Hikaru about Levy quitting competitive chess

A sub would be very appreciated

[mavtzak]

It’s hard to be a full professional at something while also maintaining the largest chess entertainment channel on youtube. I think he enjoys creating content and educating lower-rated players and realized the two cannot happen simultaneously

[HaloLvlLegit]

Basically the guy knew he peaked, would never be a GM and retired. Makes sense.

[veneratlazulum]

I think when you're a teacher it's hard to feel like a fraud or failure if you're not the best at absolutely everything in your field and he might be worried everyone will leave his channel if we find out there's a decent gap of skill between him and a grandmaster. What he may not realize is that only the top 1% of 1% of people on earth can even see it and that for someone like me whose elo is sub 1000, I am utterly blown away by the skill level of even my father who is 1800 or so, so I can hardly even comprehend the genius of people whose skill levels are past 2000, and certainly bedazzling is the skill level of someone like Levy who would kill me within 12 moves.

[swarnavabanerjee]

Maybe hikaru is right Levi is a bit insecure although he has so many fans

[Chunda]

I think your players who might criticize, troll or be tough on Levy are all lower rated who will never be IM. Anyone above, say 1800 OTB knows the grind, knows the competition and how tough it is to get your rating up there. I don't think they would criticize Levy and anyone under 2100 needs to, in general, STFU regardless. GothamChess is fantastic content, really helpful and useful to players at all levels. Also it is worth mentioning that to get to GM does require a certain killer, go for the throat mentality. You have your stories of a young Bobby Fischer challenging Soviet Russian GMs as a teenager and calling them swine in their house....And don't forget last I looked Levy is in the 2800s online rated, no small potatoes and very strong, at the minimum very respectable. It's interesting to me how your online rating can be a good deal higher than your OTB.

[prometheusproton]

Levy will never be the best chess player, but he for DAMN sure is the best chess content creator

[aarontanco]

We can all enjoy chess out of the competitve scene. Your FIDE ranking might be the ultimate expression of your ability but it does not measure your love for the game. GothamChess is a great channel and Levy’s voice is a great ambassador for the game we love.

[GoonaTVhi]

Levy is still top 10% of all players, being a IM is still a great achievement

[billseaton]

Not a fan of those "haters" of his. Watching his videos has helped me improve my chess game so much, and undoubtedly has done the same for so so many others that watch his videos. I have yet to find another person on youtube who is as good as educating people on chess of all levels.

[dunadain_aragorn]

Youtube, why is this blowing up 3 months later?

[torduc]

I think getting any FIDE titles is a lifetime achievement - IM, NM, let alone GM - it’s not something the general population can just readily achieve. So huge props to Levy for his IM title, imo.

[AakashKumar-glfk]

Forget GM, becoming even IM is too hard and takes years. If fide introduces a new rank like super GM, people will look GM similar way as they look IM. Professional Chess is harder than we realise.

[shrinkty]

Levy has done more for chess than any other entertainer or YouTuber

[kompot]

i think hikaru's statement here is really personal for no reason and just overall kind of rude.
competitive anything is stressful on its own, especially at such a huge level with so many expectations. it's unreasonable to assume all of that comes from random comments.
he would rather be a chess entertainer than a competitive chess player and that's totally up to his preference and his situation in my opinion, not something to start psychoanalysing

[kevintan]

To everyone who doesn’t understand Levy, he was not 100% grinding in chess since young, thus his level has also not been the very top. He has had some time away from chess as well. Plus as his tweet stated too. So pls do realise that not everyone has to go down the same route, and maybe being a chess teacher on the internet works best for him. On a personal note, i enjoy his content alot and it helped me in my chess!

[crenfick]

A lot of people talking about insecurity and "haters" but it's laid out right there. Anxiety. Even Simone Biles, the GOAT of women's gymnastics, temporarily called it quits due to anxiety. It's a mental illness.

[MrAllallalla]

The pin of shame was such an obvious sign of insecurity

[angelmendez-rivera]

With all due respect to Hikaru, his opinion on the matter makes absolutely no sense at all. If it was really true that the hater comments are getting to Lévy, which has no evidence whatsoever, then Lévy would be retiring from making chess content, not from competitive play. After all, the source of the hate comments is from the content he produces, not from his competitive results. Insinuating that the hater comments he gets for his content made him retire from competitive chess makes absolutely no sense. It is just ridiculous. Also, the actual reason behind him retiring is literally stated right there in his Tweet: he has an anxiety problem. This is not news either. This is something that Lévy has hinted at in the past, too. It had been known for some time prior to his retirement that Lévy's mental health has not been the most stable. He made this known via series of sponsorships for apps and websites specifically aimed at monitoring and improving mental health. Jumping to the conclusion that this anxiety must be due to haters on YouTube, as opposed to the actual stresses that come from the competitive mindset of trying to become a GM, or other any other personal circumstances he may be going through or had been going through for any amount of time in the past, is completely illogical.

[pakasokoste]

Ended too soon. Any clip of Hikaru talking about the pinned comments?

[Duval-In-The-Wall]

He didn’t have the time or energy to put in the sacrifices needed to be a GM

It wasn’t worth it to stop his content