GM Hikaru Ranks the Legends, the GOATs, the Theorists | Tier Maker: Greatest Chess Players

all right we're going to go in alphabetical order  yeah i think we just take it from the top right   so we'll start with akiba yes you by the way you  should leave these discussions because normally   you're like what do you think and and for a lot  of these i'm going to defer to the professional   here the guy okay so i don't actually know a whole  lot about akiba rubenstein um very strong grand   master i think he was probably at his peak maybe  top five definitely top ten in the world um he is   the inspiration for grand master boris gelfond um  the the current grand master who represents israel   so i know that was that's his uh that's his his uh  model or the person he he sort of tried to tailor   his game after um from the get-go again great on  game player pretty decent theoretician um for me   i great i mean i feel like great plus unlucky  implies that they had world championship caliber   potential um and he was very strong player i  don't think he's he was ever world championship   quality so i think he's probably i would put  him in a theorist yeah it's crazy that like the   even being at the bottom of this list is uh still  really good yeah because i mean i feel like this   isn't where theorists mean this isn't like garbage  like it's different theorist actually is really   really really good um because this i think on  this list there is no really like negative spot   but like as far as he goes i mean well let me let  me take a look on my other other monitor let me um   let me take a look at the let me just let me just  see if there's an actual ranking of where he uh   um there was a pink peak ranking that was done  oh wait hikaru yeah rubenstein was supposed to   play against lasker for the world championship  and i think that kills barry no it was this was   rubenstein also oh oh he got screwed over as  well oh my gosh i actually didn't realize that   that probably bumps him up to great plus unlucky  right i feel like oh okay so so he he got he got   scammed just like i'm just like pillsbury okay  all right so yeah then great plus unlucky yeah   okay yeah definitely i actually didn't  realize that um that he was supposed to play   i have a question great plus unlucky should be  higher than great plus lucky no because correct   yeah well i i guess like let me let me pop up this  other other window very br oh i'll change my scene   just for one second you guys won't see us but just  just so you guys have some idea i'm gonna actually   base it off of this as well um so just one second  let me change the scene to this one um let me   do that um so this is like the player metrics  profile this is actually uh this is better right one second sorry oh it does it doesn't actually  show correctly what it doesn't show correctly   anyway they say actually no that i was wrong  by the way say best world rank was number one   um uh 25 different months between may 1908 and  april 1914 so actually i was unaware that he   was that high knew his top five i didn't  realize that he was considered the world   rank he was considered number one in the  world between may 1908 and april 1914. so   all right let's let's let's get back to  this one um so yeah okay all right um wow   yeah so so yeah i mean i i think actually then  yeah definitely great plus unlucky i know i knew   that he was top five i didn't realize that  he was actually um comparable um comparable   uh to last year in terms of world champion  so yeah but definitely definitely unlucky 100   also i think 1908 1914 that's around the time that  the uh the great archduke of course archduke um   the archduke of uh of the hunger hun hungarian uh  the hungar austrian was it the hungarian austrian   empire was assassinated which led of course to  um world war one i'm so very curiously staring   at this next guy who who's this next guy astro  hungarian yeah uh next guy is alex you don't   recognize alex come on no as a matter of fact i  don't that's not both i'll tell you that that's i'm i'm sorry levy i had to get  up and walk away that was um   i i i don't know if we're gonna get  through this tier list because you're   uh a few of the things you said i mean i just  i feel like i feel like saying no and leaving why no i just don't i don't  recognize his face more than anything   i don't know like i i don't know him by the oh  it's al jojen oh okay well yeah i don't i don't   know his face but i definitely i definitely  know the player uh do you do you feel uh do you feel a different way because we ranked his  opening in in garbage here um i don't even know   what to say like i thought you were a chess  player man no chess fan more than anything okay levy i don't intentionally congrats on  literally insulting like 99 of chess players   who have never gotten to international master  good job good job i'm just a chess fan i i   don't really play chess like oh my god okay um  all right so ali atkin yeah so i mean i think   um he was he ranks very highly for me  because he he was the predecessor to   um mikhail bought vinnick in terms of like the  whole russian school um and i felt he was very   good with opening preparation and um oh by  the way very quickly since chad is asking me   kasparov's on the far right there is one  one row that's cut off which is kasparov   and uh topolof so they are here they just aren't  showing at the moment but they are on the list   and um so yeah so aliak was the predecessor great  opening preparation i would say he was uh gary   kasparov but 70 years earlier in a sense um and a  lot of what he did with like the aliyakan's gun a   lot of his technical understanding and the way he  approached the game was really really strong so um   very very good player uh and obviously  he beat capablanca which i think nobody   thought was possible to be when he became the  world champion um so uh i think for me he's   i think he's probably a legend i think he's a  legend and of course unfortunate unfortunately   chat he he also ended up dying he choked on  like a chicken bone and he died so even though   he became world champion for well that's the  story unfortunately i know that is that like he   choked on a chicken bone um so yeah yeah that's  unfortunate isn't there a theory that he was   murdered oh there might that might be part of  the theory too that he was murdered by the kgb   or something i don't know um yeah we don't need  to get into get into theories but but yeah i think   you're right i think he he died under suspicious  circumstances at any rate um and obviously uh   i think he left russia end up going to france  because because back in the old days when you   grew up in russia uh the educated the elites they  didn't speak russian at home they actually spoke   french so they spoke with they spoke both russian  and french of course levy we know you come from   royalty so you speak perfect french too right  uh louis yes my friend he's top notch uh i my   question has been what is uh the difference  between legends and undisputed number one   um well i would say ali akin he wasn't  number one for that long was he really   i thought he was world champion for at least  10 years was he i thought it was a little bit   less than that maybe it was let me see i'll  just check uh let me see how do i check um   oh did he like was he it for like seven and then  lost it and then regained it against max eu oh is   that he lost to max oyva yes this is true okay so  that's yeah that is the right way to pronounce it   wow you know this is kind of amazing actually  like when you go to chess metrics it ranks it   so much differently than than you would expect  because those you were wondering i'll actually   i'll copy this link into chat so people can  see it but this is like a link for example like   it's kind of amazing that on chess metrics they  they say his best world rank was number one for   for uh basically 20 years but he was not the  world champion for 20 20 years so it's kind of   interesting to look at it um so yeah i mean i i i  don't know is he no you know what i'm gonna push   him up to undisputed number one i'm gonna push an  undisputed number one he's not a god of chess but   definitely undisputed number one okay so um so  yeah so next up is uh the one and only i mean   the picture doesn't do him justice i mean i know  this picture really does not do him justice but   but we have of course a vicia non a modern day  a modern day legend uh been around for a very   very long time i say legend just in the general  sense doesn't mean i'm putting him in legend but   um but a modern-day legend been around forever  i think he's the only player currently maybe   period in the top levels of chess where he can  he can actually tell you stories about playing   against people like boris baskey um or or  david braunschein or a lot of these older   guys from a different different long-lost uh  period of time so where what do you think levy   uh well you add the fact that  he was also the world champion   he was the five five five-time world chess  champion um yeah big big shout out to booker t   probably not watching but big shout out to him  nonetheless um so um yeah from yeah i mean he's   he's probably like a very top-tier undisputed  number one i mean right yes so i'm gonna actually   i'm gonna actually say something as well and don't  don't apply this to me because when you do your   ranking it shouldn't necessarily apply but what  i would say is what a nod is done for chad's not   solely over the board but sort of off the board as  well in terms of um making chess away and a part   of the indian culture is something that i think  very very few people can can say because when   i look at india and i look at chess players prior  to anon there was one player his name was dibyandu   barua i think he was the first indian grand  master i think he made it like maybe a couple   months before or not or maybe it was the other way  around i'm not sure um but when you look at anon   there was chess was not a part of the culture  and now when i now when i look at an on um the   number of chess players who can say directly  that they have sponsors that they can compete   professionally is because of him is uh i  mean it's more it's it's like probably 50   at least um to give you some examples you look  at people like uh vedic gujarati or you look at   people like ariban baskaran um these are guys who  technically speaking they have a job like a with   like a state oil company but they essentially  are being sponsored to um to compete as as   professional chess players um while having you  know these jobs with these companies um and that   is a thing that you can directly attribute to a  non in a way that you cannot attribute to um uh   uh to anyone else maybe not was it not the first  indian grand master i thought it was berua but   maybe a non-god i know they were very very close  for being the first indian gm's but um but yeah i   think uh i i think for sure you can't say that  that is true anywhere else in the entire world   there is no other country where you have um more  than maybe a handful of players who have private   sponsors or even sponsors uh from state companies  so i think um i mean because of that alone   i think anon certainly um he should be god of  chess so um i think he's god of chess i i think   because of what he's done off the board combined  with everything he's done on the board i think   i have to put him in as a god of trust i don't i  just i think the impact he's had on the country of   india with its population more than i i don't know  how many billions it is now um is uh it's just he   belongs in that tier yeah that's that's fair and i  would also say to give you guys a fun thing i know   maybe i shouldn't say this but i can i can  honestly say this um i know that gary is   certainly jealous of the fact that that anand has  so much support um from from the country of india so and by the way i said gary not geary  but gary um yeah yeah yeah so yeah   yeah anyway all right let's keep going so  next up this is the first player where we're   actually gonna take a look at the game this is  adolf anderson um now i don't i don't remember   where he was from exactly i think he was  austrian if i'm not mistaken or german   um yeah let me let me invite you are you in your  hikaru or gm hikaru account um i'm hikaru okay   all right you see the board um i should see  the board yes you want to yes there we go   all right so this is the first player since a lot  of people may not be familiar with him um he was i   believe in he was a very strong player what like  the 1820s 1830s uh yeah i thought like late like   mid it's later it's it's 1840s 1850s yeah so adolf  anderson is a player who is known for two games   that um are very very prominent he's known for  the immortal game which he played in 1851 against   lionel aldebert a bagaration felix kizeritskiy  and there was also the other one which was in   1852 which was the evergreen game that anderson  played against um was it it was dufress du fresney   right or do fresno or however you pronounce it  um but both games are very very prominent games   they've whistled the test of time there's some of  the original games um that that i refer to when i   talk about the romantic period just in regards  to people like forsen um these are the games   that i'm referring to and these are the games that  establish a whole notion of playing romantic chats   so okay let's go through this game  yeah this is quite uh it's quite a name   by the way well back in that back in the old  days i mean they they made a point to you know   show show off all their all their names in  europe i mean they still do to some degree   but yeah it would be terrible registering any sort  of vehicle or filling out a standardized test form   yeah run out of names right okay so oh sorry  i gotta get used to my keyboard by the way   it's a little bit odd using it because it's so  easy yeah so it's the king's game but of course   as i said before you guys in the olden days the  romantic period of chess a lot of players played   these games whether it was the kings gambit  whether it was the the the juco the juco piano   whether it was the danish gambit um all sorts  of all sorts of um all sorts of good openings i   see someone in my chat said twitch.tv slash lydle  out of bert bagreash and felix keizer rizki right   exactly you guys totally um yeah so uh so so yeah  so so i think it wasn't the evergreen also the   king scan but it was right so yeah four bishop you  there lovey yeah i'm here okay bishop c4 queen h4   king f1 um this by the way used to be the original  setup you'd bring the bishop out first and then   you would sacrifice the king king position  so you could bring the knight out right away   um b5 is such a funny move right so i i mean  i think this is one thing now you guys um   i'll just give an honest opinion and this is  one of the things that i think has made chess   change from the game that it used to be and why  it is perceived differently now than it used to   be so as you guys know in like the 1600s and 1700s  and even probably mid-1800s up until the 1900s um   chess was considered a noble game it's  considered a game that geniuses play   it's a game that really smart people play they  devise strategies and they come up with some   great ideas and um and so when we look at this  game the quality of the play is not great okay   but the players at this point the game is still  so fresh there's so many original ideas that were   not known um that they they had to figure it out  over the board and so because of this um chess had   this special level of prestige like if you played  chess you could teach nobles you could like kings   would idolize you and think you're like a great  genius um of course this doesn't apply now um   but because of the way you the way that  pull approach you had at chess it was it   was just a much different game and that's why  i think there's this perception that even now   that in order to play chat shoot to be extremely  smart um but it's changed a lot over the years   yep they used to sacrifice pieces like crazy just  to get development uh so yeah all right let's go   let's go through the yeah this should be five  night f six knight f3 queen h6 all pretty standard   d3 knight h5 again going for the cheese with  knight g3 uh let's say white plays a random move   like pawn to a3 knight g3 pawn takes knight  queen takes h1 hits the king and the queen   and um and black would be winning uh kizzaretsky  saw this and he played knight h4 now i suspect   knight h4 is not the best i wonder is it the best  move i'm gonna check very quickly can i oh how do   i add analysis whatever i don't need to anyway i  don't know if knight h4 is the best one i suspect   or no maybe it is because king ju1 actually  loses a queen b6 that's actually kind of funny   maybe maybe knight h4 is the best move um   queen g5 knight f5 c6 now he plays g4 here  fantastic move by the way black cannot play   and peasant or own poisson as they would have said  back in those days um with ftx g3 because then you   would lose the queen on g5 um he goes knight  f6 rook to g1 another fantastic move here um   by anderson now this is one of the things that has  changed a lot over time with the game of chess is   that um you see like nowadays players understand  material balances and uh giving up material in a   different way than they used to so back in the old  days everyone was super aggro it's just like you   play for development you play for attack you don't  care what you give up you play for attack always   about attack um so pawn takes bishop h4 queen  g6 h5 25 queen f3 again straightforward attack   attack attack development now of course by modern  day standards we know this is very bad but it's   still it's still um interesting to see it when  you when you go back in time you see how players   approach the game um in the olden times tonight  g8 go ahead levy yeah those guys uh pieces are   terribly positioned right and another thing i  would say also is back then this notion of quick   development for giving up pieces it was something  that people did almost universally um and what   we've come to understand now is that peace  development does matter for both sides so like   for example in this game you think okay well back  in the 1800s they thought math was important so   the guy thought okay i'm up by like i have  an extra knight or an extra bishop so i must   be winning but again at the end of the day the  the noble king is the only thing that matters   and if your king gets checkmated that's the end  of the game so it's interesting to note how the   game has evolved because these miniatures that  we saw back then would never happen nowadays   it just wouldn't happen because our general  understanding is too strong um so let's keep   going bishop c5 knight d5 this is just is it  or it's probably already lost right well i mean   here's a question levy if you had this position  as white do you think you would adopt me or not   adopt you if we played 10 games from the position  you'd white do you think you would win all 10 uh the uh yes yes i would let's do it okay okay  no i'm kind of curious because i kind of i kind   of i kind of was wondering um i mean i think you  probably would actually uh but the point the point   behind me saying that is not so much that we're  gonna test it out we could test it out obviously   um that's an interesting thought um i'm not  gonna do it right now but but i do like the   idea i think we should do it just not right  now just play play from romantic old games   where we try to ten zero each other from  a position you know what's funny like at   when i first put this on the on the engine it's  saying it's barely plus one really wow okay but   yeah well i mean probably a deeper  engine will just refute it well but   yeah now you're making me wonder if you  actually would have taught me from this position   i was suggesting like g5 from black and  all this crazy stuff so i don't know   right right yeah so so anyway yeah we won't  do it right now oh tesla versus stockfish   now that's an interesting concept too yeah  that i feel a little bit less sure about   but but anyway the point is you guys that like  even if levy or i get these positions like   we now understand it's completely winning like  we get it but back then 175 years ago or whatever   it was um the game was much different it was much  newer much fresher players were much more creative   um okay so knight c3 bishop c5 knight to d5 very  good move by um by uh anderson going for the queen   but also going for the fork at the king of the  rook uh bishop to d6 another great move by the   way just like pure class bishop d6 um maybe one  of one of the greatest moves that i think you   will ever see here yeah uh and the point being  that obviously you can take the rook you can   actually take both rooks so something like this  this is the game by the way yeah yeah yeah no   he took the other work first but yeah yeah yeah i  was just like it's it's a crazy idea but but look   at the do you see the written comment yeah so it  says it is from this move that blacks defeat stems   wilhelm steinitz suggested in 1879 that her better  move would be 18 queen takes a a1 likely moves a   follower or 19 king to e2 queen to b2 king to d2  bishop takes g1 um so i don't have the engine open   levy but you can tell me is wilhelm steinitz  correct or is he incorrect uh he is correct   uh wait his move order is queen king queen to b2  well no he's in he's actually uh incorrect because   because the engine is trying to tell me rook  c1 is possible uh-huh and if queen c1 you know   yeah yeah so uh it's also saying king d  i mean it's it's computer is ridiculous   when you infuse you know what i find funny  the written comment says suggested in 1879   this game was played in 1851 that's true yes so  yeah so it took them 28 years to analyze the game   that is so funny like oh man what were  they doing 28 years is a long time yes um that is true that is true i and still wrong  and 28 years ago right right computers just like   yeah go yeah they couldn't understand that his  handwriting right that's also a good one too   but anyway yeah so that would have maybe been  a better try probably it's still bad but anyway   um uh kizaritsky played bishop takes rook  um anderson played e5 another fantastic move   queen takes her king here and  now when you look at the position   um black is what black has two extra rooks and  an extra bishop black is essentially plus 13   um as xqc would say and um black is ahead  by 13 points two brooks and an extra bishop   but the monarch is getting checkmated so it  doesn't matter that you have a mathematical   advantage because your king is getting chuck  made it and you're going to lose the game   um yep so here keys risky plays 986 an attempt to  stop one checkmate the reason he played it because   let's just say you push a pawn after knight takes  upon king d8 bishop c7 would be checkmate the   knight covers e8 and the other knight guards both  the bishop and and um and covers the e7 square   so um so here he plays knight a6 to stop the  idea of this checkmate with bishop after white   captures but there's the brilliant move knight  takes pawn king to d8 and now queen to f6 check   sacrificing the queen and after knight takes  bishop to e7 which is a beautiful beautiful   checkmate here um you only have two knights and  a bishop on the board black has two extra rooks   an extra bishop and an extra queen black is up  by the equivalent of um of 22 points but the two   knights and the bishop lead to a forced checkmate  one of the most beautiful games that you will ever   see um if you do play shots yeah and even if you  don't you just just it's just iconic you know you   can come you can overcome all odds although black  did play the game without moving three pieces   true yeah ultimately it does result in a  mate as far as the uh the ranking in terms of   amongst the greats i feel as though this guy  was like uh obviously like a generational talent   but he he never he was never able to overcome  paul morphy he might have beaten paul morphy   like in a game or two but i don't think he  was ever able to overcome him in a match   uh and the same can be said for steinitz  right i think the same uh well it's fine   it's on this list he is okay but we'll get to  him later yeah so i mean where would you put him uh probably in great plus unlucky i mean if you're  like a number three guy and you just have number   one and two you beat everybody besides them  right that kind of sucks but you were the third   best player in the world yeah i kinda i kind of  agree i think he was great but probably unlucky   in the time period that he was in as well i  mean i i kind of agree with that so i think   yeah probably great plus uh great plus unlucky  why does it say grady plus unlucky by the way   uh let me let me oh oh yeah yeah yeah yeah i just  changed that yeah at that why is it grady yeah grady i'm sorry guys i'm getting i'm getting  the giggles again apologies um grady grady   tom grady right exactly yeah okay um so yeah  i would say great plus unlucky next up we have   da weed i assume you know who that is yep this  one i do know good so very famous player uh the   next player we have up is david bronstein  really a very very again iconic player um   he he was i think he played the world championship  match against mikhail bought vinnick um david of   course is is the other way to pronounce it um he  played a match against i believe it was again spot   vinik right was it against bob vinick for the  world championship oh that i'm not 100 on oh   maybe pull it up yeah yeah i think i think it  was against bob finnick that he played yeah um   so yeah he played the world championship match  in 1951 against bob vinnick um i would say that   match ended in a tie by the way it was 12 to  12 in that match um and i believe that that um   that bobbinic won the final game there are a  lot of question marks surrounding that match   and whether braunstein was forced to throw the  last game of that match um you know i know there   were accusations of the kgb and um there were  threats they would they would basically like   i mean do terrible things to him and his family  if he if he if he did not lose the final game of   the match and lose the map lose lose lose it  so um there still are questions i think even   to this day whether that's true or not true  but a great player he also is behind one of   the greatest chess books of all time the book on  the 1950 desert 1953 zurich candidates tournament   um also a great theoretician as well one one  of my favorite variations i'm going to switch   back to the chats briefly just for people  people who are watching on the big board um   is the original concepts behind this idea in  the king's indian and the bayonet attack this g6   um e4 d6 knight of three castles bishop two e5  castles knight c6 1965-97b 498 um this variation   one of the original guys who came up this was  with i believe was bronze if i'm not mistaken   um who thought this was was a playable uh playable  line and this line of course will always um   i will always think very fondly of because this  variation has led probably to the game that i   consider the greatest game that i've ever played  which was against um boris gelfon in uh in the   world team championship in 2010 so i will say  that i have a very very fond memories of this   97 98 line because probably the best game i've  ever played likely the best game i ever will play   was in this variation so um i don't like  any of the games from the adoption match   no i said greatest games that i've ever played  i know i know some some of those some of those   games from our match were like they were they  were they were gorgeous i mean you beat me in   12 seconds once that was true true true um  yeah that game is what is widely regarded as   your best game right like any time it's featured  the game against galfond is probably considered   to be my best game yes i would agree with that  um so i mean he was he was a great shots player   um i think he also was invert involved a little  bit with the early early chess computers as well   the advent of that in like the 70s and maybe when  did he die did he die in the 80s yeah i think so   no no i'm wrong he died in 2006 i'm wrong he  died much later yeah no no i knew he i knew he   lived into like the 90s until the 1990s at least  um so yeah he he was around for quite a long time   um yeah yeah because i i actually uh speaking of  streamers i think another streamer by the guy by   the name of mark esserman um actually met i think  he met braun stein at some tournament many years   back um so yeah braun steinstein was around  um for for quite quite a while um okay so uh   no my game was 2010 you guys the game that i  played anyway where would you rank him lobby   first i was going to add something did you know  that david bronson so first of all he he also has   the kara khan variation the g takes f6 variation  i can show that um i like that variation a lot   so it's it's in the classical after d4 d5 and  then where instead of this you take with the g   pawn openg file pretty pretty interesting idea  and the second thing that i was gonna say is   uh he introduced the concept of speeding up  professional chess so he actually was the   first person to talk about an increment that's why  it's called the branched in right that's true the   increment yes where you gain time on every move  this is also worth noting as well yeah agreed   i forgot about that yeah so um the the ranks he's  probably a legend you know it's like really weird   because he never became a world champion but  his impact on the game is lasting forever so   yeah i mean i think certainly it's considered  to be i think he's one of the two players um   he's one of the two players i think uh who  is probably goes up there in the ranking   for greatest player never become world champion i  think probably two players who who hold that title   um i think the other player is on here right  he is yes the two two greatest players i think   universally who who have not become world champion  are considered uh dawid braunstein sorry you guys   apologies i just caught the joke there  um and uh and paul karas yeah yeah yeah   cara's gets talked about a lot okay so so yes i  would say those are probably two two best players two best players of all time who probably did not  become world champion um and i would say just well   evan chuck is on this list so we'll get to him  later but just as a briefing i would say about   chooky he was a great player but he did not he's  never played a world championship match he's never   had that consistency um braun stein definitely  braunschweig played a match um and he also uh   he he played a match and cara's i think was a  little bit unlucky but both of them were probably   considered the first or second second best players  in the world at various times throughout their   careers court shoy also is up there too courtship  i forgot about he's another one who's up there   as well um i forgot about him so all right  let's keep going next up we have jose raoul   blanca um yeah uh man this guy like was a  transcendent generational talent all although he   did it at a time when not not like a huge amount  of people around the world were playing the game   who knows what it would have been like if he came  around you know in the mid mid 20th century but   yeah raul is uh how long was he world champ his  name was jose but anyway yes um yes i know but uh   i don't think the world champion that long right  because he he he got the title um and then who   did he beat he beat uh did he beat lasker he beat  last we lost to aliakin right if i'm not mistaken   he i do believe so or did he was it  was it yeah i think he beat laska right   yeah he he beat laska and then then he got smoked  by by aliakin um so yeah like i mean i i know   where i would rank him i mean his his impact on  the game i think cannot be understood even now   everybody who has played chess um everyone who's  played chess and studied the game knows who he is   um just a fantastic player his style was  very free-flowing very simple um and very   easy to understand in terms of end games now  whether that's because he was really great or   his opponents were not good at defending and  so forth remains to be seen um but i think   uh i think cappa blanca is one of the greatest  players to to ever have played the game of chass   so for me i think he's um i mean it's very hard  is he a god or is he undisputed number one i   guess that's a big question i mean i have to look  at the list um he's definitely above great and   lucky that's for sure um yeah i think yeah base  i think actually you know there was some study   of uh an old study on chess of um there was some  old study i think of who was the most accurate   chess player this was before i think they ranked  like kasparov and carlson i think crafty now this   is an old chess engine but there was a period  i think that um there was a period that i think   crafty said that capablanca was the most um most  precise chess player um let me see if i can find   it just to make sure that i'm not wrong on that  um but yeah i think that yeah there's something in   there's something on wiki it looks like um what do  they say they say something losing the title okay   yeah playing strength so yeah what they say is  um statistical ranking systems place kappa block   high amongst the greatest players of all time  um they rate and in some books they rank him   as the fifth greatest player after kasparov  karpov fischer and bob binnick in terms of   in terms of how well he played um they also say  uh they say um capital monk had more years in   the top three than anyone else in the world  except for last year karpov and kasparov so   you know i mean yes obviously there there's  there's carlson who's not in this this um   part of the discussion um for all this stuff but i  think the fact that you could compare cappa blanca   to someone like kasparov or karpov speaks volumes  about how how strong of a chess player he was   so i think he's probably a god of trust i  i want yeah i'm sure i'm trying to think   like i don't know how many gods i'm  gonna put on this list and in general   i mean i know who the gods are on my  tier already i can i know who they are   okay i'm gonna i'm gonna put him  at the top of undisputed number one   okay congrats you just angered the  entire you entire you angered the in   the entire city of miami and you also just angered  the entire country of cuba so make sure you don't   let me know those places i'm not afraid the only  cuban in the world i am afraid of is yoel romero   that man that's a scary man if he's gonna say  he's gonna see me soon it is what it is but um   no i'm we're good we're good yeah all right  so next up we have of course magnus um so i'll   let you take this one i don't i don't think  there's you probably know like the history of   of of the career at least and and his uh  is kind of bursting on the scene and his   trajectory i'm just gonna say that i feel  like if somebody's in the conversation   uh for being the greatest of all time then you  just put them in god of chess and that's the end   of the conversation right like yeah i i i tend  to agree i mean we can have a discussion over   whether he's the best player of all time i mean  that discussion i don't think will be settled for   another like five to ten years but i agree that  i think he has to go in that top tier 100 percent   as far as so when people when when when i talk  about we'll talk about because you're you're   you're you're in a few and we'll talk about the  impact of uh leaving a legacy growing the game   when i think of like top ambassadors in the world  of the game it's obviously uh you know you magnus   i'm always looking for a third and i feel like  it's fitting that anon this i don't know who the   third is i actually don't like i i leave this  up to people like who is the is it kasparov   is it i mean i think a nonsense i mean if you look  at it as a pure from a pure statistical standpoint   anand has done more than anybody else by far based  on the fact that you look at the number of junior   players who are who are really strong coming out  of india these days they would not be playing the   game if not for him so that that's why i think  anon has to be at the top because like yes magnus   has inspired many people in norway to play i would  like to think that i've inspired a lot of people   to play but it's not it's really not comparable  to um it's not comparable in the same way i mean like i'm just saying like you  see pragmata you see nihal sir and you   see these kids who are like 2600 grand  masters really really strong players   and um i don't think you can say that magnus  has had that effect or i've had that effect well who's next next max ova yeah i  know very little yeah about max oyba   okay so max oyva of course i believe  he was a mathematician by trade   um he he was sort of i think what you would call  he was probably the only uh world champion who   i think most people would say was uh was quote  unquote an amateur uh he he i believe would did   not consider himself to be a professional chess  player um so uh his his legacy is is of course   is quite vast because besides being a math  teacher besides being um besides being   the world champion he was also the president  of the fire the federation international   for i believe i think it was it was only one  term i think it was like three or four years   um but he was also the president of feed  and he pushed the game forward so um   so he did a lot of different things  um where where do you think he belongs like i said i i i'm not that knowledgeable on on  max oyva uh i knew that he was a world champion   i knew that he played against uh alyokin but uh  you know i'm i don't know i mean i'm on my list great and lucky who's good i feel like great and  lucky is a little bit of an insult so it's like   who do we put in great and lucky yeah i mean i  think he was certainly he was a great chess player   but i think he was lucky in terms of the time  period that he played and i don't i don't know if   he would have been world champion um necessarily  if he hadn't been right at that time period so i think you'll follow your lead on this  frankie yeah i don't know sure um what did   you say yeah you know he totally goes in great  plus lucky okay okay so next up we have your good   friend fabiano caruana you grew up together  with him so i'll let you uh talk about him   that's not serious right oh i thought you  guys played in brooklyn together or something   no never spoken to fabi in my life chiu  constantly messages him on stream but like i don't when she and i were doing commentary she was like  let me message fabi good luck oh he said thanks i   was like what why is this what's he doing like  okay so no i don't i thought you knew him i i   actually did i'm so i'm sorry no no no uh people  say i look like fabi and we both went to susan   polgar's chess club back when it was in forest  hills queens but not at the same time i don't   think because by the time i was playing chess  i think he was already like 2100. yeah so um   yeah uh oh am i thinking of robert hess   did you grow up with robert oh yeah i grew up  with robert uh robert and i are good friends   right where would you where would you rank me  on the um greatest chess players list yeah so sorry oh never mind um yeah so i would i would  rank him i mean fabio obviously very very   strong shots where he's studied for many many  years he's worked with many different trainers   um i don't think you can put someone um as as  a legend necessarily i mean it's kind of hard   when i look at the comparison of him based on  the fact he's been he's been number two in the   world for a short period of time but he also did  for a period he got i think to the second highest   ranking of all time right or is it third highest  he was higher than kasparov it wasn't right   no because far was 28 53 or 55 okay but that being  said fabiano does have what i think certainly goes   down as the greatest performance of all time in  modern day chess um that would be the st louis   tournament in 20 uh 2014 or 15 i remember which  year it was um where he started off that event   7-0 i believe it was before drawing his last  couple of games um so yeah i would say fabiano   i mean i i hesitate like i don't really want to  put him in great plus lucky because i don't feel   like luck is necessarily true in a sense um but  i don't really know if he goes in legend based   on the shortness of his career so far so it's  like it's kind of hard i want to put him in great   plus lucky but then great plus lucky implies that  like he's somehow luck has played a role when luck   doesn't i mean maybe you could even say he's great  plus unlucky because if he put him in this period   without magnus i think he would probably have  become the world champion so i don't know yup uh i   yeah i mean should we put is he like for now  is he somewhere in the undisputed number one   because he's kind of like the fabiano's not number  one what but what i'm saying is he's like the   number one contender to the world championship  as of now so i mean again lovey be careful i   feel like you might insult another country with  a few billion people um and they might get really   mad look up your address you know and then  they might the hackers might come in and uh   are we talking about dingley wren yeah of course  but isn't he getting smoked in the candidates   maybe maybe not so clear anyway um all right uh  let's let's back off the politics um yeah so i   think fabiano where do you think he goes like i  think he just goes in legend probably because like   i don't really see him tailing off he's kept he's  kept his rating pretty high um so i think probably   goes in legends i'm gonna go i'm gonna use the  assumption that he'll probably he's not gonna fall   off a cliff unlike for example sergey karjakin  who after he played the match sword just fell off   the cliff and um doesn't really i mean he doesn't  really play that much anymore even no he doesn't   he's like involved in other things uh yeah i don't  know i don't know a whole lot about reuben fine   i'm gonna also grab food because i haven't eaten  yet i haven't eaten either yeah but it's 8 a.m   where you are and it's 12 years so yeah but i also  went to bed much i haven't eaten in like 14 hours   that's not a a good thing to do probably okay  all right all right what do we do with ruben fine   right so reuben fine of course very very prominent  chess player as you know he was uh he also falls   into the cat this is another reason chess players  were used to be considered really smart you'd be   really smart to be be good at chess is because  reuben find another player who is not what i would   call a professional chess player he of course was  a professional psychologist he was i believe a   professor at some point as well so he just played  chess on the side and happened to be a gm um   so so yeah uh he had a couple of great results he  kind of reminds me of myself a little bit if i can   be honest although i i have the ranking so it's  a little bit different but he had a really good   performance he tied for first place um in the 1938  tournament in avro i believe that was with jose   raoul or was that with ali atkins maybe this was  aliakin anyway he um he tied for first place in   avro um he let me let me pull up this other tab  he he won the he won the us open which i guess   means something um not to be confused with the us  championship uh he also had uh four gold medals   it looks like he had four gold medals in the  three three chess olympiads that he played in so   he had a pretty prodigious career um like i don't  know i mean he he where what do you think lovey   that's like the the one question i was hoping i  didn't have to field uh like i said i don't know i don't know i i i'm starting  to look at who in this list   belongs in theorists and i feel like if you  look at the rest of the people on this list   yeah you know actually there's someone  else on this who should be here in his   place he shouldn't be on this list there  should be somebody else inside of him   there should be another american instead of ruben  fine actually the the player who should be on this   list instead of him is samuel rashford oh yeah  reshefsky because basically the thing is reuben   fine was very good but he never won a united  states chess championship because he was always   behind um samuel rushovsky so um that is that is  kind of a mistake with this but that's life so   he never won a u.s championship he had one really  great result in avro i don't know for me i think   he goes in theorist very good player but i don't  think i don't think he cuts it we have our first   theories now we should say like this is not the  same thing as be as being kfc on the fast food   list right right this is this is you're  great you just don't happen to be as you know   yeah um okay and next up now we of course have  another player uh what do you think of bobby   oh man i gotta go first on this one uh okay no  he just goes here not nothing else needs to be   said um you you said god of chess yes nothing  nothing more needs to be said um obviously one   of the greatest shots players of all time he at  his peak he was more than 100 elo points ahead of   the second ranked player um the the match fisher  against spassky played in reykjavik iceland in   1972 probably the greatest chess match of all time  certainly the one that had the most importance   um both for the game and and just like uh just i  mean politically even it was such such a big match   there it can't be you really can't understate um  how important it was of course what happened after   is a little bit unfortunate but i think  he's a god of chats there's there's nothing   there there's nothing comparable and i  think even now you look at you look at chess   um if people think of chess the one name that  people will always know um in america is bobby   fischer his name is synonymous with chass and if  you know about bobby fischer then there's a very   high chance you know about the other legend of  the game a god mature antonio radich from croatia   because if you type in bobby fischer on youtube  it's only a godmotor videos the entire page   is all the godmother yeah uh but yes it's in  terms of his chess it speaks for itself he's   in the conversation for the the three well yeah  i mean i would also say for people who are some   people are saying some that like ranking  of magnus isn't isn't correct or something   what i would say is that like the impact matters a  lot like for example i don't consider vichy to be   be above magnets overall in terms of quality play  magnus is definitely a better player than an odd   but i'm taking into account other factors as  well which is like what have they done for the   game itself and i i don't think you like bobby  a lot of the american grandmasters who i grew up   competing against their inspiration was fisher  the us champions like um like larry christensen   joel benjamin nick defermien the these guys that i  competed against when i was younger yasser as well   um these guys drew their inspiration they got  their start and they were into chess because of   because of bobby and in in um and in india it's  the same thing all these guys are into um are   into uh into chess because of a knot so that's why  i'm ranking them so highly because it's everything that is fair yeah actually you know but magnus  does belong above kappa that that is for sure   magnus is not a kappa um all right so okay next  up we have harry what are your thoughts on harry   uh you know who is right yeah i think i know who  it is wait yeah okay it's harry poseberry that's   who i thought it was okay yeah pillsbury of course  uh don't know much about mr harry pillsbury uh was   he he was he was an american legend of the game  but what uh he won the u.s championship is that   dude he won hastings in 1895 which uh was i think  considered one of the strongest tournaments of all   time i think all the top ten players in the world  competed um and he won that tournament and um i   think he was very close to playing a world  championship match but he lost this game to   alaska i don't know what the year was but he lost  the game to last grand i think he was 1901 um it   was a beautiful beautiful game in the queen's  game declined um we don't need to show it but   uh but he lost that game and unfortunately after  that game he lost sort of he lost i think his   like motivation as well um he eventually  ended up uh do we talk about what happened   or not i don't even know what happened to him  well this is twitch so we can be scandalous right   sure let me just drop my shirt a little bit okay  cool what what what have what happened to it   should i say a chat or not do you want me to say  it should i say it or not i just want to see um   yes okay so anyway what happens unfortunately  uh as i'm not 100 sure on this but basically   he contracted the disease of syphilis when he  played a chess tournament in russia unfortunately   they couldn't they couldn't treat it um at  the time as well and he got neurosyphilis   and he died way too early um so so so yes that's  it's very hard to believe considering he was a   chess professional but uh you know i'm not  sure um yeah so yeah he uh yeah yeah anyway so all right um okay where does he  go where does he go it would not be   the first story of a high-profile individual  having such a story in russia i'm just saying okay levy okay i won't name names but we we all  you know we all know who we talking about so okay so um where does he go i feel like i  feel like i should delegate this to you i i   i don't know great and unlucky is he a legend i  don't think he was a legend i mean you look at   fabiano braunstein i don't think his legacy was  as yeah i don't know probably great and unlucky   yeah i kind of agree i mean he was so close to  playing for the world championship and they got   a little bit unlucky at the at sort of like he  lost his game you know the game i'm talking about   right bishop a3 check by lasker the one where  it's the queen's game decline it's like you take   on b2 they take and then you go bishop a3 king  a3 queen c3 and the king gets stuck on the edge   queen's game probably yes but not i don't know  right right you don't have yeah but if you saw you   would definitely recognize it um i had to study  these games as a kid yeah i think he was great but   he definitely well i mean he was lucky for sure  okay or bad maybe not maybe he was more lucky than   some of these guys oh my god okay well okay let's  uh yeah let's let's keep going um all right okay you

Channel: GMHikaru

Views: 1,150,063

Rating: 4.8946743 out of 5

Keywords: Hikaru Nakamura, master chess, chess instruction, magnus carlsen, chess commentary for beginners, hikaru chess commentary, pogchamps chess commentary, chess tournament, Xqc chess 6 moves, twitch streamers, chess game play, chess tricks, master chess moves, TSM, tier list, gmhikaru tier list, nakamura tier list, Hikaru ranks Anand Carlsen Kasparov Karpov, Hikaru ranks grandmasters

Id: 95057f-T0VE

Length: 53min 23sec (3203 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 15 2020

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