chess boom = low quality Gotham content?

I used to watch a few chess streamers, and among then, gothamchess has been by far the most interesting. I started watching him in late 2021 and since then i've been watching every one of his videos.

He used to provide everything i wanted from a chess streamer: he analyzed interesting games (i especially enjoyed historical games and games from recent top level tournaments) with a commentary that was fast paced, funny and very instructive. There was some clickbait here and there, but the quality was always worth it.

This, until late 2022, when the second wave of the chess boom started and a huge horde of new chess fans arrived. They are thirsty for new chess content, no matter the quality, because newbies usually don't know what quality is.

The vast majority of views he gets comes from this new audience so he started creating content for them, but the quality dropped so bad that i stopped watching him.

What do you think? Has anyone experienced the same?

Well, Levy Rozman/ GothamChess,  just won the Chess Streamer of the Year award, so it seems that there may be a few people who disagree with you.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/2023-twitch-streamer-awards-qtcinderella

Dude cusses so much on his TWITCH channel. Stick to YouTube and you'll be better off. Way off topic, but worth mentioning.

I voted for him, the alternatives were complete garbage. Also i don't see how the number of people that disagree with me makes a point. 

If you want quality content from Levy, subscribe to Chessly+ or buy his Chessly courses, they are often on sale. Anything else is there for entertainment first, improvement in chess second. And that's fine, it's better to have fun and be mediocre than not play at all because it's not fun.

I understand this and feel similar about it except that even in 2021, I never subscribed to IM Levy Rozman/@GothamChess because most of his videos seemed to be misleading clickbait and somewhat entertaining more than explaining more advanced topics.

I still think his channel is quality and he is a talented chess player himself, but his target audience just doesn't seem to be me. My current favorite chess streamer/YouTuber is GM Danya Naroditsky as his quality is really good and he breaks down even advanced topics in a way I think everyone can follow along with:

https://www.youtube.com/@DanielNaroditskyGM

For beginner to intermediate level (occasionally I cover advanced topics and other chess things), I created my own YouTube channel a little while ago to help others improve

I'm really barely starting YouTube though and I've still never made a penny yet; it's okay though, my channel is a work in progress and the more practice I get with creating quality content, then the closer I can get to someone like Levy or Danya.

https://www.youtube.com/@kesetokaiba/videos

Another really good YouTuber is Antonio Radić.

 I heard Marc Esserman is good but I never watched.

At least he's not one of (((them))). Important to keep chess.com pure

I bought his g6 course on Chessly and i'm happy with that (however, when it comes to paid content, i'm really enjoying chessmood.com which i believe is 10x better) . His youtube videos used to be good for both entertainment and improvement, recent ones gives me neither of that.

I wish he didn't give a damn about being a the youtube algorithm and maximizing his audience. He's forced to record too many videos. I would enjoy him more if he only made max 2-3 videos every week, focusing on quality, choosing the games more carefully and trying to find the right balance between entertainment and deep analysis.

Naroditsky is very good but Levy has a really unique style. One can improve watching courses or technically advanced videos, but EMOTIONS gives you a boost when it comes to learning, and gotham when he does his best can make a chess game look like The Godfather.

I remember my heart actually started racing when i was watching his analysis of the 2022 Airthing Masters semifinal between Nepomniachtchi and Esipenko.

p.s.: good luck with your own youtube channel

I been playing chess for 50 yrs. I enjoy Levy and his Channel. I think his award was well deserved. Granted I'm a fairly new subscriber too Gotham Chess. I really think the good he has brought too Chess and streaming ; far out weight's any negitive thing you can find in what he does.

I unsubbed from him because of it

He didn't used to clickbait as heavily as he does nowadays, and he used to make legitimately good educational content. 

I agree unfortunately I remember his "Lose at chess" series used to have some epic games and comebacks, but now the games are so boring and just typical beginner chess. 

Can't help but agree unfortunately. Even as a fan who still watches some of his videos to this day, I can't help but notice the overall quality kind of just... dropped. Thumbnails and titles got more clickbaity, jokes don't make me crack up like they used too, analyses of games aren't as educational as they were, overdoes it with his self promotion, etc. I agree with @massimocucca in that he does have a unique style. Not a lot of people can pack the same amount of energy and enthusiasm into chess of all things, that's why I started watching his videos in the first place. But to appeal to a much bigger audience, he had to make changes to his content, few of which aren't received well by some of his old fans. It's a bit sad to see, but I understand success requires sacrifice.

Hı

I just watched his analysis of the 2nd round of the world cup, good game and good video. But also he himself said that he gets more views with 600 elo chess videos, so if we do the math i guess we are going to se a lot of dumb stuff on his channel, but he's still going give us something good to watch when there are important matches.

Levy's far too full of himself for my liking. Agadmator and Naroditsky are my favourites as they consistently put out high quality content, without bigging themselves up constantly or trying to flog you their shiny new course.

Well yea... he is meeting the demands of the market with light chess entertainment. Can't blame him. As long as he is not slapping other streamers with tortillas or playing for dates...