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Favorite Chess Commentator
October 18, 2015
If I had to choose whom I would most wish to listen to commentating on games during a tournament, my list would be:
1. Jan Gustafsson
2. Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam
3. Nigel Short
4. Peter Svidler
5. Alexander Grischuk
6. Dmitri Komarov (we saw him at the World Rapid and Blitz, Dubai 2014)
Dirk’s main function is not in the analysis but to provide colour, history and engage his grandmaster mate in conversation and to keep him from analyzing the life out of a position and saying little else.
There has been a recent poll for commentator on qualitychess.com
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/blog/3999#more-3999
The comments by the voters are interesting:
- I love following tournaments and watching commentary when I can. I find it harder to pick out individuals, I prefer to think there’s great combinations i.e. anchorman commentator + strong GM commentator is my favourite combination.
My favourite combination is Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam + any Super GM, I like how Dirk Jan will ask the questions inexperienced players will ask, sometimes when you get two strong GMs commentating they miss the questions a lot of their lower rated audience would ask.
There is one problem with this combination and this is during post-match interviews, when the players and the strong GM commentator are analysing the game Dirk Jan becomes a bit redundant for this part of the commentary. For commentary on games in progress he’s excellent though.
Combinations wasn’t the question asked though but I felt like sharing my thoughts; I would want clarity on whether you meant someone that is consistency doing commentary? Or someone that has done commentary at any time, even if they’re not doing it consistently? I’ll give both though; my favourite consistent individual commentator would be Jan Gustafsson, he is particularly excellent at explaining what’s happening in the opening, he is really up to date in the theoretical developments of most openings it seems. I’m also a big fan of Simon Williams at Gibraltar, I remember back when he did it solo, his enthusiasm and excitement was infectious, and Gibraltar has remained one of my favourites for commentary…
- Lawrence Trent is missing.
I also think it is a question of the combination. I voted Gustafsson, he can do both, the host and the expert (and in three languages no less). Geuzendam is too staid for my taste, Ashley too enthusiastic. Seirawan is really, really good, too.
Short and Trent was kind of a perfect combination in the LCC. Seirawan, Shahade work well. Williams, Krush was a lot of fun.
Watching a world-class player comment is always a treat. Leko, Svidler, they are usually much closer to the mark when it comes to the chess and they offer real insights into the background, i.e. preparation, psychology, etc. That is something, which is missing when the commentators are weaker
- My favourite commentator is Nigel Short. He is the only person that I try not to miss when he is commentating. He may not be a top 10 player or anything like that anymore, but he has played a world championship match with Kasparov and he was one of the best at that time. So even though he doesn’t spend much time to study openings etc, he understands chess at the highest level. He is also extremely fun and tells you lots of stuff during commentary that no other player feels comfortable enough to tell. Others can be boring after some time. Nigel always has interesting things to say about chess and chess players in general.
My least favourite commentator is IM Lawrence Trent but he keeps getting invited to like every tournament. Watching him feels like watching a recorded 1 minute video over and over. He keeps saying the same things like “in this particular position” 200 times every 10 minutes. His chess commentary isn’t bad though.
- Svidler by far! Svidler+Gustafsson also quite awesome. I agree that Kramnik is also nice when he’s looking at other positions (he seems a bit biased in his own games). Daniel King and Yasser Seirawan are both great but they’ve been mentioned enough times upthread. Finally, anyone but Susan Polgár is a great commentator by comparison. She is talking on very low levels and it’s painful and I’m about 1700
- There are many fine commentators out there and it’s fine to have a variety. Who remembers Peter Svidler and Ian Nepomniachtchi commentating at a million miles an hour together? I thought it was great, others clearly did not.
Of the players who don’t commentate so frequently in English I would mention Alexander Grischuk who has always been enjoyable (and obviously completely on top of the chess) when I’ve seen him and Judit Polgar who in the one event I saw her commentating managed to combine great positional summaries with her tactical vision into a very informative commentary.
For post-game press conferences I would say Anish Giri is one of the very best. Even after very dull games he explains his reasoning clearly.
But people like Seirawan, Short, Gustafsson, Svidler etc who’ve been seen a lot can clearly do the job well.
- Svidler for the chess.
Yasser for the voice.
Nigel for the humor.
- I think Svidler is the best chess commentator in the world. He combines exceptional chess ability, a dry sense of humour and an extremely precise usage of the English language. For example during the Karjakin – Elijanov rapid playoff at the world cup he spotted the plan Elijanov would adopt and the reason why he would lose with it before he even played it.
Gustafsson has most of the same strengths as Svidler, although he is not quite as a strong a player and occasionally gets distracted from the chess with extended digressions on basketball and game of thrones. Svidler and Gustafsson are definitely my dream team of commentators.
Yasser Seirawan is excellent as well, and the Svidler – Seirawan commentaries from the London chess classic a few years ago are well worth watching. A particular highlight is an extended discussion on Viktor Korchnoi being rude to people (“you don’t get upset. You should frame these remarks and show them to your grandchildren!”)
Generally I used to really like the commentaries from St-Louis, but I think they have gone downhill recently. I don’t need Maurice Ashley to tell me what the computer says, while Jennifer Shahade often seems to get bored during the broadcast. I think Seirawan needs to be paired with someone more energetic (Alejandro Ramirez for example).
Of the others Nigel Short is very very good, but his habit being deliberately controversial is tiresome; Daniel King has a tendency to be hyperbolic which I find quite annoying; I…
- I think the poll is about full-day commentators, not guest stars for 30 minutes. Personally I like Short, Gustafsson and Svidler, but there are many others who can do it in a solid way.
A point I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread is that commentators usually come in pairs and indeed should come in pairs. This means one host and one expert. ten Geuzendam is a journalist. His job in this constellation is to make sure the flow is maintained and to get the expert and the guests to talk about the right things. I have to say I rather like his style, but he needs a very dynamic expert on his side to compensate his dryness.
- I have to say I was impressed at the commentator at the Dubai Blitz and Rapid in 2014- not sure of his name? Live commentary at speed with no computer help with lots of explanation and though many didn’t like his accent word choice I thought it added to the drama- ”Carlsen’s big blunder- look at the face, unhappy” [WK – it was Komarov]
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/blog/
The results of the poll were prefaced by this statement:
The results of last week’s poll placed Nigel Short as your favourite chess commentator, with Jan Gustafsson and Yasser Seirawan also highly popular. However, the large number of votes for ‘Other’ suggested we did not give you enough options! Comments showed Daniel King and Peter Svidler may have been amassing a large chunk of these votes, while there was also some interesting discussion on the best pairings to make up a commentary team.
Who is your favourite commentator?
Total votes 492
1. Nigel Short (138 votes, 28%)
2. Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam (10 votes, 2%)
3. Jan Gustafsson (73 votes, 14%)
4. Emil Sutovsky (20 votes, 4%)
5. Evgenij Miroshnichenko (15 votes, 3%)
6. Maurice Ashley (20 votes, 4%)
7. Jennifer Shahade (6 votes, 1%)
8. Yasser Seirawan (74 votes, 15%)
9. Simon Williams (11 votes, 2%)
10. Sergei Shipov (18 votes, 3%)
11. Other (107 votes, 21%)
October 18, 2015
If I had to choose whom I would most wish to listen to commentating on games during a tournament, my list would be:
1. Jan Gustafsson
2. Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam
3. Nigel Short
4. Peter Svidler
5. Alexander Grischuk
6. Dmitri Komarov (we saw him at the World Rapid and Blitz, Dubai 2014)
Dirk’s main function is not in the analysis but to provide colour, history and engage his grandmaster mate in conversation and to keep him from analyzing the life out of a position and saying little else.
There has been a recent poll for commentator on qualitychess.com
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/blog/3999#more-3999
The comments by the voters are interesting:
- I love following tournaments and watching commentary when I can. I find it harder to pick out individuals, I prefer to think there’s great combinations i.e. anchorman commentator + strong GM commentator is my favourite combination.
My favourite combination is Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam + any Super GM, I like how Dirk Jan will ask the questions inexperienced players will ask, sometimes when you get two strong GMs commentating they miss the questions a lot of their lower rated audience would ask.
There is one problem with this combination and this is during post-match interviews, when the players and the strong GM commentator are analysing the game Dirk Jan becomes a bit redundant for this part of the commentary. For commentary on games in progress he’s excellent though.
Combinations wasn’t the question asked though but I felt like sharing my thoughts; I would want clarity on whether you meant someone that is consistency doing commentary? Or someone that has done commentary at any time, even if they’re not doing it consistently? I’ll give both though; my favourite consistent individual commentator would be Jan Gustafsson, he is particularly excellent at explaining what’s happening in the opening, he is really up to date in the theoretical developments of most openings it seems. I’m also a big fan of Simon Williams at Gibraltar, I remember back when he did it solo, his enthusiasm and excitement was infectious, and Gibraltar has remained one of my favourites for commentary…
- Lawrence Trent is missing.
I also think it is a question of the combination. I voted Gustafsson, he can do both, the host and the expert (and in three languages no less). Geuzendam is too staid for my taste, Ashley too enthusiastic. Seirawan is really, really good, too.
Short and Trent was kind of a perfect combination in the LCC. Seirawan, Shahade work well. Williams, Krush was a lot of fun.
Watching a world-class player comment is always a treat. Leko, Svidler, they are usually much closer to the mark when it comes to the chess and they offer real insights into the background, i.e. preparation, psychology, etc. That is something, which is missing when the commentators are weaker
- My favourite commentator is Nigel Short. He is the only person that I try not to miss when he is commentating. He may not be a top 10 player or anything like that anymore, but he has played a world championship match with Kasparov and he was one of the best at that time. So even though he doesn’t spend much time to study openings etc, he understands chess at the highest level. He is also extremely fun and tells you lots of stuff during commentary that no other player feels comfortable enough to tell. Others can be boring after some time. Nigel always has interesting things to say about chess and chess players in general.
My least favourite commentator is IM Lawrence Trent but he keeps getting invited to like every tournament. Watching him feels like watching a recorded 1 minute video over and over. He keeps saying the same things like “in this particular position” 200 times every 10 minutes. His chess commentary isn’t bad though.
- Svidler by far! Svidler+Gustafsson also quite awesome. I agree that Kramnik is also nice when he’s looking at other positions (he seems a bit biased in his own games). Daniel King and Yasser Seirawan are both great but they’ve been mentioned enough times upthread. Finally, anyone but Susan Polgár is a great commentator by comparison. She is talking on very low levels and it’s painful and I’m about 1700
- There are many fine commentators out there and it’s fine to have a variety. Who remembers Peter Svidler and Ian Nepomniachtchi commentating at a million miles an hour together? I thought it was great, others clearly did not.
Of the players who don’t commentate so frequently in English I would mention Alexander Grischuk who has always been enjoyable (and obviously completely on top of the chess) when I’ve seen him and Judit Polgar who in the one event I saw her commentating managed to combine great positional summaries with her tactical vision into a very informative commentary.
For post-game press conferences I would say Anish Giri is one of the very best. Even after very dull games he explains his reasoning clearly.
But people like Seirawan, Short, Gustafsson, Svidler etc who’ve been seen a lot can clearly do the job well.
- Svidler for the chess.
Yasser for the voice.
Nigel for the humor.
- I think Svidler is the best chess commentator in the world. He combines exceptional chess ability, a dry sense of humour and an extremely precise usage of the English language. For example during the Karjakin – Elijanov rapid playoff at the world cup he spotted the plan Elijanov would adopt and the reason why he would lose with it before he even played it.
Gustafsson has most of the same strengths as Svidler, although he is not quite as a strong a player and occasionally gets distracted from the chess with extended digressions on basketball and game of thrones. Svidler and Gustafsson are definitely my dream team of commentators.
Yasser Seirawan is excellent as well, and the Svidler – Seirawan commentaries from the London chess classic a few years ago are well worth watching. A particular highlight is an extended discussion on Viktor Korchnoi being rude to people (“you don’t get upset. You should frame these remarks and show them to your grandchildren!”)
Generally I used to really like the commentaries from St-Louis, but I think they have gone downhill recently. I don’t need Maurice Ashley to tell me what the computer says, while Jennifer Shahade often seems to get bored during the broadcast. I think Seirawan needs to be paired with someone more energetic (Alejandro Ramirez for example).
Of the others Nigel Short is very very good, but his habit being deliberately controversial is tiresome; Daniel King has a tendency to be hyperbolic which I find quite annoying; I…
- I think the poll is about full-day commentators, not guest stars for 30 minutes. Personally I like Short, Gustafsson and Svidler, but there are many others who can do it in a solid way.
A point I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread is that commentators usually come in pairs and indeed should come in pairs. This means one host and one expert. ten Geuzendam is a journalist. His job in this constellation is to make sure the flow is maintained and to get the expert and the guests to talk about the right things. I have to say I rather like his style, but he needs a very dynamic expert on his side to compensate his dryness.
- I have to say I was impressed at the commentator at the Dubai Blitz and Rapid in 2014- not sure of his name? Live commentary at speed with no computer help with lots of explanation and though many didn’t like his accent word choice I thought it added to the drama- ”Carlsen’s big blunder- look at the face, unhappy” [WK – it was Komarov]
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/blog/
The results of the poll were prefaced by this statement:
The results of last week’s poll placed Nigel Short as your favourite chess commentator, with Jan Gustafsson and Yasser Seirawan also highly popular. However, the large number of votes for ‘Other’ suggested we did not give you enough options! Comments showed Daniel King and Peter Svidler may have been amassing a large chunk of these votes, while there was also some interesting discussion on the best pairings to make up a commentary team.
Who is your favourite commentator?
Total votes 492
1. Nigel Short (138 votes, 28%)
2. Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam (10 votes, 2%)
3. Jan Gustafsson (73 votes, 14%)
4. Emil Sutovsky (20 votes, 4%)
5. Evgenij Miroshnichenko (15 votes, 3%)
6. Maurice Ashley (20 votes, 4%)
7. Jennifer Shahade (6 votes, 1%)
8. Yasser Seirawan (74 votes, 15%)
9. Simon Williams (11 votes, 2%)
10. Sergei Shipov (18 votes, 3%)
11. Other (107 votes, 21%)
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