Maybe these top GMs are not as good as we thought??

Are these top GMs as good as we think they are? maybe not! So, I’ve been watching some games from this incredibly strong tournament, the Gashimov memorial. Carlsen, Anand, Giri, Mamedyarov, Karjakin, etc. are taking part. Now, I’m perfectly aware that these guys are probably, and I’d like to emphasize that word, PROBABlY... incredibly strong players. However, sometimes you bump into a game and you begin to wonder… are they really that good? Case in point, this is the round 2 game between Giri and Karjakin. Let’s see what happened! youtu.be/uBcYPLxUIkE

christ that talking guy is creepy af

Are you very scared? like in a scale of 1 to 10, how scared would you say you are? Shall we call your parents or something?

Ok I agree with #2, and I also consider reply #3 creepy, haha!

Comment before having a look at the video: Hopefully this is just clickbait and he isn't serious.

Comment after having a look at the video: What an idiot. I can't believe that an IM can fall for this. His point is basically: "After analysing the game with my engine, I can confirm that Bxh6 works and every variation works and that this exact move order is needed. How could white miss that?" Gee, I don't know: These lines are complicated. He saw the possibility but decided that Nh4 was a good move order but he missed that attacking the pawn saves black from the attack. Humans, even 2800 rated humans, make mistakes and don't see everything. You as an IM should know that. Picking one game as an example is also idiotic. Pick a larger sample of games and compare it to the games of lower rated players. You will find that the 2800 rated humans miss such a tactic sometimes but not nearly as often as 2500 rated humans. That's why they are higher rated. This is just simple stochastics.
You think you would've grabbed h6. Yeah, maybe. But if you get 100 such positions and Giri gets 100 such positions, he will grab it more often than you. You are also judging ex-post which gives you a huge advantage in knowledge.
The amount of mistakes in @chessclinic's logic is incredible.

#6 thanks for doing the work and going through the video. I stopped after 1 minute and simply assumed exactly what you've written.

@aescht Well, I'm now one step closer to eye cancer but if it cures the stupidity of this IM (I still can't get over the amount of fallacies he committed), it would be worth it.

Don't need to watch the video.
Looking at many of their games you begin to wonder if the games are fixed.

www.chess.com/news/view/norway-chess-starts-with-three-wins-a-draw-and-a-loss-3896

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtTkfmaiI4I

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODAoIn629w

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUr_gdKQ8j4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHTa3aDczCk

Many examples of Carlsen losing a game to only win by a "miracle".

I understand that there is a massive amount of stress during these games, but I also understand that organizations create drama to increase viewers.

Call me a contrarian, but I am happy that someone is willing to entertain the controversial idea Magnus Carlsen is *probably* pretty good at chess.

Next week: China is probably a pretty big country.

Quality youtube.