The Fastest Man Alive!

[@nephandi2316]

The most incredible in the MVL - Duda match is that Maxime played the 1st game with white, played the 2nd with blacks, and during the few seconds between each game had time to think about the position in his 1st game and find an improvement in it, which was Duda's demise. What a monster. (In the 1st game, he had the position from 13:25, and played d4 immediately, then Qc2. The idea of playing Qc2 to induce Bg4 then d4, exd4 and Nxd4, with Duda playing Bd7, which gave Maxime the exact same position as the game before but up a tempo, was amazing)

[@talphazero1036]

Wow, that's crazy. To think, such a small change in moves to arrive at the exact same position but better would be the decider. Well deserved win by MVL!

[@polishchesshustlers9350]

It's not that MVL found improvement but Duda made mistake. They were playing exactly same way as 1st game but Duda wanted do something different by attacking the knight with bishop and it was a mistake in 13:35 Oryginally Duda puts bishop on d7 and it was much better and that's why duda lost tempo

[@ouechmaggle992]

He is a monster indeed!

[@symeon7858]

Duda is the only player who finished in top 5 in both rapid and blitz!

[@dariogreggio7981]

weird

[@ethanl.1699]

@@dariogreggio7981 lol these bots have been all over KZbin. Don’t click on them because that will only make them post more. Report them and move on

[@jamesknapp64]

@@ethanl.1699 Yeah I just report for spam and it rmeoves them, Then move on

[@UrGoneConcept]

@@ethanl.1699 I clicked, out of curiosity

[@marino4691]

great player!!! underdog

[@GeraldM_inNC]

These are the two most impressive games I've seen Agadmator post for Maxime these past two years. He took control of the board giving himself a superior position with excellent winning chances.

[@thebirdhasbeencharged]

Had it not been for Covid, MVL would have likely won candidates. He would have given Magnus a bit more of a challenge I think

[@GeraldM_inNC]

@@thebirdhasbeencharged He could hardly have given Magnus less of a challenge in the world title match than did Nepo.

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

Another "very nice" Ruy Lopez. I do hope you have a very excellent rest of your day!

[@light_king5847]

Really then u don't follow agadameter... He had posted a very good game mvl bs nepo... Go n watch 😂😂

[@matthewberry3608]

My absolute favorite MVL game was when he makes Nepo laugh from his brilliancy kzbin.info/www/bejne/inWyo2OgndubnJY

[@goldenboypierre3284]

MVL has had so many ups and down this year, very nice to see him smash through the new year with a new title!

[@TalEl59]

Yeah, I'm really happy for MVL. He's a great player and a great guy. Much respect!

[@mo7ammmad2012]

What the heck is mvl ?

[@TalEl59]

@@mo7ammmad2012 Its his name: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL)

[@jamesc.little1886]

I started teaching chess at the Memphis Chess Club and the Shelby County Farm Prison in Tennessee in the mid 70's.. I moved to the Seattle area and taught at the Mercer Island Chess Club, which I founded and since disappeared, and one semester at Bellvue Community College as a non-credit course. Moving on after three years and continuing to teach in Houston and Phoenix before ending up in Las Vegas for the past thirty three years. I still teach on occasion to anyone individually. I had a great mentor back in the 50's who was from Hungary and another from Russia. So I have been passing on my knowledge about chess to anyone willing to learn and hope that I have had some impact. Yes, I am not the greatest player after nearly 70 years of play. I just hope to get things started in someone's life as it did in mine those many years ago. I love your site and keep up the good analysis. Always enjoyable.

[@lamegliogioventu]

Your story is inspiring me; thank you for sharing

[@hideomituns2184]

that is exactly what I hope to do as well sir and I am beginning my journey!

[@davidcopson5800]

Little did we know you had such an interesting story.

[@matheolucic]

Wonderful commentary. I hope Agadmator reads it.

[@jozefnowak6797]

Huge congratulations to MVL of course, but also to Jan - Krzysztof Duda. He finished 5 at rapid and 2nd at Blitz. Definitely one of the best player of our era

[@philipstrange60]

And finishing off 2021 with a personal best - watching 8 minutes after release!!!!

[@WorldofWar]

The fastest man alive. Agadmator telling us something about himself.

[@xethnyrrow]

tbh, I thought it was going to be a video about himself too, LOL

[@kamitebyani5309]

Best comment

[@grantross2609]

the idea here i think is to not only be fast BUT ALSO quite clear which this man most certainly is..... also hats off for pronouncing all those names at the end without taking some kind of medication/pills..........unless he did of course !

[@slink66]

He uploaded this video very late though

[@Frost_Byte_Tech]

😂😂😂😂😭

[@lajos-berenyi]

Dubov fucked it up. He had the second best criteria after Levon, so if he had won in the last round, he would have gone to tie break. And the worst thing, that he could know it, so therefore even more ununderstandable, that he made a such fast draw even with the white pieces. We knew him not with this character until now! Congratulations to MVL, he deserved the title!

[@martinpaddle]

it could just have been a reaction to having won the game against Nakamura by default. I personally would hate winning an event when one of the wins was a gift, it wouldn't feel legitimate. Since he still had chances for a podium finish (and the prize money) with the draw, it made perfect sense.

[@lajos-berenyi]

@@martinpaddle It is nonsence. First if he would have wanted to react this, he would have to do it in the next round, not after so many rounds. Second, he would have had chance for the tie break with this draw only, if the all other 5 leader would have drawn as well. Third he even had a similar draw some rouds before, against Levon he had the black pieces, he had an edge in the middle game plus had more than one minute(!) time advantage, still he drawed the game. He was pussy in this tournament!

[@timperalta9430]

I thought Levon had this, and it was tough for me to root for Levon against MVL since I love the frenchman too. When I returned to the stream, I was surprised to see MVL and Duda playing for the tiebreak. Go, MVL!

[@shubhendranathsingh9888]

That mvl levon game was also very intense and that was first of levon's loss streak. Levon lost 3 games in a row and 4 in last 5.

[@douglaseLamb]

Wow! Thx 🙏🏻 Antonio, great presentation. Have a great new year!

[@andromedasiddhik2792]

Was waiting for this Allez MVL!

[@aesaphyr]

Dubov's early draw with Anish made zero sense because actually on the tiebreak system (Buchholz), Dubov was the first out of the six who were leading the pack. So actually he was in the best position out of them all - if he won his game against Anish, he would automatically qualify for the tiebreak match. The same can't be said for everybody else who had lower Buchholz scores - especially Alireza, who had the worst score because he'd spent most of the tournament in the bottom half of the scoreboard and was only in the top 6 thanks to an insane comeback. But Alireza fought and won his match in this round despite being in the worst spot out of the top 6, while Dubov just drew after 6 moves despite being in the best, so... it was disappointing, and felt unfair.

[@shubhendranathsingh9888]

I think levon had best tiebreaks

[@aesaphyr]

@@shubhendranathsingh9888 Oh, you're right, Levon had the best and Dubov second. He would still have automatically qualified for the tie-break matches though if he won.

[@josephnewman713]

I think he felt if he won that some would say he did not deserve it because he got the free point from Hikaru withdrawing.

[@aesaphyr]

@@josephnewman713 People might say it but he'd still be walking away with the prize since it's what FIDE decided to do, and besides he could point out that he lost his first game in round 1 by not turning up, lol

[@andrejjanotak7195]

We need more people like Antonio. A normal human being with great passion for something good. Keep up the excellent work.

[@brentconnock2513]

Thanks from South Africa Antonio, great work... thank you for all your hard work, been watching almost since you started, happy new year to you!

[@rongliu1182]

I don't think my wife would appreciate the title "the fastest man alive"

[@livinvincent3418]

LOL

[@rbanerjee605]

Cause she’s a woman.

[@praveenrawat6574]

If you're prepared, even bullet format is enough to mate your opponent

[@mercronniel3122]

@@rbanerjee605 r/woooosh

[@Nihilistic_Arsonist]

Self burn aren't rare anymore, but still admirable.

[@colinmorris5464]

Perhaps the most impressive thing was the ease with which Agadmator breezed through the list of players’ names near the end. I always struggle working out how to pronounce most of them.

[@edwardtang3585]

I was rooting for Levon but I was very happy also that MVL won. His hard work finally paid off

[@akmd114379]

Beautiful games for MVL, those bishops in the Magnus game and the light squared one in the Duda game was the best positioned pieces i have ever seen. Seeing Dudas poisition had me claustrophobic.

[@Swishead]

"Obviously Maxime isn't banking on Magnus missing something like this so he doesn't look for it."

[@vrishankpandey8537]

It's very impressive how Maxime always finds a position of superiority in most endgames just like his ending with Duda, the French Grandmaster just finds the moves of superiority to threaten the opponent.

[@keithmatthews1673]

Well done MVL! I thought it was a strange game from Magnus. It is almost as though he did not want to win it which makes no sense. He had been a little erattic over the five days so maybe he was not feeling well - he certainly needed an excuse! On the subject of the tie break my view is that if that is the countback method to be used then the one player with the best countback score should be awarded the event with no further games. When you have three tied and leave out the one with the third best countback but allow the player with the second best countback a chnce to defeat the player with the best countback that just seems perverse. I say either everyone tied plays a playoff or no one plays! Thanks for great reporting on the event and have a happy new year.

[@bercaferca4554]

All the comments are about duda or magnus lol. MVL is the real world champion, just having excuses for their loss. MVL is just one of those immortal all time players

[@Braiining]

Thank you for the impressive coverage of these beautiful games. Whenever it’s possible, are you able to cover Anatoly Karpov vs Arthur Bisguier (Caracas 1970)? It was a game I looked at recently and enjoyed after looking at Karpov games in the database. #suggestion

[@phaque3115]

#suggestion

[@fernandovargasmejia8512]

When I saw the title of the video I thought Agadmator had made a video about himself

[@greyart6554]

Happy new year folks lets push chess even more

[@tabularasa9576]

But does chess push you??

[@rokanza2293]

@@tabularasa9576 sure

[@soposh5673]

Sad life

[@imightbebiased9311]

Been a fan of MVL since I saw him tell Dany Rensch he had failed at life if he'd never tasted persimmon before and watching him play ping-poing against Dina Belenkaya. Allez, Maxime!

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

Ah, yes... ping-poing, that funny game where the ball takes a weird bounce off the corner of the table.

[@imightbebiased9311]

@@davidanderson_surrey_bc Good catch.

[@giovannicorno1247]

Compliments to MVL for this beatiful victory!

[@ramachandra776]

Wishing you a very happy new year to agadmator and family . Becoming the first chess KZbin content creator to cross a million subscribers . Hope you cross the 2 million mark soon and speed on to the 10 million mark . Also i have decided my first move of my first game with white on new year will be b4 . 😁 .

[@oggo62]

Maxime exploiting inaccuracies in the Rui Lopes like fruits ripe for the plucking. Impressive

[@81OH4Z4RD]

MVL's bishops were like scalpels. Thank you agadmator and happy New Year.

[@davidcopson5800]

That's a cutting remark.

[@brentdye4374]

Thanks for posting. Happy 2022!

[@Chodestick]

Great video Agad!

[@TheSmPH]

Fastest man alive is Agad with the uploads.

[@ihcfn]

Well done MVL, was waiting for this.

[@jeffreyhampton9130]

Nice job. Thx, Happy New Year!

[@Sultan-nx9jn]

Agadmator, could you please cover some games of a new women’s blitz world champion 17 years old Bibisara Asaubayeva?

[@pineapplesareyummy6352]

About the tiebreak rules, after seeing what happened in the Blitz section, I support that there has to be criteria to whittle the tiebreaks down to two players. Look what happened in the penultimate round. There were six players tied, which eventually became three. But for what it's worth, since its Swiss tournament rules, it is always likely there will be multiple players tied on points. How do you properly do playoffs between players on equal points if there are five or six of them? The playoff might become a mini-tournament in itself. As a practical matter, to prevent making the tournament rules even more complicated than they already are, there really is no option but to either (i) have no playoffs by ranking the players according to secondary, tertiary (etc) criteria, (ii) have a playoff between a maximum of two players.

[@phaque3115]

More games, especially in smaller time formats, gives fide and the players to cash in on more advertisements, and it would promote a more intense chess coverage with added drama.. a tournament within a tournament? Sounds like an amazing sound bite to me for headlines.. all the better to promote the sport..

[@eugenefritz5459]

I really enjoy your videos. Have a happy new year

[@armagaan007]

Magnus's 2850+ ratings must have taken quite a hit in these two championships. I remember Antonio saying that with such a high rating, a win gives you minuscule gain but, a loss has a severe effect on the rating; even draws hurt. (Heavy indeed is the head that wears the crown.)

[@KnightToRemember]

It’s not that much, I think a loss makes him lose 9 points at worst while all the U 2300 kids can lose up to 37 points

[@jamesfriedman4645]

Drawing a game after 6 moves is like getting a split decision in boxing after the 1st round.

[@panda4247]

Serves them right that they did not advance to play off (him, and Fabi who did tha same in rapid with white pieces)

[@zeninguem1937]

@@panda4247 yeah but fabi didn't know the tiebreak rules, unlike dubov

[@panda4247]

@@zeninguem1937 that is his problem, not mine (or Nodirbek's and Nepo's) Also, you can check the interview that Chessbase India did with Emil Sutovsky (tournament director); he mentioned that it's not a new rule; the same rule applies since 2017 and it already eliminated some players (notably Nepo himself) back then and nobody was criticizing it back then...

[@cptnoremac]

It doesn't seem that hard to me to have a fair decider. Just keep playing pairs of games until there's a score differential. So after this, Duda would have white and it would be a must-win game. If he does, they just do another pair. It's blitz; there's no reason to worry it'll last several days like that. Hell, tennis players have to go until they're up by two points and that's a far more grueling sport than chess.

[@P.sherman45]

Yes some rules are old, and recently people are going against them, I mean look how hard it was for alireza to preform "better" than many big names, and they just drop him out like that.

[@imightbebiased9311]

Yeah, especially in blitz, it seems like you have the freedom to really suss out who is best on the day. However, given that I am a terrible, terrible player, perhaps doing so many blitz games in a row with no prep will just involve situations that turn into that Isner/Mahut matchup where you go into an early draw if you feel like you're in a complicated position that you're not able to grasp.

[@danieldimian7884]

When Agadmator said ,,our good friend" I thought about Lowental,but it was the engine :))

[@panda4247]

I thought it will be a move with the light square bishop

[@xash3000]

Congratulations you're an excellent subscriber

[@Gherkins54868]

I always think of our good friend the bishop.

[@eliet8944]

Congrats El Profesor!

[@jrbleau]

Magnus lost (some of) his mojo and his opponents could smell blood. That more than closed the gap. Still, a very off-form Magnus (he was uncharacteristically slow and hesitant and at 9:12, his Rxc3 is an awful blunder) nevertheless finished at or around the top. I think the guy needs a two or three-month break.

[@phaque3115]

Most definitely he just finished the world championship against Nepo he’s probably overworked

[@201thenoob]

My man,that is such a fan,never mentioned the fact,that the #bishoppair #fromhell joined the fun....

[@bercaferca4554]

Like Ive said: I preferred the weird Maxime who has signature style of play to Play Magnus in the championship than a tryhard like Nepo who choked

[@CaradhrasAiguo49]

20:25 "Carlsen's worst World and Rapid performance" xD

[@AndersonNeo12]

Uploading on 31.12.2021, absolut legend Agad, incredible stuff. Happy new year. 🎉😀

[@jozefserf2024]

One player tried to win. One player tried not to lose. Well played MVL!

[@korpilombolo0068]

I think that agadmator is referring to himself in the title.

[@anjukumarufcmmaboxing6672]

I was waiting for this video.

[@perintata3743]

One of the best yt content for me in 2021. SRECNA NOVA GODINA !

[@sagittarius5466]

Those tiebreakers are (unnecessarily) so incredibly unfair… that’s fucked up

[@CXLP]

Happy new year everyone and I hope we'll have many more games to enjoy in 2022 !

[@masterchess3377]

I remember myself exactly 365 days from now watching your newest video minutes after uploading.Still the best chess youtuber.Keep it up bro

[@tankoteemusic9755]

First thing that came into my mind when seeing the title was the name: Usain Bolt. In terms of chess some of the fastest players I have observed: Andrew, Magnus and Hikaru.

[@P.sherman45]

At some point, levon had a 2.5 point lead from second place, it must be hard for him, He had such a big lead that after losing 3 games he was still at no.2

[@EnoVarma]

It would be lovely, if you made a video about Assaubayeva's amazing blitz tournament in Poland.

[@spindoctor6385]

I want to see a tournament where a win recieves 3 or 4 points. I think it would eliminate things like a 6 move draw in the last round.

[@suryanarayan2032]

I agree, they should use a football scoring system: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, and 0pts for a loss.

[@spindoctor6385]

@@suryanarayan2032 I never get much support for this idea. It has been my opinion for a long time that one win and one loss from two games is better than two draws. I can not see any drawback, there is probably some I have not considered. It keeps people alive in tournaments longer, it promotes attacking play and would surely reduce the amount of games that are agreed draws after a handfull of moves. A six move draw would lose points in a tournament where I made the rules.

[@OswinOsgood]

The true fastest man alive is Agadmator

[@billybo4996]

Wtf is with these bots

[@slink66]

Not this time though ☝️

[@billybo4996]

@@slink66 Oh sorry, i had a brain fart. The other comments are getting bombarded.🤮

[@mbientn]

I hope all the best for MVL; what a sincere guy!

[@abdulmuzaffaraladinbahaman7896]

Agad's caption never fails to amaze me

[@bojanboskovic6744]

"I'll make you famous!" Billy The Kid / Willam H Bonney / Young Guns 2

[@somewhere6]

Congratulations to Maxime. Blitz is not a big deal as as far as I am concerned but navigating oneself to the top IS an accomplishment to be remembered.

[@minhielts2700]

You are the fastest man alive Antonio. I swear some games were uploaded before they even concluded.

[@tabularasa9576]

This game was finished yesterday wtf you are talking about?!

[@whatsup4616]

One of the best games I’ve seen from MVL 👏

[@snookslayer4559]

Nepo finished dead last... that's hilarious. Getting humiliated in the Championship game wasn't enough.

[@ajithkumara7870]

MVL Came, criticised FIDE,WON blitz,PACK UP things

[@Sw4TishPGM]

What did he say towards FIDE?

[@dariogreggio7981]

@@Sw4TishPGM he said that fide is annoying with the useless dress code but doesn't provide water for the players and they had only 1 bus for all the players partecipating in the rapid championship or something like that. He wasn't happy about how the events were organized

[@Sw4TishPGM]

@@dariogreggio7981 I didn't know but he's right then

[@comebackfailed6350]

Happy New Year guys!

[@julyboy66]

Congrats to Bibisara Assaubayeva too !

[@ibrahimseck8520]

Le président sur Agadmator, ça fait plaisir !

[@DEBIEL918]

Wow, amazing that Magnus missed that move in the pause moment in the first game at 9:27... I saw that almost instantly and I'm like a ~1600 blitz player... Even the very best players can blunder silly things sometimes.

[@luc4887]

Congrats MVL 🇫🇷🥳

[@brianmccormick8328]

To have a fair tie break, they just need to play 2 games. Whoever is ahead after those 2 games wins. If they are still tied, then they play 2 more games. Rinse and repeat.

[@2199SPUDMAN]

Congrats to MVL! Too bad about Naka... he was undefeated in rapid and blitz when he had to withdraw.

[@DeviousGruntAlliance]

I was sad to see Dubov draw so early! Especially with how on fire he had been through the whole tournament :/

[@SilentShadovv]

Maxime was on a roll :D

[@peters972]

Happy new year Agad

[@erikraphael5552]

It's nice to see other players win than Carlsen, congratulations MVL!

[@michaelgarrow3239]

No tree grows to the sky forever.

[@Ani-Albanian]

10:30 lmao i was dying

[@singular9]

The fastest gun that ever lived. Yes it's an actual video.

[@hansolowe19]

A good 2022 to everyone. 🤗

[@NICKB1]

Loved these games

[@OutlawSprocket]

Hey I finally got it right when I paused the video

[@arijitdey3154]

MVL taking Master classes from Firouzia

[@tabularasa9576]

Not really

[@arijitdey3154]

@@tabularasa9576 oh yeah I can prove that, MVL played e4 this game, alireza also plays this move quite often

[@tabularasa9576]

@@arijitdey3154Most people is playing e4 lately

[@lecryptomanciendu3578]

@@arijitdey3154 wtf is that "proof" lmao

[@yann1013]

2.20 MVL plays h3 but why? I thought that move was to prevent Bishop g4 and nail White's Knight on F3. But in this Spanish game Black's white Bishop is developed on b7. And on the second game Breyer's variant white doesn't play h3 to do that. So what's the utility of h3 then?

[@Bushwakbill]

It’s Good to see magnus is actually a human and not an artificial intelligence or an alien , come to destroy earthling chess players as I previously suspected.

[@icarusflying1814]

Happy new year folks

[@alexisz3213]

Wasnt the 3rd game an Armageddon? The rule of playing as many blitz games as possible till someone wins only applied to the rapid tournament I guess. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

[@zeda4014]

Agad might have wanted to add that at the end of the game Duda was under extreme time pressure, he was down to 3 seconds.

[@captaincook8283]

After watching and liking this video, there's nothing more to be done here.

[@jrmdlt]

except maybe sharing it with your friends at the bar or the library

[@eldoreschess2428]

So the guys with the best tiebreaker MVL and Nordibek also won the tiebreaker itself?

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

For once FIDE got the playoff structure correct. Top two finishers (tie-breaks included) play off, in the same time format as the qualifying games. Makes sense to see if the first two games settle the issue (two wins, or one win plus draw); if not, then sudden death games (no Armageddon nonsense). And who should get the White pieces in the odd-numbered games? Well, duh -- the one with the most tie-break points of course. Perfectly reasonable, fair, and understandable.

[@slink66]

Let's talk about Bullet, though Hold my red wine glass. 🍷

[@pllvvs]

happy new year yo whoever sees this

[@michaelgarrow3239]

2u2! I just hang out here for the chicks… Lol

[@tabularasa9576]

Was really bad year for me i did not work a single day i earned nothing 😰

[@baamboom0749]

Excited to see the greatest queen sacrifice of 2022

[@anjukumarufcmmaboxing6672]

I wish Hikaru played.

[@robertdeladrue3927]

Not a single covered game of MVL before that one ?!

[@tomriddlevoldemont628]

In this picture Maxime looks like the professor from the show Money Heist.