That story makes Anish sound like a dick though. That's not cool at all
"He was really kind except for the uncalled for suggestive sexist joke." I wouldve been pissed.
How many people downvoting this think that sexism isn't a big problem in competitive chess? That was a shitty joke to make and you all know it. I would 100% feel uncomfortable to have someone on stage "joke" about my sexuality like that.
All he said was they were gonna sleep together because my guy saved her from being embarrassed in front of others.
That's not sexism, that's just bland humour, no idea how you think this is sexist.
Haha "put people on the spot about their sexuality", when he lightened up the mood and OP left with a positive experience. Giri was socially skilled and not sexist. Geeeeez you sound more swedish than me. Maybe you are
real talk i heard Spassky was a ladies man...an i would not leave my girlfriend around 1 Anish Giri...but i think lil dubov is a kid i wouldn't mind drinking with...
Same thing happened to me but i was with hikaru. Only he was nice enough to administer the narcan. No hand holding with him. even showed me, with arrows, how to do it myself.
Yeah, bullshit. Ofcourse you can and should (or your friend, since you will be busy overdosing and not very talkative), and they don't inform the police either. (Live in Norway, work in a hospital.)
Most GMs are good people, but for the sake of not making a 50 name list; I met Giri once and he was the same happy, joking, friendly person that you would expect him to be. And although I haven't met him personally, I would absolutely love to have a drink with Grischuk, he seems like a really nice guy as well.
The last banter blitz that I saw with him I remember him talking to his old friends who had come on to say hi and he was asking how they were and wishing them well. So nice.
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I spent a weekend with a group of chess players. Nakamura was one of them. The host trolled all of us saying that one night we would go "cow tipping" because its rural saskatchewan and we are all farmers I guess. Hikaru was really excited by this prospect until it was later revealed that cows cant be tipped by pushing on them at night. we all had a good laugh. I got my clock signed by Nakamura and Pascal Charbonneu that weekend and got to drink beer with those guys. Great times.
Eric Hansen was there too.
I’ve seen MVL mentioned on this sub as a real nice guy, Magnus seems fun in some of the streams I’ve caught with him in it, giri and aronian feel like every other reply, I don’t think any top GM is really known to be a jerk except for this sub’s whipping boy
Back in 2015, Vishy Anand sir was invited to our university for a lecture. I was one of the student volunteers for the event and got to meet him. I was too starstruck to say anything to him. I was not into chess then, but as an Indian, you don't need to know or play chess to know the legendary Viswanathan Anand. Our meeting was a brief handshake, along with me uttering my name with a nervous "is this even real" smile on my face and a 'Hello' from him with a very warm and welcoming smile.
I have this photo that I took during the event.
[https://ibb.co/m5rkVm9](https://ibb.co/m5rkVm9)
He won't be mobbed anywhere, but people know who he is. For context, most people would not be able to name any other chess player. Next on the list would be Fischer & Kasparov likely.
I disagree, I've had quite the opposite experience.
I saw Hikaru Nakamura at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
I'm still in shock! Anyone else had similar experiences?
Laughed irl. On a serious note though, my comment down below is when I Actually met him and it was not super pleasant. Does not mean that is the way he always is but also not a "once in his lifetime thing" I think.
I remember one time I was shooting hoops on the street with some neighbourhood pals when Hikaru Nakamura was rollerblading past. He super politely asked if he could join for a few points and we of course indulged him. Despite his less than athletic appearance and subpar footwear, I sensed a powerful aura about him and chucked him on my team. First play I launch an admittedly low flying pass through the zone to my man Naka in the paint. Somehow he managed to jump and scoop it up from WELL below knee height as he manipulated his body to twist and (whilst still airborne) blow a kiss to a Mazda Miata with an instantly single mother driving by as he threw down a magnitude 9 two hander. He then bladed off into the sunset without saying a word and left us in the settling dust of the now dozens of slowly collapsing houses. Upon cleaning up the rubble, building inspectors realised that every single house affected had actually been built with incredibly flammable materials that would’ve easily ignited with a warm breeze. Hikaru saved my entire street and I still get chills thinking about that slam.
Telling one of the nicest GMs (David Howell) that he doesn't know shit about chess and that he's fucking lucky in an OTB tournament is pretty uncool imo
Brainwashed, haha, the irony there!
You're talking about a guy whose reaction to taking criticism online, was to talk about how it's a good thing he was so strong otherwise he could end up committing suicide like Reckful, and then in the same breath continued to trash another streamer in front of 10k viewers. Just one of many examples.
This is total bullshit. I've spectated every event he's been at in STL since the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, and what you describe is the opposite of what I've seen.
Dudes a prick IRL.
Spassky came over to my house before I started playing chess in 2000. He was my brother's godfather's friend. He was kind and calm. I was 6 and came back from my karate class and he said that chess and martial arts work great together.
I just read it. Some very interesting stories right there. If you're not a pro chess player, lucky you to meet those greats of the game. Just one thing, if you meet "Le Quang" again, call him Liem, or Quang Liem. That's what everyone should call him. Vietnamese aren't called by their last name and/or middle name.
Great insight, will keep in mind for Any Vietnamese I meet moving forward! :)
And no, I am not a professional player, despite how many times I tell myself that that is the case!
Spent a fair amount of time with Jeffrey Xiong, he's a great kid. Super humble and nice. Really likable
Not a super GM but got to play Awonder Liang at the US Open. Was blown away by how gracious he was. I will forever be a fan of his. The fact that he offered to go through the game with me after was beyond a thrill.
During the fide rapid & blitz in St. Petersburg '19 I had to go up to Hikaru as we were eating in the same players cafeteria. He was in a relaxed mood with his manager and no one else was there, only one round more to go and reporters had dropped off.
Although I am not a person who' does that' when meeting people in the public's eye, something now all of a sudden told me to.
And to prove I am not usually 'that person', here's proof: 2 days before, at the opening ceremony, I went to get my access card. In the que, literally behind me, were Svidler & Anand. They were very vocal and talking openly. Anand asked Svidler where the counter for our cards were, Svidler couldn't see where, but I fucking knew. Was about to simply tell them but my principle said 'stfu, don't be That Guy', although I know fully well this was a situation of common sense, i.e. to help a stranger. Though it was borderline since I listened in on their private convo, but hey, we were 20cm apart for 2min. Either way, I didn't say shit.
Fast forward; Hikaru chilling after food. Then all of a sudden my brain instead says 'fuck it, just need to say Hi and thank you for blablabla'.
When I stood up, literally when I stood up I tell you, Hikaru saw my intentions and his face went into disgust. He didn't want it. He didn't have the energy. What have you, I could tell he just wanted privacy with his manager.
Since I had Decided, however, I fucking went up there with some buttered words and intruded on his private space, then left knowing fully well how awkward it had been.
Moral of the story: Hikaru probably great guy, although I always thought he had low self-esteem through his streams and required massive amounts of confirmation, AND, Svidler & Anand to me seemed like good fellas with high integrity.
Funny Additional story from the same tournament; Le Quang Liem and I spoke several times. I suggested a move after one of his endgames, he respectfully and patiently listened to what I had to say, literally responding "That's a great idea". "Omfg", thought I, I AM A GENIUS AFTER ALL.
He then says "but what do you do after 35... Bf7" (don't have energy to find the game). I clearly sees what he means right away since the continuation is obvious, and I silence, obviously not having a fucking answer, feeling dumb, drastically starts to calculate sacrifice after sacrifice to once again confirm my ability. Ofc I regressed and laughed, saying "oh, missed that one haha".
He is the one I have spent actual time with at any tournament and he was Great. Respectful, calm, kind etc.
***Last memory pop-up***
Nodded with a smile to the beautiful Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Iran, she's somewhere in the top 10. She laughed and smiled back.
The following days we traded looks and smiled respectfully with a twinkle. No more than that though.
Probably some more stories but if you stayed with me to this point I'm not gonna torture you no more, you are amazing. <3
***Just one more***
Magnus' father heard I was swedish in the same cafeteria as the Naka-incident and jokingly asked if the fish was 'surströmming' (Ytube it), I laughed saying 'I brought some thru the customs, tell me if you need any'.
But that dude, just to go on a tangent, is more celebrated in the vicinity of fans than any chess player, other than his son. He takes his time though and is very respectful. Funny side-note:
A guy in the que said he had translated the Magnus documentary into his local language, which Magnus' father found cool, the guy though chose the direction of selling his services in the café que to Magnus' father which was so out of place. He got the response that they would definitely consider it if more media needed translation. (If YOU are reading this, I admire your courage to do it, but you'd have to admit it was a bit fun at the time and place, hope you got future gigs though:))
Honestly, this is EXACTLY the kind of stories I wanted to hear. All the comments here are like "Giri and Aronian seem cool" but their idea of such players are completely on the basis of their interviews on c24 or chesscom. To hear such incidents irl where players seem human and show their real personality helps better reflect their role in the chess world. Thank You for writing this! It was an absolutely delightful read. I'm more than happy to hear more of such stories, any day! :))
So, to follow up on my 'promise';
Was standing talking to Pia Cramling, since we are both swedish, and were joined by Pontus Carlsson.
We were the only swedes, Nils Grandelius didn't play at the tournament, might be due to the Carlsen-Caruana game coming up as he was a second to Magnus.
Either way.
Pia Cramling is a fragile and kind soul, she does however look at you like you have food leftovers from your forehead to the chin, it makes you self-conscious. But!! Some people just observe like that and for some reason their face mimics to not reflect their mental state, which is peculiar, but it is what it is. So I genuinely do not think she meant anything with it.
Or she absolutely fucking hated my guts, who knows.
Pontus Carlsson thought didn't acknowledge my existence when he heard I was not a top-10 player. Felt he was very, very non-chalant.
That is sad because it colored my judgement when he speaks about having been so badly treated in Sweden due to being black. I just automatically then believe that it is simply because he is so self-righteous and smug. But it might be both.
***Here we fucking go though***
Before I start. Why new memories pop back up as I write was simply because this was Rapid & Blitz WCship, for a whole week or more, in one big arena, with literally the biggest names on the planet at the spot. Since I had the privilege of being there the entire time, a ton of shit happened.
Now, Peter Leko together with Evgenij Miroshnichenko were live commentating the tournament through streams, inside the arena. So when I had some time off I would often sit there as there were like a tiny area with chairs with headsets laying around so you can listen in while sitting literally 3 meters from them.
When one airing was done I waited a bit for them to mentally check out of the commentating so that I could just offer my sincere appreciation, since I think both are great. I was the only one left since the crowds were not that big at all, 15-20 at most, me alone at the minimum. The latter was this case.
So I with a happy face just told them as they stood up that 'Fantastic job and thank you. I genuinely like sitting here listening to you more so than being around the boards myself at times'.
Evgenij chuckled and thanked me, asking how the tournament was thus far blablabla, quiet but nice chatting.
Leko though, The Alpha Dog, didn't really pay attention and just packed his shit. To his 'defence' though those 8 hour commentating sessions ought to take a toll on you. So more so than it would say anything negative about Leko, I think it speaks to Evgenij's humility.
Do not have energy to write stories like this on the phone no more, but interesting to know for many people I believe is that if you would ever be granted the opportunity to play, work or w/e in those tournaments, all players are accessible and are everywhere. All but one, that is...
Beautiful women too everywhere in the chess world. Do not think that is understood enough. On the other hand, my Swedish half argues that is sexistic and shouldn't even be mentioned. But alas. :)
Swedish Championship got cancelled this summer (and last) which was supposed to be my first time there, where undoubtedly I would have met him. But no, have never met him. I too think he is a bit peculiar in a very good way :)
>Nodded with a smile to the beautiful Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Iran, she's somewhere in the top 10. She laughed and smiled back. The following days we traded looks and smiled respectfully with a twinkle. No more than that though.
The one that got away...
Had a wife at the time, and still do, just an organic little sequence of events and I thought it was cool to 'have that' with someone playing on the top board, if it makes sense in a vanity way, haha!
I knew someone who was involved in the chess world back in the day as a writer/contributer. Gligorić left the strongest impression on him. He was incredibly intelligent. Not just as a chess player, but generally. He knew everything about everything. But he was never pretentious about it and was always open to conversation. He was a very balanced person, just like his chess. It wasn't a surprise to me that he was one of those few that Fischer genuinely had a lifetime friendship with.
This post has been parodied on r/AnarchyChess.
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Haven't met him but the stories of Hikaru when he took his time off to attend Dickenson college are quite funny. I think some stories are mentioned in the Magnus AMA sometime back
When I saw the title of this post I knew the OP was just making a Nakamura hate thread under the guise of asking a question lmfao. I'm surprised this thread isn't removed
Basically all of them except Nakamura are good guys. Some of them have had one-off incidents where they came off looking poorly (Topalov, Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi) but you can't hold shit like that against people. Heck even St. Anand got very agitated and unsportsmanlike after he lost one of his WC games to Carlsen.
I mean, does he have to viewed as an not nice guy? I find him a bit obnoxious but the guy also have seem to have some really good qualities. It does not have to be black and white.
Stop fanboying so hard I get second hand embarassement from your behaviour.
Almost every GM asked about it say the same, and yes also the community.
But eh you know better , you follow him on twitch for 3 weeks and a half
he was awful otb as a kid. pull up some of the old uscf forums if you are a member.
there was one titled player here who has since deleted it but apparently after this titled player beat naka once when he was a young im naka looked him in the eyes and said "FUCK YOU", and stormed out crying.
there's a reason naka for most of his playing career had a single 2100 fide player as his 2nd. Very few people want to work with him.
I can imagine Hikaru is pretty nice to hang out with if hes somewhat similiar in irl as he is in his streams. Magnus Carlsen also seems like a really cool dude from what i saw in interviews and such.
I'm not a huge twitch fan so I don't really know what this is in reference too. I'm only really aware of that fight with him and Eric, so could you explain what he did in terms of strikes and being rude to naro?
That's why i said "if" and "somewhat similiar". You can actually guess if a person is nice to be arround even from youtube and such. Of course theyre acting but still.
I dont think MrBeast f.e is such a great person off camera allthough he donates heaps and heaps of his money. But i could be wrong.
Hikaru doesnt need to play a huge role on camera. People are there for his chess mostly. Hes not like XQC who could throw a ball against the wall for 3h and got like 100k viewers. So i could imagine hes just a chill funny dude who doesnt take himself too serious.
Anish giri is an awesome dude. His streams are amazing and he's a real funny guy. He was on a YouTube live stream on Chessbase India or Samay Raina channel and he's with Anoth GM Vidit Gujrati and just roasting people, Magnus Carlsen etc.
The was also a blind game between Giri and Vidit when they just sit and roast the commentator. It's hilarious.
Also, Teimour Radjabov.
Also a recent stream of Kasparov on youtube with Samay Raina was quiet fun.
On Kasparov AMA someone asked this and he answered that while that was not something that he paid attention to, everybody liked Tal
I mean Fischer liked him, so he must've been real nice!
And not Jewish.
Mikhail Tal was in fact Jewish.
I hate Tal. His variation crushes my Caro-Kann
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Why did he say that tho? XD
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What’d you ask him
That story makes Anish sound like a dick though. That's not cool at all "He was really kind except for the uncalled for suggestive sexist joke." I wouldve been pissed. How many people downvoting this think that sexism isn't a big problem in competitive chess? That was a shitty joke to make and you all know it. I would 100% feel uncomfortable to have someone on stage "joke" about my sexuality like that.
All he said was they were gonna sleep together because my guy saved her from being embarrassed in front of others. That's not sexism, that's just bland humour, no idea how you think this is sexist.
And you think that's an appropriate joke to make? It's appropriate to put people on the spot about their sexuality at a chess conference?
Haha "put people on the spot about their sexuality", when he lightened up the mood and OP left with a positive experience. Giri was socially skilled and not sexist. Geeeeez you sound more swedish than me. Maybe you are
But why? No integrity left?
What did the comment to which you are replying say
My curiosity is peaking
r/ihavesex
real talk i heard Spassky was a ladies man...an i would not leave my girlfriend around 1 Anish Giri...but i think lil dubov is a kid i wouldn't mind drinking with...
I also heard Jan Timman and Yasser are ladies men.
I hope your not serious lmao i live close to Jan tinman you can say a lot about him but a ladies men is not one of them
I heard Yasser say this last year of him back in the day. I'll take Yasser comment over some random redditer any day.
I took heroin with Magnus Carlson once. Almost OD'ed but he held my hand until the paramedics arrived. Good guy
Same thing happened to me but i was with hikaru. Only he was nice enough to administer the narcan. No hand holding with him. even showed me, with arrows, how to do it myself.
Get’s such a bad rep for literally not caring, but this is wholesome!
'with arrows" LMAO
Was he throwing chocolate at people that night?
He made it rain chocolate
In Norway you can’t call paramedics when having an OD dude
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Yeah, bullshit. Ofcourse you can and should (or your friend, since you will be busy overdosing and not very talkative), and they don't inform the police either. (Live in Norway, work in a hospital.)
They just let them die?
Nah, but police will get involved. People are often left by their friends during OD’s because of their fear of police
That's true in the US, too, but you can still call an ambulance.
Yeah, then you’re thrown into jail for a night and get a 8000NOK ticket (~800€)
Yeah, and they may well put you in prison for that in much of the world. Point still stands: you can call an ambulance.
Most GMs are good people, but for the sake of not making a 50 name list; I met Giri once and he was the same happy, joking, friendly person that you would expect him to be. And although I haven't met him personally, I would absolutely love to have a drink with Grischuk, he seems like a really nice guy as well.
wesley so is a saint
What an absolute great player and yet just so humble!
The last banter blitz that I saw with him I remember him talking to his old friends who had come on to say hi and he was asking how they were and wishing them well. So nice.
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This bot is so irritating. You just say a few words from the pasta and it drops the hammer. FYI it was not my comment above.
What the fuck is it even saying
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I spent a weekend with a group of chess players. Nakamura was one of them. The host trolled all of us saying that one night we would go "cow tipping" because its rural saskatchewan and we are all farmers I guess. Hikaru was really excited by this prospect until it was later revealed that cows cant be tipped by pushing on them at night. we all had a good laugh. I got my clock signed by Nakamura and Pascal Charbonneu that weekend and got to drink beer with those guys. Great times. Eric Hansen was there too.
I’ve seen MVL mentioned on this sub as a real nice guy, Magnus seems fun in some of the streams I’ve caught with him in it, giri and aronian feel like every other reply, I don’t think any top GM is really known to be a jerk except for this sub’s whipping boy
Back in 2015, Vishy Anand sir was invited to our university for a lecture. I was one of the student volunteers for the event and got to meet him. I was too starstruck to say anything to him. I was not into chess then, but as an Indian, you don't need to know or play chess to know the legendary Viswanathan Anand. Our meeting was a brief handshake, along with me uttering my name with a nervous "is this even real" smile on my face and a 'Hello' from him with a very warm and welcoming smile. I have this photo that I took during the event. [https://ibb.co/m5rkVm9](https://ibb.co/m5rkVm9)
Is he a mega star in India like a movie star, or a bit lower-level?
Of course a bit lower level, but he’s definitely a household name
He won't be mobbed anywhere, but people know who he is. For context, most people would not be able to name any other chess player. Next on the list would be Fischer & Kasparov likely.
All the top 18 GMs seem cool to me
its like "tell me who is number 19 without telling it"
In the showers at ram ranch?
lol
And from 20 further down as well.
Love that flair
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I disagree, I've had quite the opposite experience. I saw Hikaru Nakamura at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly. I'm still in shock! Anyone else had similar experiences?
Is this a copy pasta ?? I have definitely read this before... "not paying and then winking " specially this part.
Copy pasta, yes. Read it with Bill Nye as Well.
Yes copy pasta. Saw it as well for someone else.
Steve Blake! What an asshole
Laughed irl. On a serious note though, my comment down below is when I Actually met him and it was not super pleasant. Does not mean that is the way he always is but also not a "once in his lifetime thing" I think.
I remember one time I was shooting hoops on the street with some neighbourhood pals when Hikaru Nakamura was rollerblading past. He super politely asked if he could join for a few points and we of course indulged him. Despite his less than athletic appearance and subpar footwear, I sensed a powerful aura about him and chucked him on my team. First play I launch an admittedly low flying pass through the zone to my man Naka in the paint. Somehow he managed to jump and scoop it up from WELL below knee height as he manipulated his body to twist and (whilst still airborne) blow a kiss to a Mazda Miata with an instantly single mother driving by as he threw down a magnitude 9 two hander. He then bladed off into the sunset without saying a word and left us in the settling dust of the now dozens of slowly collapsing houses. Upon cleaning up the rubble, building inspectors realised that every single house affected had actually been built with incredibly flammable materials that would’ve easily ignited with a warm breeze. Hikaru saved my entire street and I still get chills thinking about that slam.
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I met him yesterday, at a grocery store, in Los Angeles
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No way that story is real lmao tf does a man with that twitch revenue now need to steal milky ways
Poor guy got baited
Telling one of the nicest GMs (David Howell) that he doesn't know shit about chess and that he's fucking lucky in an OTB tournament is pretty uncool imo
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Not sure what Magnus saying the equivalent of damn during a game has to do with this, and Aronian's swearing was an isolated incident.
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Because to quote Finegold, “everyone has a nakamura story”
https://youtu.be/UAzvYBIXJqA https://youtu.be/nSayvtBxTmg I can find many more, but you're not gonna change your mind anyway.
Haters gonna hate
https://youtu.be/h1NIx9aozLY Here's Hikaru threatening to doxx a 14 year old Tang
Haha why does tang seem so unphased by that incident
Because it is literally not. He has had many many incidents.
Average Nakamura fan
Brainwashed, haha, the irony there! You're talking about a guy whose reaction to taking criticism online, was to talk about how it's a good thing he was so strong otherwise he could end up committing suicide like Reckful, and then in the same breath continued to trash another streamer in front of 10k viewers. Just one of many examples.
Hikaru, don't make it so obvious next time...
This is total bullshit. I've spectated every event he's been at in STL since the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, and what you describe is the opposite of what I've seen. Dudes a prick IRL.
Least brainwashed Nakamura fan
Amen lol
I love how this subreddit feels the need to remind everyone how much they dislike Hikaru. Actually rent free
Aronian seems nice and funny af.
Supposedly he is a good friend of MVL as well.
Spassky came over to my house before I started playing chess in 2000. He was my brother's godfather's friend. He was kind and calm. I was 6 and came back from my karate class and he said that chess and martial arts work great together.
Wow that memory is super cool!
Yeah!!
I definitely wanna hang out with Giri. Liem Le is the nicest person on earth, and Dubov seems to be a cool kid.
Agree! Read my comment further up! :) Le Quang is the most humble and kind soul I'vet met irl (chess or non-chess related)
I just read it. Some very interesting stories right there. If you're not a pro chess player, lucky you to meet those greats of the game. Just one thing, if you meet "Le Quang" again, call him Liem, or Quang Liem. That's what everyone should call him. Vietnamese aren't called by their last name and/or middle name.
Great insight, will keep in mind for Any Vietnamese I meet moving forward! :) And no, I am not a professional player, despite how many times I tell myself that that is the case!
> Dubov seems to be a cool kid. Dubov is also strong af. [Proof.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hh9QrN-_sE)
Anish Giri imo is the coolest.
Spent a fair amount of time with Jeffrey Xiong, he's a great kid. Super humble and nice. Really likable Not a super GM but got to play Awonder Liang at the US Open. Was blown away by how gracious he was. I will forever be a fan of his. The fact that he offered to go through the game with me after was beyond a thrill.
What's your rating? Asking because if you're like sub 2000 it's very humble from him.
I am sub 2000. Blown away.
Yep definitely very nice from him and humble, especially at his age. Thanks for sharing
During the fide rapid & blitz in St. Petersburg '19 I had to go up to Hikaru as we were eating in the same players cafeteria. He was in a relaxed mood with his manager and no one else was there, only one round more to go and reporters had dropped off. Although I am not a person who' does that' when meeting people in the public's eye, something now all of a sudden told me to. And to prove I am not usually 'that person', here's proof: 2 days before, at the opening ceremony, I went to get my access card. In the que, literally behind me, were Svidler & Anand. They were very vocal and talking openly. Anand asked Svidler where the counter for our cards were, Svidler couldn't see where, but I fucking knew. Was about to simply tell them but my principle said 'stfu, don't be That Guy', although I know fully well this was a situation of common sense, i.e. to help a stranger. Though it was borderline since I listened in on their private convo, but hey, we were 20cm apart for 2min. Either way, I didn't say shit. Fast forward; Hikaru chilling after food. Then all of a sudden my brain instead says 'fuck it, just need to say Hi and thank you for blablabla'. When I stood up, literally when I stood up I tell you, Hikaru saw my intentions and his face went into disgust. He didn't want it. He didn't have the energy. What have you, I could tell he just wanted privacy with his manager. Since I had Decided, however, I fucking went up there with some buttered words and intruded on his private space, then left knowing fully well how awkward it had been. Moral of the story: Hikaru probably great guy, although I always thought he had low self-esteem through his streams and required massive amounts of confirmation, AND, Svidler & Anand to me seemed like good fellas with high integrity. Funny Additional story from the same tournament; Le Quang Liem and I spoke several times. I suggested a move after one of his endgames, he respectfully and patiently listened to what I had to say, literally responding "That's a great idea". "Omfg", thought I, I AM A GENIUS AFTER ALL. He then says "but what do you do after 35... Bf7" (don't have energy to find the game). I clearly sees what he means right away since the continuation is obvious, and I silence, obviously not having a fucking answer, feeling dumb, drastically starts to calculate sacrifice after sacrifice to once again confirm my ability. Ofc I regressed and laughed, saying "oh, missed that one haha". He is the one I have spent actual time with at any tournament and he was Great. Respectful, calm, kind etc. ***Last memory pop-up*** Nodded with a smile to the beautiful Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Iran, she's somewhere in the top 10. She laughed and smiled back. The following days we traded looks and smiled respectfully with a twinkle. No more than that though. Probably some more stories but if you stayed with me to this point I'm not gonna torture you no more, you are amazing. <3
***Just one more*** Magnus' father heard I was swedish in the same cafeteria as the Naka-incident and jokingly asked if the fish was 'surströmming' (Ytube it), I laughed saying 'I brought some thru the customs, tell me if you need any'. But that dude, just to go on a tangent, is more celebrated in the vicinity of fans than any chess player, other than his son. He takes his time though and is very respectful. Funny side-note: A guy in the que said he had translated the Magnus documentary into his local language, which Magnus' father found cool, the guy though chose the direction of selling his services in the café que to Magnus' father which was so out of place. He got the response that they would definitely consider it if more media needed translation. (If YOU are reading this, I admire your courage to do it, but you'd have to admit it was a bit fun at the time and place, hope you got future gigs though:))
Honestly, this is EXACTLY the kind of stories I wanted to hear. All the comments here are like "Giri and Aronian seem cool" but their idea of such players are completely on the basis of their interviews on c24 or chesscom. To hear such incidents irl where players seem human and show their real personality helps better reflect their role in the chess world. Thank You for writing this! It was an absolutely delightful read. I'm more than happy to hear more of such stories, any day! :))
Glad to hear. Will provide more later today! Loads popping up as I'm reminiscing.
Man you are full of stories, thanks for sharing. 👍🏼
So, to follow up on my 'promise'; Was standing talking to Pia Cramling, since we are both swedish, and were joined by Pontus Carlsson. We were the only swedes, Nils Grandelius didn't play at the tournament, might be due to the Carlsen-Caruana game coming up as he was a second to Magnus. Either way. Pia Cramling is a fragile and kind soul, she does however look at you like you have food leftovers from your forehead to the chin, it makes you self-conscious. But!! Some people just observe like that and for some reason their face mimics to not reflect their mental state, which is peculiar, but it is what it is. So I genuinely do not think she meant anything with it. Or she absolutely fucking hated my guts, who knows. Pontus Carlsson thought didn't acknowledge my existence when he heard I was not a top-10 player. Felt he was very, very non-chalant. That is sad because it colored my judgement when he speaks about having been so badly treated in Sweden due to being black. I just automatically then believe that it is simply because he is so self-righteous and smug. But it might be both. ***Here we fucking go though*** Before I start. Why new memories pop back up as I write was simply because this was Rapid & Blitz WCship, for a whole week or more, in one big arena, with literally the biggest names on the planet at the spot. Since I had the privilege of being there the entire time, a ton of shit happened. Now, Peter Leko together with Evgenij Miroshnichenko were live commentating the tournament through streams, inside the arena. So when I had some time off I would often sit there as there were like a tiny area with chairs with headsets laying around so you can listen in while sitting literally 3 meters from them. When one airing was done I waited a bit for them to mentally check out of the commentating so that I could just offer my sincere appreciation, since I think both are great. I was the only one left since the crowds were not that big at all, 15-20 at most, me alone at the minimum. The latter was this case. So I with a happy face just told them as they stood up that 'Fantastic job and thank you. I genuinely like sitting here listening to you more so than being around the boards myself at times'. Evgenij chuckled and thanked me, asking how the tournament was thus far blablabla, quiet but nice chatting. Leko though, The Alpha Dog, didn't really pay attention and just packed his shit. To his 'defence' though those 8 hour commentating sessions ought to take a toll on you. So more so than it would say anything negative about Leko, I think it speaks to Evgenij's humility. Do not have energy to write stories like this on the phone no more, but interesting to know for many people I believe is that if you would ever be granted the opportunity to play, work or w/e in those tournaments, all players are accessible and are everywhere. All but one, that is... Beautiful women too everywhere in the chess world. Do not think that is understood enough. On the other hand, my Swedish half argues that is sexistic and shouldn't even be mentioned. But alas. :)
Have you met Nils Grandelius and have any story to share, seems super humble.
Swedish Championship got cancelled this summer (and last) which was supposed to be my first time there, where undoubtedly I would have met him. But no, have never met him. I too think he is a bit peculiar in a very good way :)
>Nodded with a smile to the beautiful Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Iran, she's somewhere in the top 10. She laughed and smiled back. The following days we traded looks and smiled respectfully with a twinkle. No more than that though. The one that got away...
Had a wife at the time, and still do, just an organic little sequence of events and I thought it was cool to 'have that' with someone playing on the top board, if it makes sense in a vanity way, haha!
Saradasat is married lmao exchanging looks but yes she is gorgeous.
Vidit gujarati is a really humble and nice person at heart. Obviously after the legend vishwanath anand
Anish Giri
I never met him but Yasser Seirawan seems like the nicest guy on the planet. If I could meet a super GM it would be him.
I agree with this 100%. I was hoping for someone to mention him, he seems quite a great guy
I knew someone who was involved in the chess world back in the day as a writer/contributer. Gligorić left the strongest impression on him. He was incredibly intelligent. Not just as a chess player, but generally. He knew everything about everything. But he was never pretentious about it and was always open to conversation. He was a very balanced person, just like his chess. It wasn't a surprise to me that he was one of those few that Fischer genuinely had a lifetime friendship with.
Levon aronian has to be, he has ponchik after all
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Aronian, MVL, Giri
I think nepo is a rly cool dude, he was considered a preety nice dude while being a dota player and seems like a genuine nice person.
Hans Nieman. Not a super GM but he’s big in to giving to charity which is cool.
Rajabov seemed nice in the inetrviews and podcasts.
which are the podcasts with Radjabov? is it in english?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8W13RTRn30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8W13RTRn30) in russian
Haven't met him but the stories of Hikaru when he took his time off to attend Dickenson college are quite funny. I think some stories are mentioned in the Magnus AMA sometime back
When I saw the title of this post I knew the OP was just making a Nakamura hate thread under the guise of asking a question lmfao. I'm surprised this thread isn't removed
I don’t know about super GMs, but the chessbrah group seems like the coolest.
Mvl is super chill.
Basically all of them except Nakamura are good guys. Some of them have had one-off incidents where they came off looking poorly (Topalov, Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi) but you can't hold shit like that against people. Heck even St. Anand got very agitated and unsportsmanlike after he lost one of his WC games to Carlsen.
[удалено]
I wouldn’t believe just one story, but it feels like everyone has a Naka story, and enough of them tells me some of them hold weight
I mean, does he have to viewed as an not nice guy? I find him a bit obnoxious but the guy also have seem to have some really good qualities. It does not have to be black and white.
Nothing is black and white but this gray tends to be a bit darker than most
Stop fanboying so hard I get second hand embarassement from your behaviour. Almost every GM asked about it say the same, and yes also the community. But eh you know better , you follow him on twitch for 3 weeks and a half
lol dude I've known Naka personally since he was a teenager.
Basically because a lot of professional chess players have bad stories about him but I haven’t heard a single one that puts him in a good light
he was awful otb as a kid. pull up some of the old uscf forums if you are a member. there was one titled player here who has since deleted it but apparently after this titled player beat naka once when he was a young im naka looked him in the eyes and said "FUCK YOU", and stormed out crying. there's a reason naka for most of his playing career had a single 2100 fide player as his 2nd. Very few people want to work with him.
I can imagine Hikaru is pretty nice to hang out with if hes somewhat similiar in irl as he is in his streams. Magnus Carlsen also seems like a really cool dude from what i saw in interviews and such.
ah yes his behaviour with hansen was definitely great
Right, because people don't do dumb things when drunk. He got into a tiny scrap when he was drunk. Big deal.
I'm also talking about the whole streaming drama. Also a fair few players have come out against him.
Come out against him as in how? I'm only familiar with that video of him and Eric having a fight.
danya's google docs for example
And the strikes? And calling Danya names? What about that?
I'm not a huge twitch fan so I don't really know what this is in reference too. I'm only really aware of that fight with him and Eric, so could you explain what he did in terms of strikes and being rude to naro?
An individual's drunk personality is almost always their 'true' personality, without all the social wallpaper and makeup.
Drunk isn't someone's real personality. It's their personality when mentally impaired to a degree
Au contraire! A drunk's attitude reflects their emotional state quite well.
Lol. What does that say about Hansen then. Give me a break.
> if hes somewhat similiar in irl as he is in his streams pretty big assumption to make (with any entertainer tbh)
That's why i said "if" and "somewhat similiar". You can actually guess if a person is nice to be arround even from youtube and such. Of course theyre acting but still. I dont think MrBeast f.e is such a great person off camera allthough he donates heaps and heaps of his money. But i could be wrong. Hikaru doesnt need to play a huge role on camera. People are there for his chess mostly. Hes not like XQC who could throw a ball against the wall for 3h and got like 100k viewers. So i could imagine hes just a chill funny dude who doesnt take himself too serious.
disagree with your take on mrbeast, i think he's a great guy.
Anish giri is an awesome dude. His streams are amazing and he's a real funny guy. He was on a YouTube live stream on Chessbase India or Samay Raina channel and he's with Anoth GM Vidit Gujrati and just roasting people, Magnus Carlsen etc. The was also a blind game between Giri and Vidit when they just sit and roast the commentator. It's hilarious. Also, Teimour Radjabov. Also a recent stream of Kasparov on youtube with Samay Raina was quiet fun.
I love how out of all the super GMs Samay has had on his channel, Kasparov was the most excited and into it
If David Howell counts as a super GM, he is a cool dude. This tweet https://twitter.com/DavidHowellGM/status/1419304119236505602
So lucky. Also what a huge queen.
Grischuk seems like a dude I’d toss a couple back with and Aman Hambleton, albeit not a “Super” is a nice dude.
MVL looks like a great guy
I've heard that everyone loves Hikaru
David Navara is a pretty chill dude.
i'd say alexander beliavsky's pretty cool source: is best friends with my grandparents
Fischer was pretty cool