“buying nerds” got me laughing. Gotta love magnus’s style of talking

Every time I get beat I say they’re cheating

Really opens up our eyes to all the hidden tricks and plans the grandmasters had going on. Especially impressive was Caruana's ability to manipulate and control the game.

8:00 “that would work if your opponent has brain damage” Levi is going savage mode lol

Levy, the kind of content you’ve been putting out lately is, well, like you say, fantastic. There’s a ton of high level games for you to review throughout modern history and your insight, analysis and commentary on current tournaments and players is top notch. You are a good teacher and you simplify complicated chess ideas into smaller understandable pieces for lower rated players like myself. I’m really happy to see you focusing more on this type of content.

Fabiano is such a beast! Just a shame he was born in the same time with Magnus cause if not he'd most definitely be the best

the look on his face when he mentioned that his colleagues thought he was cheating is just heartbreaking. Imagine finding out that people who you look up to, some of which you may consider friends, thought you were cheating at a sport you put your life into. I hope Fabiano Caruana is doing okay because from personal experience, that sort of thing hurts badly. I got accused of cheating in an online tournament a while ago, because I beat a CM when none of the people in that small community had heard of me, and the only evidence I had that I was actually a skilled player was a local tournament in 2021 in which I placed second by half a point (first was one of the best female players in the country). That really hurt, but we're sorted now but there's still some resentment that that's the first conclusion they jumped to.

To answer your question Levy, in american football it's very similar on both offense and defense where teams will run a scheme and it will dominate for a couple years and then someone will develop something else to stop that scheme and it goes around and around.

Hey Levi, hockey has had trendy offensive and defensive systems over the years. A good example is the neutral zone trap, popularized by the New Jersey Devils in the mid 90s. It stagnated games and limited scoring, but was very effective and widely adopted for its success. As a consequence, two-line passes were removed from the game and the goalie's ability to leave the crease and play the puck was limited to specific zones behind the net in order to bring additional offensive options into the game.

Honestly, Fabi is so solid, so smothering, so controlled. I'm really hoping he wins the candidates and takes the title, he deserves a lot.

6:52 Idk if it's still popular but around 2010 in waterpolo, the main formation had a mix up. Traditionally when attackers set up it's 3 and 3 with 3 people close to the goal but a driving system developed where 4 would shift to a side and rotate driving towards the goal looking for passing opportunities while 1 sat in front of the goal to keep constant pressure on the opposite side.

One trendy strategy that was briefly popular in NASCAR was drafting in pairs. In around 2011-2012 you saw a lot of this especially at the bigger tracks like Talladega and often with teammates or close allies. Dale Jr. pushed Jimmy Johnson to a win like this at that track and ironically although literally on his bumper finished 4th as another pair was drafting that way and finished side by side in a photo finish.

7:58 "That would work if your opponent has braindamage ... that might work on your level" lmao

When you've been watching levy's videos everyday for over 3 yrs and realize he already covered this game in a video dedicated to all fabi's wins in this tournament, a couple of years back 😊. ( This is definitely more detailed though)

Levy never fails to explain the first 3 moves of the Spanish in great detail

Can we just appreciate that the second best chess player in the world is also one of the most generous and humble guys in the world🤘

Fabi has always had an incredibly unique and solid style of playing. I’d love to see more highlights from the 2010s when he was in his prime against Magnus

6:50 This happens a ton in hockey, but about half of it comes from rule changes. An example of a top level players changing the way a position is played would be Patrick Roy popularizing butterfly style goaltending in the 90s. The style had seen some use for a while before him, but it never caught on because it had a number of flaws. Roy and the goalie coaches he worked with ironed out those flaws and, in doing so, brought about a goaltending style that, though it's a more advanced and polished version, is still used today.

Levy, I love these kind of rewinds of old and iconic games, such wonderful matches and wonderful players to be praised. keep up with the good work, because thats why you are our favorite chess content creator

Nice game to highlight Levy, thanks! Speaking to the trends in sports topic, I'm a big hockey fan and we see trends constantly, which sometimes get taken up en masse, or sometimes cause rule changes to get rid of a trend that is seen as negatively impacting the game (at least in the eyes of the fans watching- a trend that perhaps slows the game down or seems to be an unfair advantage). Power plays in hockey are a prime example, as well as the newer Overtime format of 3v3 for 5 minutes before a shootout- many teams right now following the trend of "possession first" mentality, hanging on to the puck and even retreating from the offensive zone with the puck when they need to regroup as opposed to just taking a shot. Definitely see trends like you mentioned in many major sports!

hey levy, in football (or soccer iirc) the newer "trend" is teams usually want specific skills in their goalkeepers: they want someone who can build an attack with their feet, whether it's a slow play from the goal to the enemy goalie, or just a quick counter they should be able to provide the ball without esitation and margin of error, that's why the best and most requested goalies in the world rn are all superb at building a attack with their clinical passes

Thanks for the content you’ve been making recently. I stopped watching for a pretty long time and these pulled me back in. Loving the style! Keep it up if you can and it’s lucrative enough

I love how subtle Fabiano's play is; and his counterattacks (in other games) with squeezing winning chances out of stone

That’s the best video I’ve seen on your channel in a while, indeed best game by Fabi, what a player he is! You can do more of those videos in the near future as you do now, like famous Morozevich-Vashier Lagrave game for example

there are definitely trends in other sports too - they can be stylistic variations or tactical variations that become popular after someone is successful with them. In my sport (karate), there are both trends as to how the top people execute certain techniques and also as to which kata are seen more often at the top level (and also sparring looks very different in different eras, which also has a lot to do with rule changes).

Fabi stayed 1 move ahead all game. He never made a mistake. And Levy did a fine job of describing it.

I love when levy analyses deeply because sometimes he skip analyses the opening and just analyses the peak break moment

I love these recent videos Gotham. So cool to learn about cool history! Thanks :)

Fabi never fails to be my favorite gm

Such a phenomenal game. Don't let Kramnik see it! 😀

Really enjoyign the mix of content youve been doing recently! Keep it up dude

Levy, this was absolutely riveting. Fantastic blend of insight and enthusiasm.

Levy's notifications never fail to make me fail in Geometry Dash.

There might be a Levy, Who Always Fails in a Parallel World.

I really like what levy said is what he is upto, truly legendary stuff by him, for covering so many aspects of chess.

I like this long in-depth analysis on just one game thanks bro

The excitement I get when you post is just indescribable

Never had the pleasure to meet Fabi but I’ve seen him on Coffee Chess playing normal guys he’s a stand up guy

Fantasticly instructive! This has to be one of your best videos that I've seen.

You're on a roll lately! Really enjoying the recent videos

What you are describing in sports (and more prominently in eSports) is called metagame, or the meta. The trendy stuff that trickles down from the pros becomes the Chess meta.

If you count esports then there are trends in how games are played such as strategies going in and out of fashion in Starcraft 2 for example. One example recently was called the herO style where a player discovered a cool aggressive way to play PvZ which then spawned more spinoff strategies for Protoss and more strategies from Zerg ro beat those strategies until the original playstyle fell out of fashion in this weird way where bits of it get incorporated into something completely different.

About the regular changes in popular plays, it happens a lot in professional counter strike. A team develops a tactic, everyone plays it for a couple of months until everyone knows how to counter it, and the "meta" changes again

Such a beautiful game. Magnus is my favorite but Fabi is certainly a very close second. Love his preparation and style of play.

Thanks for making a Fabiano video! He's my favorite top player, hope to see some more about him!

Levon probably at the end of the game didn't even know what he did wrong, what a performance.

This was a very instructive video!! I did learn a few tips, and you gave a good explanation for all ideas. Thank you for this game coverage, it was also quite entertaining 😃

love seeing fabi games. one of my favorite players of all time. he’s so down to earth in interviews and he plays chess with that same elegance of magnus. two of greatest imo

21:08 levy never fails to include magnus even if theres no magnus in thz video

remember, even if levy isn't lebron, he still dunks his opponents

8:00 "This move won't work unless they get brain damage or are at your elo" .... fair.

“That would work if your opponent has brain damage” has to be the hardest line I've heard in months. 💀

Caruana, of course, was born in Florida and is a US citizen. He's an Italian citizen too, because his parents are from Italy, but he's never lived in Italy and doesn't speak Italian. He was playing for the Italian federation because he was qualified (through his parentage) and was living in Hungary, so it was close enough for travel and was a good job.

Anyone that beats me is cheating

This shift in baseball, the wildcat formation in football, the calf kick in MMA. It happens from time to time.

LOVE these deep dive analyses Levy! Keep them coming!

Levy never fails to teach us traditional wisdom

Levy never fails to talk into the camera.

Pattern recognition is most definitely a form of inteligence

Finallly i really enjoy when your analysis is more in depth like in this video. Hope you do it analyse in depth more often

Gotham, i am a grad student for chemistry. And this channel has kept me same, academia sucks and playing chess keeps me sane so thank you very much

You should do a video on the 2024 pan American chess championship. Just finished playing in it and in the sixth round on table, one, the university of Missouri and the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley All agreed to a draw after seven moves, forging the results with no repercussions for pre arranged cheating. mind you this is all 2600 Chess at the college level. If interested look this up, it’s possible in the future colleges could be protesting this event. I played for Texas tech and this cheating directly effected our A teams ability to play in the final 4. Agreeing to draws and not actually playing for results is a trendy cheating tactic.

Dang, there were some really cold-blooded moves. Thanks for sharing about Fabi's immortal game.

Fabiano had his best year ever in 2023! Best year of anyone, and a beautiful game

Nobody: Opponent: forces mates himself Opponent: are you cheating?

Ello Gotham I love your videos ur one of the reasons I started chess and now I love it thank you so much.

The 1-3-1 powerplay is the newer trendy Powerplay formation in hockey. Grew over the past couple years and now almost every team uses it

knight goes on vacation, never comes back

Levy never fails to include Magnus Carlsen in first minute of the video

Levy never fails to never fail

3:17 targeting the pawn in the center looking like your game, so far so good😂

I love your attitude to learning about other sports and their changes with the rugby example! If you're looking for other game theory, Will Anderson does great informative work on Scrabble and their tournaments!

I really like the Spanish Main line. Normally my opponent over extends which gives me an advantage. Then I blunder my queen and lose😢

I won't do a pushup for like this gets?

"probably the best game just not easily explainable" you did a good job thank you

the game and the ideas u explained it looked like stockfish playing as fabiano

Gotham never fails to upload videos

Gothamchess never fails to levy

Yes, Levy, tennis formations are very much the rage at the moment

there are trendy techniques in mma , calf kicks or high kicks behind opposite crosses to name some recent ones

This guy never fails to fail

I liked my comment

Levy never fails to put himself in the thumbnail.

Gotham never fails to say its Gotham Chess time and start Gotham Chessing everywhere. Truly one of the Gotham Chesses of all time.

I liked my own comment

Thanks for video, the breakdown was really enjoyable.

On the point of trendiness in other sports I can vouch for football (soccer) having trends in formations and styles of play! For instance, when Antonio Conte moved to the English Premier League he made 5 defender formations more popular and likewise when Pep Guardiola was in Spain he kick started a culture of “Tiki-Taka” where it became a trend to play with agile/technical midfielders and get quick short passing going!

First

Hope this comment reaches you, Levy! Great point about certain moves/styles determining the trend(s) within a certain period in time. In my handball career, I played against a young agile German player called Uwe Gensheimer (Nickname: "The Magic Wrist"). At the time he was still in full development, but he soon was able to produce a spectacular and unreadable wrist shot that put a certain unexpected spin on the ball. This move revolutionized shots that were taken at a tight angle (cfr. shots from the wing position) and - becoming more popularized - evolved the wing position into becoming more active and dangerous in attack, for those that were prone to such a style of play. Nowadays, this is a shot that is part of the arsenal of many players, but not many can disguise or redo it perfectly. In this sense, it is something that many players dabble into if needed! Fun little trivia! Haha and I'm sure there are many more stories like these in many other sports. That's what keeps these sports so interesting ☺

they never fail to accuse levy of cheating

In video games and in card games there is a term to refer to trendy strongest ideas. We call it META, and varies depending on what is crazy busted at the time and what new things are added. Chess is not unique in the concept, but is cool to watch how it changes naturally in this non changing rule environment.

brother, im not used to comment people`s videos but, man youre a fantastic entusiastic in what you do ! congratulations to bring such energy to your content.

Epic Chess is a great channel but Levy still has that edge with these incredible breakdowns - learning so much! Thanks Levy

6:50 I'm a basketball fan and plays and styles definitely get adopted all the time.

Trendy stuff in sports - some of which stuck and some ofwhich didnt: Baseball: shift, yanking starters after 2nd time thru order. Basketball: 3pt shooting over deep 2s and midrange shots Football: wildcat and RPO

Levy has not missed recently with his uploads!

I had a pc chess game from the 80s that displayed the names of the openings and variations when they were played, the "Murphy Defense" was among those names.

A sport I know you like MMA had a blow up with calf kicks those became trendy and eventually a mainstream tactic. I don't remember who started using them heavily first but it's quite interesting to see new techniques develop in MMA and BJJ.

FYI, yes formations and tactics in other sports do become "trendy". Such how in football barcelona made the tikitaka style trendy and other teams tried to "out tikitaka" them but then eventually learned that a full on press would be the better than trying to beat them at their own game. Now everyone tries the full press and eventually (or maybe already) new developments are happening. Of course you have to be a top team to be able to adapt in that manner, otherwise you just aren't good enough and have to play to your specific strengths.

I feel like I've seen Leela play ideas like that before. Sacrifice material to trap more enemy material functionally out of the game.