The bias in favour of Hikaru was disgusting in this video.

Oh Levy, you know why...

4:42 I'm so glad Duda got his parenthesis back. Totally deserved it

Have a huge respect for Rapport after this event. Going for interesting lines and insane positions rather than just trying to go for safe and drawing lines. Too bad he is too far out to compete for top 2. Still rooting for Ian vs Hikaru/Liren world champ :P but I don’t see Magnus giving it up

Let that sink in: Liren Ding wins 3 games in a row after being winless all tournament long and then proceeds to get blasted in 27 moves with WHITE

3:22 i almost exclusively play the accelerated dragon and i have been crushing my double digit oponents so idk why hikaru didnt go for it

Ding when he win : expploiting small mistakes and grinding the opponent to death Ding when he lose : ooga booga -7 before 30 moves

"The prize money is divided equally among players with an equal score after 14 rounds. Players also receive €3,500 for every half-point they score." €3,500 each. Not bad for 7 mins of play.

Hey Levy! Just wanted to say thank you for the amazing recaps! I just got into chess about a month ago and I’m slowly improving. Even though these GM games are way over my head, your commentary makes it super digestible. Thanks again!

Levy, you asked: is Magnus sitting in his apartment in Oslo and laughing? The answer is: no, he is not. He is in Madrid.

Respect to Ding. He came back and fought as if this was a traditional candidates. Honestly, I think we owe Magnus a "thank you". His words actually encouraged candidates to fight with blood and tears, because everyone believes top 2 actually play in the world championship match.

Really happy for Radjabov.. people have been clowning him in the chat all week. (For the record one of the chirps was Radrawbov which is incredible) but Rxe3 was just a vicious move. Cool to see him crush someone when they played silly and shut everyone up. Also was a great interview.

the face of Ding was heartbreaking when Rxe3! the battery on the dark squares were too dangerous, the Queen was too powerful in B8 monitoring the attack on the diagonal and the B file

This candidates would by far have been the most chaotic yet if only Nepo hadn't shot to first so early

NGL, I think Magnus saying he might not play against someone like Nepo only helped Nepo win because once he got an advantage he could coast off draws that people would accept to fight for 2nd.

So currently Radjabov is in his villain arc apparently. Pulled off 2 big upsets by defeating naka and ding. Or maybe he is just nepo's bodyguard 😂 Kinda sad the winner got decided so early... But if Magnus doesn't defend the title then it might be interesting match between top 2. I am personally not really interested in seeing the identical WCC again.

I just love how radjabov sneaked his way up to a potential second place xDD 3 days ago no one would've thought he's competing for that xDD

Let’s just hope that Hikaru and Nepo last longer somewhere else.

hes obviously gonna defend, the mans too good to let someone else take the no 1 title, he has a bit of pride and he will 100% defend

You demoted Ding for one point 😆

Hikaru and Nepo lasted 7 minutes longer than your haters would last. I totally did not steal levy’s comment on Hikaru’s channel.

Love Rapport. He’s just a beast. His long hair says it all. “Fuck formality “.

This has been one hell of a candidates. Thanks for all the recaps.

Radjabov finally distinguishes himself. Good win for him.

Completely unrelated to the candidates, I just secured 3rd place in my college's chess tournament which is pretty good considering that the top 2 are fide rated players and this was only the second time I've played over the board (first was last year, in which I stood second) and all credit goes to you. It's cause of you I've developed this newfound interest in chess and might just consider taking part in a fide rated tournament

Magnus is in their heads so much he's got them playing for 2nd place 🤣

Your amazing on these recaps. You have gotten me interested in chess. I wouldn’t have a clue what’s going on if you didn’t do these

Even watching the games, I can't miss these recaps because Levy keeps things interesting

I'm having a bad day due to current events and I'm so grateful for your recaps they always cheer me up with the energy and humor, thank you so much!

Honesty it was pretty smart of Hikaru to make a quick draw since if he goes for a very decisive position and it goes south then he's handing Nepo the tournament on a silver platter

Love your content Levy, you made me get back into chess after years of inactivity and have helped me and a lot of others to climb in ELO. Keep up the great content

21:10 > Rapport > to reach Nirvana That’s a layered joke, hats off to you sir

Hey Levy. Thanks for the recap. Wanted to point out that Ding's should have 6.5/11, not 5.5/11.

In a perfect world, Magnus does not defend the title, trash talks both players in the following title match simultaneously as commentator and qualifies for the candidates next year.

Chess would not be the same without you. Your recaps are full of excitement, vigor, and enthusiasm. I have had such a great time getting to know this channel and you Levy. You make these tournaments worth watching. Keep being amazing! Best of luck going forward👍

Sooo, if I understand, they play against each other so the winner can lose against Magnus ?

Many thanks to Magnus that made this event a little bit spicier with his troll attitude

Love how people trash talked Ian when he lost to Magnus and now he just wins the candidates again.

Loved this recap as I wasn't able to watch the actual coverage today. I agree with you it sucks for them to Draw after 7 moves but you're right for Hikaru it didn't make sense. A draw early to have more time to prep for the last 2 games when it would have been very very hard for him to beat Nepo with black.

radjabov, welcome back old wolf, we missed you playing for the win!

Thanks for the recaps, best way to follow the games with limited time.

That move by Radjabov was the move of the year

Levy I've been watching every video since October 21' I appreciate your approach and appreciation for the game. I never played the game until I saw your videos, since then I've been addicted. Although my chess knowledge is just a sliver of yours, ive been grinding every day... your content is something I genuinely look forward to after my day even if it's cheesy;) We're the same age but you inspire me, in chess & just normal life shenanigans. You should add bits of historic stories pertaining to chess- like, have you heard about the chess played on the titanic before it sank??? Much love family

Radjabov didn't seem dangerous, then Ding catches fire. What's more natural than the non-dangerous guy to obliterate the upstart. Chaos rules, huh? That was a truly beautiful game for Radjabov. Introducing stupid moves with a brilliant follow-through is top-level for sure.

If Alireza is going to take flack for careless play in attempts to win, Hikaru should also receive flack for not even trying to win a must-win game.

I start to think Magnus and FIDE are actually conspiring to bait players to fight for 2nd place. Many people would have already stopped watching the games at this point if only 1st place matters.

It's very likely the Ding vs Hikaru matchup in the final round will determine second place, if that means anything

Levy: Ding resigns Me: bUt WhAt iF i JuSt tAkE tHe BiShOp

Magnus is the ultimate troll. He made everyone care about second place and gave us all an epic tournament. Good guy Magnus.

It was so sad watching Duda losing all the advantage and drawing the game

The candidates watching 800s play: **write that down write that down!**

Thanks for the recaps. They are very entertaining. And I am still glad that Nepo is clearly leading the tournament.

Oh man I remember that Hikaru-Magnus final. I just started playing chess at the beginning of the pandemic but pre-Queens Gambit. Crazy

Jan made the candidates SO EXCITING! This draw was totaly legitimate! Congrats to him ... And hopefully Hikaru in 2nd and Magnus in the next candidates ;-)

302nd day of translating Levy's titles into Neapolitan: "O vincitor re candidat enn"

I am absolutely in love with these "they take off their gloves, kick on the chin and the guy is knocked out" kind of narration

Doesn't it make sense to just draw for hikaru ? You are black against the most prepared player in the field, alot of people seems to forget that.

Hikaru getting the 7 minute draw

Levy looks like an old Harry Potter with those glasses

thank you for all your hard work Levy!!

Mr. GothamChess thank you for making chess fun for everybody ❤️

Love you, Levy!

Thank you for the content!!!

That random shade on durant made me chuckle

Enjoyed my cup of coffee watching this recap before heading off to work for the night. Thanks for allowing me to consume these games without having to watch them live!

If you dont like the Nepo - Naka draw you have to blame the rules of chess not the players. Considering their position in the tournament it was perfectly reasonable for both sides to take the draw here

thx for your great analysis of the tournament!

8:00 This is all great but I’m waiting for the recap when levy says that: “this has been played b5 ! “ instead of b4. Maybe eventually the b pawn will make it down the board and become a queen.

Hi GothamChess just have to say your content is very useful, if I'm having trouble sleeping I just watch one of your videos, it helps me out a lot. Thanks so much!

Unfortunately the format of the Candidates basically insists that the goal is not to lose vs fighting for wins. Especially if you're in the lead and in this case also tied for second given the narrative of Magnus. A draw ensures you at least hold position. Do I like it? No. Is it a valid strategy? Yes. But that's due to the format more than the players which is why we get some pretty boring games. Rapport is an exception, even Ali for that matter even though it's not paying off for them

Unpopular opinion: Make the point system in chess like the point system in football (soccer). win: 3 pts, draw: 1 pt. This way players will be incentivized to play for wins. Drawing is way too rewarding in chess.

I can't get enough of the "And then Player got up and punched Player in the face" kind of jokes. Please never stop using them.

Ok, hear me out, maybe, Magnus will not defend his title since he is "bored". Then, he will have to prove himself and win the candidates over, beat everyone on the tournament, then beat Ian (who would by then be the champion, if things continue going in this direction), so everything would be like a self challenge and he would be "having his fun" again! ... Thoughts?

Will there be sub battles with Hikaru again? Love your recaps!

Thank you Levy, amazing recap.

Duuude Radjabov just went from the underdog to tied for 3rd, possibly playing for 2nd

My only gripe with Hikaru's draw is that they did not play out the Bongcloud draw rather than the Berlin . Otherwise , how many super GM's are capable of winning with black against Nepo who is in the form of his life ? Hikaru's decision in hindsight after the other games looks even more of a genius move .

Can't be mad at Hikaru for drawing against Nepo. He's the only person to not self destruct against him (games that didn't end in a draw).

Pizza, beer and a Gotham video, lets fucking go

The Carlsen Curse has infected Alireza. He should have never put all that pressure on him.

game result Spoiler alert, watch the vid first if you wanna Ok now that ding and Hikaru are tied for second, if hypothetically this remains as is through the end, Hikaru gets second by FIDE's twitch sub count rule right? right?

Gotham, I enjoy all of your videos and have watched you almost a year ago. Time flies by man. You have a perfect life ahead of you and unlike me you have talent, You’ve got a life, and a girlfriend, things that seem like they’d be in my dreams. Keep going man and live life to the fullest

That was a pawn D-pad if I've ever seen one.

Embarrassing. Hikaru presents himself as a shark but turns out to be a plankton.

Radja!

We need football scoring in chess YESTERDAY - winning needs to be incentivized!

15:05 that Magnus Hikaru match was probably the most awesome clash I have ever seen, ty for reminding me

For the Hikaru v. Nepo game, it would almost be more entertaining if they sat down, played 0 moves, and agreed to a draw.

Amazing recap Levy! Also could you please give Northernlion another chess lesson? The man desperately needs some help in the opening.

Hey Levy, sorry for being that annoying guy but you put Dings score are 5.5/11 instead of 6.5/11 lol

damn, looks like we might have a repeat of the last championships.

The problem I have with forcing draws is that imagine this was football and let's say it's brackets right now with 4 teams in each bracket, single round robin top 2 qualify to the elimination rounds. Imagine team A beat C and draw with D, team B beat D and draw with C so currently it's 4/4/1/1 and tie breakers will be first determined by goals So if A beat B or B beat A they gurantee first place but the other is now at risk of elimination due to tie breakers depending on what happens in C vs D, however both A and B would be happy with a draw as that ensures both teams qualify no matter what happens in C vs D. If team A and B played the 'I am not touching the ball variation' of football - by kind of looking at what the other team does and standing back accordingly, they'll sit around for 90m and both qualify. This is what happened here and happens very often in chess, you don't need to try your best if your opponent see what you do and 'agrees to a draw' provided they don't say anything out loud. And the issue is that they harm the chances of others in the tournament, in our case both group C and D get cheated out of their winning chances, in Hikaru's case - maybe he gets lucky and wins and maybe Ding wins his match - all of a sudden Ding might win the tournament, so by simply instantly going for the draw Ian robbed Ding's chances. Now if you saw a football game with the no touching the ball variation you'd say 'this is bad sportmanship - both teams need to be disqualified' and you'd be right - but a draw makes most sense to them so why are you mad at them and not at Ian? I think if chess was always played for a win it would be much more exciting and so imagine a point system where both draw and loss count as 0 and a win is 1 point, now you have nothing to gain by drawing the game (3-1 still gains something so I like it less) - so everyone always go for a win because otherwise no points and you can't 'lock opponents out of their winning odds' unless this is a 1 v 1 finale - where yes after winning once you can try to force draws constantly - you just can't ever do it safely in a stage where mulitple participants still exist because every win you don't get can close a gap.

Yes! Nice recap. "Insane" is the word for this tournament I think, starting for the candidate players having to accept to play not being sure if Magnus gonna play the winner (insane) to a finish push for 2nd not being sure of the first thing and being no rules for a 2nd place tiebraker... Yes: insane!!

Thank you, Levy, for your recaps! You make top level chess more understandable for us, ordinary mortals)

"don't hate the player, hate the game, son"

Hikaru said a few days ago even if he loses every game after beating Caruana, this tournament would still be a huge success and then proceeds to safely take a quick draw against the tourney leader "settling for a race for 2nd" but then during the live interview after the game, he said he doesn't think 2nd place matter at all (despite the possibility of Magnus refusal for the WC match). We know "he doesn't really care" about a lot of stuff but he said he wouldn't show up to play unless he thinks he could do it, so which is it? Does he care, and what does he care about?

Duda is the worst player in converting advantages. He had now 4 games where he was more than +2, +4 against Rapport, only converted one game. Reminds me of me - last tournament I had +2 (or -2) first, in every game, even against a 400 points higher rated opponent... and ended up 4/7. Actually Wojtaszek had something very similar in the Grand Prix, but only won against Rapport, so failed to qualify. Might just be a polish thing...

Hikaru knew he had no chance at winning and decided to take the free draw with black. Nothing wrong there tbh.

"We get legendary...I don't know" 🤣

Poor Ding, was rooting for him but alas.Perhaps next time! I like Rapport's style. On the quick draw issue, blame Ian not Hikaru. In my opinion if Magnus doesn't play I think the challenger should just get the title.If you earn the right to play for a title and the other guy forfeits, you win.Simple as that.