Kevin from the Chess Website

I had plenty of endgame knowledge and was great on opening principles. I just needed to find an opening that gave me middlegame positions I liked. I’d usually flounder in the middlegame during that period. 

He presents the opening and gives you three gm examples - good format. I could do the same thing on my "Tarrasch" but why bother?

Through the years, there have been several iterations of a “Kevin C Butler” whose accounts have been quickly closed. I don’t know if there’s any connection between those accounts and this Kevin Butler.

Edit: I changed the post to remove a link to an account that appears to be active. 5/5/22. (Or, if you’re from another continent, 5/5/22.)

I know him

Does he know how to play chess?

He just seems like he’s regurgitating other people, because his analysis really doesn’t go as in depth as i would expect from a master level player that actually knows what they are talking about! Sorry if that sounds rude but I just think if you’re not at least master level (exception Agadmator) I feel like your almost doing a disservice to people by distracting people from learning actual in depth chess knowledge like you get from say Gotham Chess!♟️😉

side note: Agadmator earned the Croatian “majstorski kandidat” (candidate master) title in 2019 and currently has a national rating of 2115 (January 2021)

I don't think that Kevin claimed to be near master level. His videos were an excellent introductory lesson into different openings, before Gotham came along. I credit much of my early improvement to him for keeping his videos concise.

I watched Kevin when he had 3 views. All his videos were free. And it was a hobby site. Never meant to be instructional. He went over famous games. Almost be like a basketball fan posting old games and talking about them. I think if you go back far enough he claims to suck at chess. And say he will never be as good as these guys he’s describing. 
Then he decided to start showing openings. He had an organized format, with 15 minute videos, showing a couple main lines with key gotchyas to watch out for. Almost like a book on tape.

He then decided he loved chess so much, that he spent full time doing these videos, but wasn’t making any money. So he decided to make a site and charge a dollar or something for some of the videos showing openings.

Then later when he had so many videos, he decided to keep the format going but just charge a subscription so he can release videos regularly.

IMHO, he’s one of the OG chess YouTubers trying to bring excitement to chess before there was any money in it at all. I don’t think he says anything incorrect since he prepped it with engines and other analysis. Can he go in depth like Hikaru or Magnus, or Gotham (for the memes)? No. But he doesn’t try to.

If you want concise, organized, 15 minute videos on a bunch of opening, and some entertaining famous games…Then absolutely he’s pretty good.

If GothamChess is the hero chess wants, Kevin was the hero chess needed.

@SoloTheDog, thanks for this history. Maybe I can track down his early videos.

As for not saying things wrong, an error is mentioned in https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/kevin-from-the-chess-website?page=2#comment-36270574

@ziryab the fact you have multiple threads on Kevin kind of sus. Why you hate this guy so much? There’s something else. I get “hater” vibes reading your messages.

and they span years. Like almost a decade. That’s weird bro. He’s rent free in your head

It’s not my thread. I commented. I don’t “have” any threads on the guy.

I was trying to find information about him several years ago while writing about checkmate with bishop and knight. That search led me here. I commented. My comment noted that he made a statement that would be typical of someone trying to explain engine lines without really understanding the process that he was teaching. In contrast, Elliott Neff and Danny Rensch, two titled players, have exceptional videos on the same topic.

Now, I get notifications when someone commented. You offered some value. I thanked you.

I teach chess. I evaluate resources that are available. Many years ago, I watched several of Kevin’s videos. Most weren’t terrible. However, when I see Kevin claiming a rating of 1950, I assume he must be referring to Lichess.

Rent…. Free

Hello, this is Mato. Today we have a very instructive game…

What would you do?

Always makes me laugh…

I like his voice, and Kevin’s too.

Its nostalgics for me because my younger brother and I use to live in the ghetto and self taught ourselves chess, with YT being one resource.

Chessmaster with Pandolfini and Waitzkin being the other resources.

Actually nowadays, I have a few popular content creators blocked on YT because of their click baiting nature and spamming…one being an IM, the other a GM and the last being sisters?

I was watching YouTube videos by kingscrusher in 2007. I played him in a pub in London in 2010.

There was plenty of chess on YouTube by strong players who know what they were talking about. There was less of the glitzy stuff you’ll find now. One piece of junk that you find now that didn’t exist then is classic games set to music.

Before engaging in juvenile psychoanalysis, try reading the thread. Why would I be jealous of someone selling tripe? I’m not competing against him in any way.

I teach chess. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to evaluate possible resources. Superficially, thechesswebsite seems okay. When you look more closely, however, you quickly learn that Kevin is usually either reading from a book or pretending to know what his engine shows him. He says things that are utterly wrong often enough to reveal that he’s a poser. 

I don’t deny that people can learn much of value. He does use good books to guide some of his analysis. One can also learn a lot of chess history from Bill Wall. Of course, 10% of what they learn will be false.

Check the date of this thread. Compare that to your sense of what was on YouTube before 2020.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/power-play-series---any-good

It should be abundantly clear that you know very little about what has been on YouTube a long time.

et cetera, i.e., etc.

Last on line in 2017. Who's old and cold and stale now?!

Fresh off the vine "wine" would be grape juice.