he seems like a company or something. he doesn't seem like a YouTuber like, hikaru, levy, etc. He feels like a organization or something. I hate that.
Jun 12, 2025
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#6
EmTat wrote:
He's solid but one thing I hate about him is how he seems like a company or something. he doesn't seem like a YouTuber like, hikaru, levy, etc. He feels like a organization or something. I hate that.
He is literally running a business selling chess courses, so yeah, that make sense. He might make some money from YT ads, but he's creating content to drive people to the courses. Nothing wrong with that of course, but he's not even trying to compete with the "content creators" in that way.
Jun 12, 2025
0
#7
His shorts advocate blatant hope chess, but his videos are good.
Hello, I am a category A player from Quebec with a rating of 1882 ELO (over the board) in slow games. My best performance in a tournament was 2020 ELO. I am currently taking lessons from GM Igor Smirnov and I have learned a lot so far. So I am very satisfied so far. A personal coach is very expensive, so I find that GM Smirnov's lessons are a good compromise. Chess is not an easy game and if you want to progress you have to put in the effort. I like this grandmaster's approach compared to some showman on YouTube. But each to their own.
I got to 1201 by watching him.
#9 he is in the channel of “Remote chess accademy” on yt
Jul 12, 2025
0
#12
CaptainMacKenzie написал:
Hello, I am a category A player from Quebec with a rating of 1882 ELO (over the board) in slow games. My best performance in a tournament was 2020 ELO. I am currently taking lessons from GM Igor Smirnov and I have learned a lot so far. So I am very satisfied so far. A personal coach is very expensive, so I find that GM Smirnov's lessons are a good compromise. Chess is not an easy game and if you want to progress you have to put in the effort. I like this grandmaster's approach compared to some showman on YouTube. But each to their own.
Why do you have so empty account here then?
In response to Leto.
: I only play chess in OTB and slow games. I recently retired and at 68 I now have time to try to understand this game. I have an account here for news, blogs on the history of chess, the "Game of the Day" analyzed by a GM and finally the superb articles of GM Grigory Serper. When I open my account on Chess.com the site sometimes asks me if I want to do a puzzle and it can happen that I say yes. There are plenty of reasons to come to Chess.com, the important thing is to find what you are looking for and as Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch said: Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make man happy.
Thoughts on him? His videos? His courses?