Top grandmasters reviewed their player rating cards created by TakeTakeTake’s David Howell at the Freestyle Chess Grand Tour, revealing surprising insights about self-perception among chess elite. The player cards, modeled after sports video games like FIFA and Madden, represent a new approach to quantifying specific chess skills beyond the traditional Elo rating system.

Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura

Super GM and Streamer

When you look at this video, everybody is downgrading themselves. I’m trying to say Fabiano is a great calculator. Magnus and Nepo say the same thing, and Fabiano’s like ‘nah, I’m not a great calculator.’ It’s kind of funny when you see how players basically downgrade themselves. They assume they’re not as good as they actually are.

When Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2722) questioned his high calculation score of 97, stating “I don’t know why everyone thinks I calculate well,” another player immediately responded, “Because you actually calculate. That’s the difference.”

Norway Chess will be the next tournament for Carlsen, Caruana, and Nakamura, starting May 26 in Stavanger. The tournament brings together the world’s top players, including world #1 Carlsen and current World Champions Gukesh and Ju Wenjun, for ten days of classical chess competition.

Read more about the tournament: https://norwaychess.no/en/ Thumbnail: TakeTakeTake