The Shady Business of Chess Norm Factories… 

0:43 thanks for giving a shoutout for the renowned "GM" Levy roseman!

0:43 did you just premove levy's grandmaster title? 👀

I played in First Saturday IM tournaments in 2011 for 3 months and can tell you that in my experience the tournaments were totally on the level. I got to know the organizer Laszlo Nagy and saw that he was a very professional and friendly person who took great pride in his tournaments. Although I was playing in the IM norm tournaments I had no interest in any IM norms-I just wanted to get my Fide Master title as I was an older player who was not strong enough to have a realistic shot at making IM and getting my Fide master title was my last goal in chess. I played 3 tournaments and never experienced anything shady. In the last round of my 3rd tournament one of my opponents approached me and said he had a family member in the hospital and could we just play a quick draw. Neither of us was in contention for any norm opportunities (my opponent was rated around 2250 if I remember and I was a bit over 2300). I agreed and we just played 15-20 theory moves and shook hands. When Laszlo saw the game he was annoyed and said that he doesn't like games like that in his tournament as they are bad for his tournament's reputation. I didn't know that what I was doing would bother him and I just agreed because I would have felt like a jerk forcing my opponent to play when he was telling me that he wanted to be with a hospitalized family member.

Not the most popular chess player nowadays, but Karjakin was inches away from world classical champion over the greatest player ever. He was one of those tilt proof players, shown in his 3 consecutive candidates, nearly winning all 3. Id say Carlsen's main rival in 2010s even though others would say Fabi or Anand.

0:44 Levi a GM? Press X to doubt

I remember a certain Fischer back in the 60's talking about similar things happen, but he's been called a lunatic while in fact he could have been right at the time.

Hey Thanks for making this video and referencing my article. Would have appreciated if you quoted it as a source below the video description, tho? Think it is a good practice for any sources used in any case.

Cheating has been going on for a long time. The Soviets were notorious for gaining quick draws against one another to conserve their energy for non-Soviet GMs. And look at the corruptions of Campomanes and his Soviet handlers, and the Karpov v Korchnoi match which was jam-packed with Soviet shenanigans.

Wait why is there a women’s chess league, that makes no sense

gothamchess is GM?? i think thats a mistake

Make no mistake, GM Sergey Karjakin may have gotten his initial title with slightly shady doings, if you believe in the rumors, and you probably don't agree with his pro-Putin stance, but he's a legitimate super GM.

This is really a serious issue.. needs more publicity..I know from India, lot of people go to Europe trip for achieving norms and comes back as IM s..

This is an example of Kramnikism (or Magnusism?) - a highly speculative and almost malicious video, based on hearsay, bad interpretations, and misinformation. For starters, agreeing to draws beforehand is not illegal nor shady; they also don’t imply that something is to be gained from making those draws. For a reason, they are called "grandmaster draws", and although not illegal per se, they are not very welcomed in elite tournaments because they are public events, and spectators pay to watch the fight. This led to the introduction of stipulations like the "Sofia Rules" - where draws are not allowed in less than 30 moves. However, in tournaments not played for the public, such as those for qualifying purposes, rating gains, or title pursuits, making quick draws with jaded old grandmasters becomes a strategy - they are there for the payment, so a draw means a 20-minute workday for them, but they can pounce if you want to battle. Second, First Saturdays truly is a point of pilgrimage for newly made grandmasters. Like everything, some titles may have been "intervened", not because the Organizer fixes it, but perhaps due to low-effort players who want to gain a title as if paying for an online course certificate, analyzing their games with engines on. Cheating, if done well, will always exist, and little can be done about it. That doesn’t mean that everyone cheats. Also, you pointing out the Hungarian Grandmasters playing the same tournament? They are locals -and it's their dream job! It's like going to work at the Starbucks in the corner, but with your brain. To add to the previous point, the best player ever known to have gotten Grandmaster norms at the First Saturdays tournaments is none other than Fabiano Caruana. I bet you can't accuse him of cheating. Look how it turned out. Also, everyone worth their salt in chess knows that the kid Mishra is a monster, and this is not a line that will be written only once. Just take a look at his games, without engines first. Follow his example. Karjakin: I have no idea about Karjakin, but it's difficult to argue with the results. However, chess cheating in Russia, or better said, collusion in Russia, is a documented issue that dates from the very first international tournament where Botvinnik got the title. It was done to advance one of their own, only among themselves. Still shady, so who knows. Nemsko: You forgot to mention that her title is WGM (Woman Grandmaster), which is a lower title requiring only a 2300 rating. For the same reason, that could be why the games have a low move count issue. Norms: Explained poorly. You forgot to mention that the minimum rating required by FIDE for GM norms is 2380, so it’s not a crime to have a 2390 average in a tournament, as it's designed this way for organizers. Still, the player has to prove their worth by getting a rating over 2500. It’s not a cheating issue; it's a rule issue. Do they have to raise it? I don’t know. Perhaps it's better to create another title, like a SGM. A Grandmaster title now doesn’t mean much in a world of 2600s and 2700s. And as per your examples, where you get a livelihood commenting on games... This guy Levy is not a GM. Lastly, the use of "some say" in your narrative is the laziest way to accuse somebody of something. Haven’t you learned anything from the Hans Niemann affair? Those accusations with specific names and without definitive proof that would not hold in court are ripe for a juicy lawsuit. It’s actually good that this video has little to no views. I would sue you just for the clickbait: Came for the clickbait, stayed for the rage. PS: Still waiting for you to mention the name of the world champion who cheated his title.

2:12 that's a familiar face..back from when i was at a first saturday tournament in budapest over 6 years ago

Calmed opponent got angry and this is what he wanted

Attempting to dim other's light doesn't make yours any brighter.

Really nice analysis! Keep it coming.

0.32 Correction: It's "Candidate master" not "Candidates master"

I think you brought up many good points and speculations in this video, however most of the sources was from Reddit which questions the legitimacy and validity of your claim.

I personally think, that norm factories are a good thing for the sport. A GM title is super hard to get either way, and doesnt offer many benefits despite being flown in and paid for closed tournaments . For some GMs who got their title legitimate, its the only way to support themselves as coaching chess does often not pay nearly enough. If someone wants to pay hundreds of thousands to get a GM title but cant stay above 2400 elo points consistently in real games, let them. Most people that play chess, if they see a gm who peaked at 2500 once when they got the title and then straight went back to 2100 know whats up anyways

This is like karate/jiu jitsu handing out black belts to people without having to participate in any real sparring

Do you seriously imply that Karjakin doesn’t deserve its rank among best players in the world!?

Chess should be one of those things that has no division between Male or Female. Its a contest of intelligence and wits not speed or strength

Great content! High quality.

What is the background music playing 3:58?

2:14. Where do you get those chessmen? They look awesome.

Great coverage!

Summoning salt inspired a fire chess video? Love it

Take his GM title, but he will easily destroy 99.999999% of all players 😂

So you're just reading the Chessentials article basically? Real original

What do you think of the im norm thing recently that chris bird shared?

getting youngest gm title doesnt guarantee sponsorship. i know abhi mishra and his dad a bit, allegedly corporate sponsors in US were not interested. that being said would be surprised if aid was zero as travel coaching expenses a few hundred K$ per year

Lol Levy isn't a GM, but he's working in it

0:45, Levy made it to GM!!

44 seconds in and you say that levy rozman is a GM, which is not a true, and that makes your video loses any credibility it may have, i'm not even watching it because it's not a fluke, it shows you've no idea what you're talking about.

You totally stole the music from Summoning Salt's videos. Not cool.

0:42. let me also add that your editor seems confused about exactly what Levy can or cannot do. 🤷

Lol thats basically the old soviet union for you. In a bubble. You want to win you got to pay. If you dont pay, they will give you a headache.

Its not same for Women, they can be GM or they can be WGM

Levy is still IM as of the moment (not GM as indicated in the video)

Waaaait... this isn't Summoning Salt!

Dude short draws were made illegal before God was born - do better.

In that email he said match fixing but he must have meant game fixing.

A suggestion from me, make a video about FIDE Online Arena.

I don't know about some of these stories...an anonymous reddit user? The supposed words of someone who had already died? And of course, short draws do exist.

What is a "norm factory"? Is this an industrial building where instead of churning out everyday consumer products, they churn out GMs?

POV u realized you’re a future GM (your horrible at chess and it’s not happening)

Sahil Tocco who was in chess competition was scammed he also made vidoe on it on channel chess assist.

Why the need for background music????

Karjakin is probably better than 99.99%

Why do you feel the need for loud tweet noises?

So I'm not an amateur chess player, I'm just poor.

2nd: 10:55 What's your opinion of Armageddon w/ auction, even in classical? --- Well Bobby Fischer was preaching about pre-arrangement but I don't think increments & 9LX are enough to solve this. I think we have to look to xiangqi where their armageddon has auction and was invented by a player named Ronghua Hu known as - surprise surprise - the Bobby Fischer of Xiangqi! So I think bobby would like Armageddon (w/ auction) w/c makes every game fair & decisive. - Plus in particular, bids for black in 9LX go like 12min/15min while in chess they're like 9min/15min since 9LX doesn't have as many draws or as much white advantage (except in computers). --- Armageddon w/ auction makes every game fair & decisive. I believe this'd mean - A - no more draws but in a good way not in a no stalemate way. And a fortiori no pre-arranged draws - B - no more rapid tiebreaks. You can play chess w/o Armageddon and then settle classical matches w/ classical tiebreaks - C - Can have best-of-1 knockouts - D - All single round robins & single swiss are fair. - E - There's no more issue of drawing a best-of-4 by compensating for a white loss with a white win & 2 black draws like in 2016 & 2023 classical wcc's where Sergey & Nepo had more black wins than Magnus & Liren. I notice these 3 improvements of Bobby - 9LX - Increment - Armageddon (w/ auction) Are used more in rapid than classical but they should be used more in classical!

The music is way louder than your voice we could barely hear you

ny brother why is the music so loud! otherwise great video 👍

could titles be granted based upon performance against an engine?

Too much ado about nothing, play the game for the love of the game, the noise around it don't matter.

They should come to India, USA to get GM, just like how Indians travel to Europe

Corruption in eastern europe?? Say it aint so!

Levy will never be GM. Clownchannel!!

cough nemko cough

Yeah well, some guy needed 1 more win, so he cheated. Years went by, nobody cares.

When you watch things from away, watch news etc one think everthing goes okay in ethical ways but truth is different, trash inside...

What's the music from 0:01?

I feel both sides to this. Getting a grandmaster title is already way too rigged and difficult as is, the fact that there are more people with Doctoral degrees than grandmasters says it all. If anything it should be made a little easier for people to get titles and norms. I think the better way to handle this is to make sure that the round robin norm tournaments happen in an environment where everyone can see, not making it so that the norms have to be done on a swiss. I personally hate a lot of aspects in the swiss system and would much prefer sectioned round robins and winners advancing to the next round robin in a pool of the same number of players and so on. I personally prefer the Round Robin format because all pairings are predetermined beforehand and everything is on a set schedule and the next pairings don't have to be determined each and every time.

Awesome video!!

Great video.. stop the constant back ground beat tho my brother

wtf. summoning salt music. lmao

All kinds of cheating going on.

hello you legends...