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2026 chess season tracker

Gollum

By Gollum
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Mariyam Grand Master

Mariyam

Posted
Posted

@Gollum

 

Everything you say about Vishy Anand is true. I was fortunate enough to briefly interact with him at the Chennai Olympiad. One of my most cherished memories. He deserves the Bharat Ratna. A lot more than cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. But that is another discussion.

 

Let's look at this dispassionately. With objectivity.

 

Vishy Anand has been a household name since the early 90s. Samay in the last 5 years. The Chess Premier League was started *because* of the efforts of Samay. Anand Mahindra decided to sponsor the event. There was nothing comparable ( commercially speaking) and with as many international stars playing along Indian talents all these years. This is a fact.

 

The Chess game with the all time highest live viewership till August 2020 belong to a competition Samay Raina streamed on YouTube: Comedians on Board 2. Or perhaps 3. This event had more live viewership than Fischer Spassky game even.

This record has since been broken and the game with the highest live viewership after this was the Gukesh Ding final game and the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad final. The latter was also covered by Samay and Sagar Shah.

 

While Vishy Anand is far more instrumental in improving the quality of existing players, Samay simply has gotten far more players playing chess.

 

Your Mandira Bedi analogy is not apt. A better one: Chetan Bhagat got more people to read than a Pablo Neruda. Popularity and reach and the cornerstone metrics of a successful event. Samay has taken chess to the masses.

 

Clown or not, his efforts in popularising the game have been nothing short of stellar. He has been feted by both Chess.com and FIDE.

 

rangeelaraja Grand Master

rangeelaraja

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, Mariyam said:

@Gollum

 

Everything you say about Vishy Anand is true. I was fortunate enough to briefly interact with him at the Chennai Olympiad. One of my most cherished memories. He deserves the Bharat Ratna. A lot more than cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. But that is another discussion.

 

Let's look at this dispassionately. With objectivity.

 

Vishy Anand has been a household name since the early 90s. Samay in the last 5 years. The Chess Premier League was started *because* of the efforts of Samay. Anand Mahindra decided to sponsor the event. There was nothing comparable ( commercially speaking) and with as many international stars playing along Indian talents all these years. This is a fact.

 

The Chess game with the all time highest live viewership till August 2020 belong to a competition Samay Raina streamed on YouTube: Comedians on Board 2. Or perhaps 3. This event had more live viewership than Fischer Spassky game even.

This record has since been broken and the game with the highest live viewership after this was the Gukesh Ding final game and the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad final. The latter was also covered by Samay and Sagar Shah.

 

While Vishy Anand is far more instrumental in improving the quality of existing players, Samay simply has gotten far more players playing chess.

 

Your Mandira Bedi analogy is not apt. A better one: Chetan Bhagat got more people to read than a Pablo Neruda. Popularity and reach and the cornerstone metrics of a successful event. Samay has taken chess to the masses.

 

Clown or not, his efforts in popularising the game have been nothing short of stellar. He has been feted by both Chess.com and FIDE.

 

 

 

Hi @Mariyam , I know your response was meant for @Gollum , but it provocatively misleading to pass up. Astaghfirullah !!

 

The only thing “stellar” here is your unwavering support for Samay Raina. :laugh:

 

Ironically, in your own posts, you’re contradicting yourself. His COVID-era content spike, driven by clownish theatrics , was a temporary entertainment blip, not a transformative chess movement.

 

The interest faded once offline life/chess resumed. YouTube viewership during a global lockdown reflects short-term boredom, not serious engagement or long-term adoption. 

 

Chess.com and FIDE acknowledged him for driving pandemic-era short term traffic,  not for any lasting contribution to chess.
 

Since you brought up Chetan Bhagat, I’ll say this — calling his contributions to Indian literature “stellar” is a negligible exaggeration compared to calling Raina’s role in popularizing chess “stellar.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by rangeelaraja
Gollum Grand Master

Gollum

Posted
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Posted

I think we are overestimating real world popularity of YouTubers, find many of them to be delusional.

 

Take this clown for example

levy.jpg

Gollum Grand Master

Gollum

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  • Author
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Saw on my feed that Pragg demolished Carlsen yesterday :hehe:. Don't have any interest par sunke achcha laga. Pragg has been spanking him since he was a 15 year old :laugh:. Out of all our youngsters, Carlsen fears him the most.  Once these kids peak in their 20s, Carlsen will conveniently lose interest even in the side formats and time controls. 

Gollum Grand Master

Gollum

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Posted

Women's WC going on in Batumi, Georgia. I will tune in from QF stage. 

 

Humpy, Harika, Divya, Vaishali have made it to R4. Vantika, Padmini and few other Indians eliminated. 

Gollum Grand Master

Gollum

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  • Author
Posted (edited)

Men's WC will be held in India in Oct-Nov. Thankfully venue may be shifted from Delhi to Goa (even the test match against RSA has been shifted from Delhi to Kolkata due to health concerns for players). Hosting any international event in Delhi in stubble burning season will be unimaginably bad PR for our country, if you wanna host it in Delhi/Haryana/Punjab, do it after March when AQI is better. 

Edited by Gollum
Gollum Grand Master

Gollum

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  • Author
Posted
On 7/17/2025 at 4:13 PM, Mariyam said:

@Gollum is this you?

 

 

 

 

 

Hans was treated shabbily by Magnus and co. Derailed his career and provided no proof of OTB cheating. 

 

Why wouldn't he enjoy their misery? 

 

Aronian is a complete gentleman, understandable that he has good rapport with him. 

Lord Grand Master

Lord

Posted
Posted
On 7/17/2025 at 12:59 AM, Gollum said:

I think we are overestimating real world popularity of YouTubers, find many of them to be delusional.

 

Take this clown for example

levy.jpg

 

That was misquoted though

rangeelaraja Grand Master

rangeelaraja

Posted
Posted (edited)

Divya had a 3 pawn advantage vs. Tan with a much better position and screwed it up when she I was +6 on the evaluation bar.
I know she is an IM and has had great performances - but her play is shockingly poor from hughly advantageous positions. 

Edited by rangeelaraja
rangeelaraja Grand Master

rangeelaraja

Posted
Posted

Took an even bigger blunder by Tan for Divya to win the game. Both players screwed up from much better positions. 
 

Humpy drew with White today and her battle will continue. 
 

Hoping for an all India final.

Mariyam Grand Master

Mariyam

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rangeelaraja said:

Divya had a 3 pawn advantage vs. Tan with a much better position and screwed it up when she I was +6 on the evaluation bar.
I know she is an IM and has had great performances - but her play is shockingly poor from hughly advantageous positions. 

Very shaky win.

 

But at the semis we take them as they come.

 

Credit to Divya. The rook pawn endgame she aced.

Vickydev Grand Master

Vickydev

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Chess is such a brutal game. The evaluation bar makes it seem the win is sealed but there are still factors at play. Nerves and time trouble not least of them

 

Converting a 2 pawn advantage in a rook pawn end game is still tricky. Won't be harsh on Divya especially as she was in a time disadvantage. 

 

Huge Congratulations to her, books a place in the Candidates as well. Also love how much emotions she shows

 

Humpy could have won too but then again that game also had time crunch.

rangeelaraja Grand Master

rangeelaraja

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Wow....Koneru wins it in style. 

 

So I got what i wished for - an all India final.

 

I have a soft corner for Divya because she is a fellow Nagpuri. 

 

But have a softer corner for Koneru -she is of the same vintage as me and has been around for a while - never been a classical world chess champion - she so richly deserves this world cup glory. 

 

 

Edited by rangeelaraja
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