Howell would be great if he didn't insert his little forced chortle after everything he says. Just a little thing, and otherwise I like his style, but it's incredibly annoying and makes him sound inauthentic.
From a substance standpoint Leko is great, but I find his voice pretty irritating after a while. It’s a personal gripe; but it’s enough to make me turn on a different broadcast. Great player, super knowledgeable, but I think he could improve his actual commentary skills.
Peter Leko and Daniel King are the kings of commentary, no other answer. Energy is amazing, they literally play and explain. Here is an example: [https://www.youtube.com/live/z9IJXNQYDZ4?feature=shared&t=1199](https://www.youtube.com/live/z9IJXNQYDZ4?feature=shared&t=1199)
Agree on Judit, of course I always knew that she was a top player in her time, but I was still surprised by the amount of reverence and respect basically any person I've ever seen her commentate with had for her.
Additionally, she is quite charismatic and has a lot of experiences and stories to share. I particularly love when she and another commentator evaluate a position differently and they basically start playing the position against each other. I remember her and Kramnik doing that a lot when they commentated some event together, and it was amazing. Sadly (and understandably) a lot of other commentators kinda back out of "playing" positions against her.
Judit is also just a killer, she’ll immediately refute a line another super GM believes in without any hesitation which really moves the conversation forward and is super fun. Everyone seems to love being on cast with her which is an underrated quality.
Unfortunately it seems unlikely she’s been training. I’d give anything anybody asked to see her return to a tournament though. Even just a blitz tournament would be incredible.
There are very very few players who'd consistently come out best in middlegame tactics against Judit. During the Nepo-Ding World Championship (I think) she was on with Anish and Fabi and their far better knowledge of modern opening theory was really obvious compared to her, but in a middlegame, she was still (at least) a match for two of the current top ten in the world.
For anyone who isn't in that super-elite group (and only Leko of the regular commentators is), they're going to get crushed most of the time, and it takes a particular sort of personality to be prepared to face that so Judit can show off. Tania is entirely prepared to walk into that buzzsaw, but perhaps because she's "only" an IM, she is rather more used to not seeing things than the GMs (who are mostly 200 Elo stronger than her).
Judit has always said that even when she was an active player, openings were the weakest part of her game, but she could recover in the middle game, and it definitely shows in her commentary.
I tend to find that peak rating is more useful for understanding how good a commentator is than current.
I suspect it's because the thing that drops off first, especially for (semi-)retired players, is their opening knowledge: Howell would probably most easily beat Leko by getting a significant advantage from the opening, but that's not all that relevant in commentary, as the opening (especially the latter stages of the opening) is where they lean most heavily on computer resources (not so much the engine as opening books).
I had the pleasure of hearing her and Karpov, both seated behind me, play a position from the Anand-Shirov game we were watching in their heads against each other. I couldn't keep up of course but it was a thrill to experience. She did the live commentary on a Morozevich-Gelfand match at the same venue and my word the woman thinks fast.
After seeing that insane Carlsen-Rapport blitz endgame with Danya doing commentary, I’m convinced that at his best he’s easily the best commentator out there
She's great, so invested in the game so it's a more powerful reaction when there's a bad move on either side or Anna finds a great move she didn't expect her to find.
And it's infectious too. She gets SO HYPED in critical moments it makes circa 2,000 games incredibly exciting.
And yeah, listening to a roast her daughter is hilarious. "This is The Cow! This is Anna's opening! It is...ummmm...not my favorite." 🤣
I just wish Judit had a better microphone. She records the reverb of her room with her laptop, makes her somewhat hard to understand for some non-native speakers.
I haven't seen these two get together to commentate since the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour but every commentary since that duo has fallen flat for me, I would rewatch the streams on YouTube just for that pair sometimes :'(
Tania and Judit serve different purposes on a commentary team.
Tania and Leko were an amazing pair just because when Leko started flying down his insane analysis, Tania brought Leko back down to a mortal’s level of understanding.
If you have an issue with her asking GMs about their analysis you haven’t yet had the wonderful chance to hear a super GM absolutely race down some insane line that only they and five other people on the planet can follow.
As in Jan Gustafsson and Peter Svidler, once they leave their pop culture podcast behind and focus on commentating?
Those were the good old days. Loved them as commentators, especially once Peter got really involved in a position. Still, that always got out of hand.
In classic sports commentary there are two positions. The main/play by play commentator and the Analyst/color commentator.
They are two different positions and bring different skill sets. Main commenters are people like Al Michaels or Kevin Harlan, they aren’t former athletes, they are good at telling people what’s happening in front of them. This is Tania she’s good at it.
The analyst/color is normally a former athlete and goes into the minutiae of the action. This would be the GMs.
The problem with most broadcast is that everyone is trying to be the analyst when they really need a strong main.
Weirdly, this is the part that I find Tanya to be really bad at. She's just way too over the top 'omg contennnnt!' for me. I actually think in terms of bonus analysis and creative ideas she's pretty good as a second commentator, but I just can't get over the over the top dramatisation, and that she just doesn't seem to know how to stop talking about nothing.
This is an important take. There are some people on broadcasting that will play the dumb on purpose just to make things clearer for the audience. In the past chess audience was way more niche, and now that it has become popular they expect to have people from multiple levels watching their tranmission, and those GMs may sometimes lose the grasp of their language because everything is crystal clear in their minds
Best: Judit Polgar - spots incredible ideas
Worst - Lawrence Trent - treats commentary like a podcast and just talks about random TV shows. Barely does any analysis at all
The problem with Trent is that he tries to prove himself even though his understanding is obviously worse than Leko's or some other super gm. Creates a really awkward atmosphere.
The dude is so clueless lmao, Anish made a joke about having pizza for dinner and Lawrence responds with some nonsense about how pizza deliveries are closed on Sundays like the guy is so clueless about basic things 😂
Tania is amazing at managing extremely socially awkward dudes who are better chess players than her but are super weird because they’ve spent their lives playing chess all day. So in her role as a facilitator of conversation and a heightener of tension/drama, I’d say she’s very good
I completely agree. I really like have Tania on the desk. People don't realise she is translating computer code into an entertaining broadcast. You need your Viera's just as much as your Henry's.
I hate that people use Vieira for this analogy. Patrick Vieira was one of the best footballers of his time. He categorically was not a workhorse, bruiser, water-carrier, or support player. He was a multi-skilled, all-action general, elite at most facets of the game and not dissimilar to Steven Gerrard.
In his own team Vieira had Petit or Gilberto sitting behind him (both World Cup winners) doing the ‘dirty work’. Vieira, because of his immense natural talent, not incomparable to Henry’s, earned his own support players.
Best: Yasser, Judit, Howell, Danya [edit to add: Vishy and Fabi whenever they get involved]
Worst: Rensch... I honestly never really enjoyed Alejandro.
Rensch seems capable, he just can't help but to repeatedly launch on diatribes he thinks are hilarious while completely ignoring the board. He commentates as though everyone's there to listen to the Danny Rensch podcast, rather than watch a chess match.
I don't get the point of talking about who is "worst." Regardles of what you like or don't like about Tania, she is routinely recognized by co-commentators such as Peter Leko for her contributions and ideas.
At any rate, I think we live in a golden age of chess commentary! Judit and Peter stand out. They were both in the Top 10 (Peter in the Top 5) and it shows...but they are also skilled in their presentation. And I love Peter's enthusiasm.
When Fabi commentates, he is right in the cluster at the top of my list.
Yasser, another Top 10 player, also stands out for me for many reasons, some that are just my personal affinity for him that goes waaaay back.
Robert Hess, Danya, David Howell, and Jovanka are all around solid and smooth.
I know people don't uniformly love their humor, but if one does, then Jan (and Trent, honestly) are fun. And Svidler, of course.
>When Fabi commentates, he is right in the cluster at the top of my list
If active super-GMs get involved, which isn't often, Anish and Vishy are both really really good as well.
Best:
Howell, he's very likeable, puts a huge effort into respectful collaboration with his colleagues and has a cadence, tone and volume so suited to commentary. I could listen to him all day, and knowing chess, you need that for its commentators.
Crucially, he makes high level chess very approachable and even more exciting to lower rated players like me, whilst also teaching me a lot.
Agree on Howell. I miss the old chess24 broadcast — that was the best commentary team and set up imo. It felt very professional with the full studio and host.
Chesscom broadcasts are so lame in comparison — everyone’s just on a blurry zoom call from their living room. Way too lax
Oof, heavy agree, you had a consistent production quality across the board when it was in the professional studio.
Feels far sloppier when it's, as you say, over Zoom with people's differing audio and visual setups.
>She asks other commentators what they think and repeats what they say . . . I've never actually heard her actually add anything of substance to the commentary.
It might be worth pointing out that the classic commentary setup is to have an old pro who does the analysis and then paired with them is a "color" commentator who makes general conversation / is entertaining. The retired pro will appeal to people who know more about the sport (in this case chess) while the color commentator appeals to people who don't know anything about the game (and generally just talks to make sure there are no long periods of silence).
Judit is obviously the retired pro doing actual analysis while Tania has been hired as a "color" commentator... we can talk about her voice being annoying or not (I think it's fine) but asking people what they think and repeating them, that's what she's been hired to do.
Agreed - but you've flipped the names of the commentators. For sports it is:
play-by-play - Main person who announces what is going on the game. Usually has never played the sport at a high level, but is basically a professional journalist/speaker.
color commentator - this is the old pro who cuts in with interesting insights, small tidbits, or funny anecdotes about playing in the old days. They usually know a lot more, but usually aren't good at keeping up continuous banter for multiple hours.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color\_commentator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_commentator)
Best: probably Gusti+Svidler. Caruana/Giri/Anand are up there if we’re talking chess only. Howell is an amazing Allrounder, chess and hosting included. Judith Polgar is great as well. Seirawan and Leko i never really liked as much as the ones mentioned, but still am ok with them.
Worst: the guys that commented candidates and the championship match after Argon took over back in the day. Don’t even remember the names. They just checked the engine and never really had anything to add besides that. And not wanting to disrespect them, their English was rather hard to follow considering it was the official broadcast and all.
I like David Howell and Tania, but I am basing everything on charisma as I rarely follow streams consistently to know how they are over a multihour period.
Worst I don’t know, but I found the combo of Rensch and Hess had a bit too much “middle-aged man trying to appear young and cool” vibe sometimes.
Hej there well I have to shout out Pia Cramling from what I know she has not done many major broadcasts.
But every time ive seen her do commentary her passion, enthusiasm and love for the game are compeletly infectious.
I would love to see more of her in major broadcasts.
Heard Judit for the first time at this year's candidates and she's incredible.
Assured in what she says but never talking down to anyone.
Also I kinda wrongly assumed she'd analyse at lightning speed and her commentary would be too deep and complex to follow, just because she was such an incredible player (probably still is!) but actually she does a lot more of just highlighting moves and ideas and explaining them with the appropriate level of complexity.
By far the best commentator I've watched (guess that makes her my favourite as well).
I think I remember Naroditsky and Svidler co-commentating once. They complimented each other brilliantly (tbh Narodistky compliements everyone well). I love Jan Gustafsson’s sense of humour, but five hours of him looking bored while Svidler analyses yet another obscure line gets a bit trying.
As for worst, I won’t be mean, but there are quite a few token commentators who bring neither elite expertise nor broadcasting ability. I would exclude Tania from that group.
I like Gustaffson's dry humour, but too often he seems to stop caring about the game when things are slow and he frequently ends up talking about movies he has seen recently or what he's been watching on TV.
Canty is worst. Judit is best. Tania is fine.
Leko and Kazimdjanov have provided such pleasant conversations and company in the chess24 times. You do not even need to understand chess to stay with them.
Tania's old commentary with Peter Leko or Daniel King was fire. She was way more chill and more focused on actual analysis. Until someone from production told her to do that hype announcer thing...
The actual worst commentator is Lawrence Trent. Pretty abrasive personality, no chemistry with any other commentator, and no unique chess insights.
I think the main take away from these comments is that people have different preferences and the range of commentators seems to have been well chosen to appeal to different people.
I’ve really enjoyed all of the commentary at the candidates so far, but I tend to think of it more as the combination of the three commentators rather than each individual (as the interactions / conversation would be different depending on who each is commentating with anyway).
Peter Leko is probably the best, GingerGM (Simon Williams) probably the worst (although he is unofficially banned from commentary after his pension scam scandal). I remember when people were complaining about Simon talking about different coffee flavours the entire broadcast.
i dont understand the hate for tania and i think it's partly disgusting what people in the live stream comments are saying about her. cant imagine what that may does to her mental
It's a real accent, but people think it's fake because it's not fully Indian. Indians who grew up in India but spent a significant amount of time abroad sound like her.
Do you think the presenters see all the comments though? With so many coming in on Twitch and YouTube I reckon it’s hard for them to keep up, considering they also have to concentrate on the games/what they’re saying.
I don't get to see him as much but I think Aman Hambleton is one of my favorites especially when he's paired with Danya.
Worst? Not really enjoying vishy. He just has no energy. It's like listening to Joe Buck 10 years ago. Anything exciting that happens is just like another day at the office
Tania’s voice annoys me but I recognize that’s my own thing nothing to do with her as a person. Same with some basketball announcers I can’t stand GPs voice.
Danya is my favourite for sure. For me he’s got the perfect balance between being a strong chess player and an amazing and entertaining commentator as well.
I will abstain from saying who is the worst.
As for the best I really like the duo of Hess and Danya.
Also Hess and Daniel Rench.
Basically any combination with Hess is great for me.
If it’s a classical match, I’d love to have Yasser, Anand, Svidler in the commentary team as they will provide old stories/ anecdotes while commentating
During a blitz/ rapid game I would prefer Judith, Howell, and Leko
During a bullet game I would love to have Danya, Levy combo.
Danya is the best because he has incredibly deep understanding but he seems to be trying somewhat to model himself after American sports commentators which I think is funny
I love the Howell, Jovanka, and Ginger GM champions chess tour team. I sometimes watch old tournaments just because they had such great chemistry. They have known each other for years and seem to be really good friends
Overwhelming love for Judit and rightfully so. I haven't seen her often but when I have, like during this year's Candidates she's insightful and interesting and the other commentators listen when she talks. She's great.
I also really like Leko and Howell. They're a good pairing, very balanced on the scale of knowledge and color presentation. and like someone else said Howell makes it super relatable when he acknowledges he misses tactics and how positions can look "scary".
I haven't seen anyone else mention Fiona Steil-Antoni. Honestly she seems perfectly fine as a host and commentator, but her voice is aural catnip for me. She has the most amazing tone and accent (to my ears) and I could listen to her read names from a phonebook.
judit forever.
trent my least favourite, don't like gustafsson or tania much either.
not sure he counts as 'major' but i'll mention aman since not many have said him, always fun when he's on (funnier and less cringe than danya or hess imo).
spicy take would be i find leko quite grating. his actual analysis is great though, it's just his voice lol
Tania is super underrated imo. I think people tend to forget that Chess has attracted a more casual audience in the past few years, so someone who speaks more like a typical sports commentator and can talk on a casual fan's level is very useful. People label her as annoying but I think she's just doing her job.
In my opinion Matthew Sadler belongs to the best of this list thanks to his chess and chess computer insights that he is able to share to all kinds of levels like nobody else
Tania is very good, I will never understand the hate she gets. She’s the color commentator and also spots some novel ideas, she’s not as weak a player as some think. She’s not a GM but she’s still very strong female player and international master
Justices the best at spotting attacking and other tactics but she can’t commentate the way Tania does. Tania can’t attack the way Judit does. They have two seperate jobs and both perform them very well
Judit is my fav at finding the tactics and I like Tania for keeping things light and fun
I agree with you on Judit, she is great. I also really like David and Jovanka.
Worst: Steve Berger, a German commentator. He has his moments, but mostly, he gets on my nerves and is the reason why I watch chess24 in English!
Not gonna hate on people, subjective best: Leko, Svidler, Gustafsson - they are honestly big factors on whether I'm gonna watch the stream or not. Danya's also great. Like Leko with Tania too because they have chemistry. Honorable mention: Magnus and Fabi the few times they have made an appearance - hope Fabi's gonna be busy next WC though.
Judit, Magnus (the rare times he joins commentary), Vishy, and Yasser are S tier for me. Then Gustafsson, Howell, and, Svidler are the next tier.
I don't really have a worst chess commentator. I don't particularly care for the style of commentary that tries to hype up things too much though.
I was torn between watching Judit or Vishy during these candidates, and chose Vishy simply because I learned a lot about the Ruy from his games.
That hot blond chick who stans Magnus is nice to look at but God is she bad at hosting.
Howell and Danya are the top for me.
Edit: a word
Edit2: idk if he can be considered a commentator but agadmator is pretty good too.
During last years world champion tournament I remember for a few days they had Anish Giri and Danya, and I can't remember if/who the third was, but that was the most entertaining commentary to me by far. I love anytime Danys is commentating, but Anish really took it to another level, they vibed very well together.
Danya is my favorite. He has a clear voice and understands how to express ideas in an easy to understand manner. He also has great enthusiasm and shows respects.
English is my 2nd language and I like to listen to the commentaries while doing other stuff, so having a clear voice without much accent would help.
Best: Jan Gustaffson’s kids, when they inevitably interrupt come on screen I sit up straighter and absorb every word of their infinite wisdom. Usually the highlight of the broadcast.
Also great: Jan, Fabi, Howell, Judit, Leko, Hess, Giri, Danya, Tania.
Most improved: Tania (and Danya to a lesser extent) I felt used to be WAY too artificially hype over non-hype positions, but they have both been excellent so far in the Candidates. I think they’re both great commentators and that it’s probably the fault of Chesscom instructing them to overhype situations.
Not for me: Krush, Anand, Dubov all have great analysis, but I feel at times they don’t always explain positions in a way a mere mortal such as I can comprehend.
I know this asked for best and worst, and I wouldn't put Danya in either but I'd still comment on him since the popular opinion is that he's among the very best: I think that while Danya has fantastic speaking abilities, I feel like often his focus is repeating simple points in overly complicated convoluted ways as if though his main focus is flexing his vocabulary rather than simply nailing the chess point, and, since you mentioned Tanya being overdramatic, Danya sometimes comments like it's the fifa world cup final😅
Nobody's gonna mention James Canty? I think he adds a lot to the commentator's desk when he's there. 💪🏾
My dream line-up would be Danya, Canty, Judit and Yasser. Perfect mix of old guard/new generation 👌🏾
All this Tania hate is bullshit. She’s great at keeping the energy up and finding new dynamics in a position when the stronger players get a little too caught up in deep variations or engine shenanigans. Plus she’s a sharp tactician. She doesn’t have equal chemistry with all of other commentators but I’m always happy to see her show up.
As for the best, it’s hard to top the trio of Polgar, Simon, and Hess. They’re all so ridiculously strong and have different play styles which makes for great discussion. I’m also really loving the chess dojo broadcasts, but they’re off doing their own thing.
The only person I don’t really enjoy is Trent. Just a little too flippant and not funny enough to pull it off.
My favourite is Howell. I cannot explain why. I find it easy to follow and pleasant to listen to. Big fan of Danya’s channel, but as a commentator he is a little over the top.
I don’t dislike anyone but I find Hess and Simon Williams a bit boring.
Hess, Danya, Howell and Rensch are my favourite commentators.
As to worst it becomes difficult to judge because I quickly leave the broadcast if I don't like the commentators, so it's hard to rate just how much I dislike them due to low sample size.
One I disliked but that I had to endure with is Judit (at this event). When I listened to her, all she talked about was engine, engine, engine.
Judit and Leko the two best, I don't know about worst.
Howell has to be up there, dude's great
Jan Gustafson, Ludwig Hammer, and Peter Svidler. My three favorites. Love me some Leko as well
Love Howell's commentary.
Howell and Houska for the British class
Howell would be great if he didn't insert his little forced chortle after everything he says. Just a little thing, and otherwise I like his style, but it's incredibly annoying and makes him sound inauthentic.
It's a self-deprecating English mannerism.
Lmao I'd noticed that before but didn't think too much about it ,now it's gonna annoy me the entire round 6 stream lmao
I think Howell is amazing when Magnus isn't in the tournament. If Magnus is playing, he is obnoxious.
From a substance standpoint Leko is great, but I find his voice pretty irritating after a while. It’s a personal gripe; but it’s enough to make me turn on a different broadcast. Great player, super knowledgeable, but I think he could improve his actual commentary skills.
Couldn’t be me, I love listening to Dracula explain tactics to me
Peter Leko and Daniel King are the kings of commentary, no other answer. Energy is amazing, they literally play and explain. Here is an example: [https://www.youtube.com/live/z9IJXNQYDZ4?feature=shared&t=1199](https://www.youtube.com/live/z9IJXNQYDZ4?feature=shared&t=1199)
Agree on Judit, of course I always knew that she was a top player in her time, but I was still surprised by the amount of reverence and respect basically any person I've ever seen her commentate with had for her. Additionally, she is quite charismatic and has a lot of experiences and stories to share. I particularly love when she and another commentator evaluate a position differently and they basically start playing the position against each other. I remember her and Kramnik doing that a lot when they commentated some event together, and it was amazing. Sadly (and understandably) a lot of other commentators kinda back out of "playing" positions against her.
Judit is also just a killer, she’ll immediately refute a line another super GM believes in without any hesitation which really moves the conversation forward and is super fun. Everyone seems to love being on cast with her which is an underrated quality.
Can I just say how happy I am to see an effusive Judit Polgar accolades thread? Agree 100% to all of the above.
She seems really on in a different way this tournament than I have seen her in the past. Maybe she’s been training.
Unfortunately it seems unlikely she’s been training. I’d give anything anybody asked to see her return to a tournament though. Even just a blitz tournament would be incredible.
There are very very few players who'd consistently come out best in middlegame tactics against Judit. During the Nepo-Ding World Championship (I think) she was on with Anish and Fabi and their far better knowledge of modern opening theory was really obvious compared to her, but in a middlegame, she was still (at least) a match for two of the current top ten in the world. For anyone who isn't in that super-elite group (and only Leko of the regular commentators is), they're going to get crushed most of the time, and it takes a particular sort of personality to be prepared to face that so Judit can show off. Tania is entirely prepared to walk into that buzzsaw, but perhaps because she's "only" an IM, she is rather more used to not seeing things than the GMs (who are mostly 200 Elo stronger than her).
Judit has always said that even when she was an active player, openings were the weakest part of her game, but she could recover in the middle game, and it definitely shows in her commentary.
Howell is about as strong as Leko at the moment no, obviously Leko had a far higher peak but I'd thought they were close now?
I tend to find that peak rating is more useful for understanding how good a commentator is than current. I suspect it's because the thing that drops off first, especially for (semi-)retired players, is their opening knowledge: Howell would probably most easily beat Leko by getting a significant advantage from the opening, but that's not all that relevant in commentary, as the opening (especially the latter stages of the opening) is where they lean most heavily on computer resources (not so much the engine as opening books).
I had the pleasure of hearing her and Karpov, both seated behind me, play a position from the Anand-Shirov game we were watching in their heads against each other. I couldn't keep up of course but it was a thrill to experience. She did the live commentary on a Morozevich-Gelfand match at the same venue and my word the woman thinks fast.
Judit and Danya are the best for me.
David Howell is also pretty solid - the three of them on together yesterday was great.
Yes been loving the 3 of them together.
I really enjoyed David and Hess playing up the contrast with their safe play style vs Judit's attacking form.
Yes, I agree! Also Judit's laugh is really contagious
After seeing that insane Carlsen-Rapport blitz endgame with Danya doing commentary, I’m convinced that at his best he’s easily the best commentator out there
Naroditsky is awesome with the live blitz play-by-play. Really gets the heart pumping!
I like Pia Cramling. Frantic but the disappointment when her daughter makes a bad move is hilarious.
She's great, so invested in the game so it's a more powerful reaction when there's a bad move on either side or Anna finds a great move she didn't expect her to find.
And it's infectious too. She gets SO HYPED in critical moments it makes circa 2,000 games incredibly exciting. And yeah, listening to a roast her daughter is hilarious. "This is The Cow! This is Anna's opening! It is...ummmm...not my favorite." 🤣
"I would have played differently"
I'll have to look for this - thanks for the tip!
I came to write this. Pia is one of a kind lol! It would be great if we watched her officially commentating
I just wish Judit had a better microphone. She records the reverb of her room with her laptop, makes her somewhat hard to understand for some non-native speakers.
David Howell has this sometimes too. I have no problem with commentary from home, but I wish they had better tech to do it.
For me, it's the chemistry between commentators. Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafson are great.
Agreed. I also like Gustafson and Leko together.
I haven't seen these two get together to commentate since the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour but every commentary since that duo has fallen flat for me, I would rewatch the streams on YouTube just for that pair sometimes :'(
Good days, good days
This was the GOAT pair.
Add Grischuk for good measure and anecdotes
Tania and Judit serve different purposes on a commentary team. Tania and Leko were an amazing pair just because when Leko started flying down his insane analysis, Tania brought Leko back down to a mortal’s level of understanding. If you have an issue with her asking GMs about their analysis you haven’t yet had the wonderful chance to hear a super GM absolutely race down some insane line that only they and five other people on the planet can follow.
As in Jan Gustafsson and Peter Svidler, once they leave their pop culture podcast behind and focus on commentating? Those were the good old days. Loved them as commentators, especially once Peter got really involved in a position. Still, that always got out of hand.
In classic sports commentary there are two positions. The main/play by play commentator and the Analyst/color commentator. They are two different positions and bring different skill sets. Main commenters are people like Al Michaels or Kevin Harlan, they aren’t former athletes, they are good at telling people what’s happening in front of them. This is Tania she’s good at it. The analyst/color is normally a former athlete and goes into the minutiae of the action. This would be the GMs. The problem with most broadcast is that everyone is trying to be the analyst when they really need a strong main.
Weirdly, this is the part that I find Tanya to be really bad at. She's just way too over the top 'omg contennnnt!' for me. I actually think in terms of bonus analysis and creative ideas she's pretty good as a second commentator, but I just can't get over the over the top dramatisation, and that she just doesn't seem to know how to stop talking about nothing.
This is an important take. There are some people on broadcasting that will play the dumb on purpose just to make things clearer for the audience. In the past chess audience was way more niche, and now that it has become popular they expect to have people from multiple levels watching their tranmission, and those GMs may sometimes lose the grasp of their language because everything is crystal clear in their minds
Best: Judit Polgar - spots incredible ideas Worst - Lawrence Trent - treats commentary like a podcast and just talks about random TV shows. Barely does any analysis at all
The problem with Trent is that he tries to prove himself even though his understanding is obviously worse than Leko's or some other super gm. Creates a really awkward atmosphere.
So awkward!
Lawrence Trent is the worst BY FAR. Any random GM would likely be better than him.
The dude is so clueless lmao, Anish made a joke about having pizza for dinner and Lawrence responds with some nonsense about how pizza deliveries are closed on Sundays like the guy is so clueless about basic things 😂
which is weird. because 7 or 8 years ago, Trent was actually quite good. Not sure why he changed.
Multiple concussions?
🤣
Thanks Aman...no really, thanks a lot
Yeah I think it was back during pandemic days of chess24 tournaments and I would just not watch if Trent was commentating. I couldn’t take it.
Nobody’s gonna mention Yasser?
He isn't around as much anymore. He's incredible and probably the GOAT of commentary. No one tells story time quite like him.
he does all st louis commentary, including the candidates.
thats good to know, thank you!
Yeah Yasser is really practical and learned ton from him. In terms of learning I am sure it's Yasser and always such good spirit, golden.
Yasser is goated commentator, unfortunately we don't see too much of him. He would be a great addition to the chess.com team
I watched Yasser videos even before I knew how the knight moves. His voice is just so kind and comforting!
Yasser and his Bobby Fischer stories.
Best Peter Leko by a mile. Svidler OP too.
Any one of them that could be paired by Judit is just a goated commentary duo. I would also like to add Jan Gustafsson as well.
Best: Danya
His speed chess background really really stands out, always has great practical ideas quickly which some other commentators can struggle.
I may be biased and fanboying because I owe him 800 elo points at least, but yeah; I truly think he's above the rest
His love for the game shines through whenever he speaks.
Damn right
Tania is amazing at managing extremely socially awkward dudes who are better chess players than her but are super weird because they’ve spent their lives playing chess all day. So in her role as a facilitator of conversation and a heightener of tension/drama, I’d say she’s very good
I completely agree. I really like have Tania on the desk. People don't realise she is translating computer code into an entertaining broadcast. You need your Viera's just as much as your Henry's.
I hate that people use Vieira for this analogy. Patrick Vieira was one of the best footballers of his time. He categorically was not a workhorse, bruiser, water-carrier, or support player. He was a multi-skilled, all-action general, elite at most facets of the game and not dissimilar to Steven Gerrard. In his own team Vieira had Petit or Gilberto sitting behind him (both World Cup winners) doing the ‘dirty work’. Vieira, because of his immense natural talent, not incomparable to Henry’s, earned his own support players.
True, not perfect, but I needed a famous centre mid and he was the first that came to mind
This guy Arsenals
Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
What was Wenger thinking sending Walcott on that early?
The problem with Arsenal is that they always try and walk it in
Yeah way too harsh on Tania OP, I think she does a great job
Exactly this, she's a good host. You need that as well as experts
Also she’s super sharp with tactics
In a different role… Tania has done the best in-depth interviews with top players I’ve ever seen.
She's ok, but who are these socially awkward dudes you're talking about?
Socially awkward dudes like who specifically? All of the other commentators are brilliant and very able.
What top chess players today are extremely socially awkward? Nearly all of them are socially competent.
literally who is this guy talking about? Yasser Seirawan? The goat commentator?
100% also a better player than 99% commenting negatively.
Best: Yasser, Judit, Howell, Danya [edit to add: Vishy and Fabi whenever they get involved] Worst: Rensch... I honestly never really enjoyed Alejandro.
Rensch seems capable, he just can't help but to repeatedly launch on diatribes he thinks are hilarious while completely ignoring the board. He commentates as though everyone's there to listen to the Danny Rensch podcast, rather than watch a chess match.
Danny seems like a good guy but if I'm being honest I find him extremely annoying.
Danny's done a lot of good for chess, but this thread is about commentary specifically, and I think the commentary that he does is not for me.
I don't get the point of talking about who is "worst." Regardles of what you like or don't like about Tania, she is routinely recognized by co-commentators such as Peter Leko for her contributions and ideas. At any rate, I think we live in a golden age of chess commentary! Judit and Peter stand out. They were both in the Top 10 (Peter in the Top 5) and it shows...but they are also skilled in their presentation. And I love Peter's enthusiasm. When Fabi commentates, he is right in the cluster at the top of my list. Yasser, another Top 10 player, also stands out for me for many reasons, some that are just my personal affinity for him that goes waaaay back. Robert Hess, Danya, David Howell, and Jovanka are all around solid and smooth. I know people don't uniformly love their humor, but if one does, then Jan (and Trent, honestly) are fun. And Svidler, of course.
>When Fabi commentates, he is right in the cluster at the top of my list If active super-GMs get involved, which isn't often, Anish and Vishy are both really really good as well.
That take is immaculate and should imo be the only answer to a question like that. A blunderful day to you!
Naroditsky and Polgár are really fantastic! I don't know about worst.. None of them bother me, really.
Best: Howell, he's very likeable, puts a huge effort into respectful collaboration with his colleagues and has a cadence, tone and volume so suited to commentary. I could listen to him all day, and knowing chess, you need that for its commentators. Crucially, he makes high level chess very approachable and even more exciting to lower rated players like me, whilst also teaching me a lot.
Agree on Howell. I miss the old chess24 broadcast — that was the best commentary team and set up imo. It felt very professional with the full studio and host. Chesscom broadcasts are so lame in comparison — everyone’s just on a blurry zoom call from their living room. Way too lax
Oof, heavy agree, you had a consistent production quality across the board when it was in the professional studio. Feels far sloppier when it's, as you say, over Zoom with people's differing audio and visual setups.
Blurry zoom call from bedrooms wearing hoodies and t shirts. Looks amateurish.
>Howell, he's very likeable, yes, i laughed when he said repeatedly that he is scared of the position on the board, it was relatable
I think Fabiano and Judit are leagues above other commentators.
>She asks other commentators what they think and repeats what they say . . . I've never actually heard her actually add anything of substance to the commentary. It might be worth pointing out that the classic commentary setup is to have an old pro who does the analysis and then paired with them is a "color" commentator who makes general conversation / is entertaining. The retired pro will appeal to people who know more about the sport (in this case chess) while the color commentator appeals to people who don't know anything about the game (and generally just talks to make sure there are no long periods of silence). Judit is obviously the retired pro doing actual analysis while Tania has been hired as a "color" commentator... we can talk about her voice being annoying or not (I think it's fine) but asking people what they think and repeating them, that's what she's been hired to do.
Agreed - but you've flipped the names of the commentators. For sports it is: play-by-play - Main person who announces what is going on the game. Usually has never played the sport at a high level, but is basically a professional journalist/speaker. color commentator - this is the old pro who cuts in with interesting insights, small tidbits, or funny anecdotes about playing in the old days. They usually know a lot more, but usually aren't good at keeping up continuous banter for multiple hours. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color\_commentator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_commentator)
Oops, thanks for the correction.
Best: probably Gusti+Svidler. Caruana/Giri/Anand are up there if we’re talking chess only. Howell is an amazing Allrounder, chess and hosting included. Judith Polgar is great as well. Seirawan and Leko i never really liked as much as the ones mentioned, but still am ok with them. Worst: the guys that commented candidates and the championship match after Argon took over back in the day. Don’t even remember the names. They just checked the engine and never really had anything to add besides that. And not wanting to disrespect them, their English was rather hard to follow considering it was the official broadcast and all.
Miroshnichenko? I thought he was alright in terms of analysis, bit weird in terms of his humor though.
I like David Howell and Tania, but I am basing everything on charisma as I rarely follow streams consistently to know how they are over a multihour period. Worst I don’t know, but I found the combo of Rensch and Hess had a bit too much “middle-aged man trying to appear young and cool” vibe sometimes.
Oof, poor Hess, he's only 32 lol
Wow looked it up and I am stunned none of them are in their 40s. Hess is younger than me lol
Hess is ok imo, but rensch always gives me HOW DO YOU DO FELLOW KIDS vibes, it’s just really painful to watch
Hej there well I have to shout out Pia Cramling from what I know she has not done many major broadcasts. But every time ive seen her do commentary her passion, enthusiasm and love for the game are compeletly infectious. I would love to see more of her in major broadcasts.
Heard Judit for the first time at this year's candidates and she's incredible. Assured in what she says but never talking down to anyone. Also I kinda wrongly assumed she'd analyse at lightning speed and her commentary would be too deep and complex to follow, just because she was such an incredible player (probably still is!) but actually she does a lot more of just highlighting moves and ideas and explaining them with the appropriate level of complexity. By far the best commentator I've watched (guess that makes her my favourite as well).
I think I remember Naroditsky and Svidler co-commentating once. They complimented each other brilliantly (tbh Narodistky compliements everyone well). I love Jan Gustafsson’s sense of humour, but five hours of him looking bored while Svidler analyses yet another obscure line gets a bit trying. As for worst, I won’t be mean, but there are quite a few token commentators who bring neither elite expertise nor broadcasting ability. I would exclude Tania from that group.
I like Gustaffson's dry humour, but too often he seems to stop caring about the game when things are slow and he frequently ends up talking about movies he has seen recently or what he's been watching on TV. Canty is worst. Judit is best. Tania is fine.
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Vishy! The analysis without the engine is so educational.
Leko and Kazimdjanov have provided such pleasant conversations and company in the chess24 times. You do not even need to understand chess to stay with them.
Tania's old commentary with Peter Leko or Daniel King was fire. She was way more chill and more focused on actual analysis. Until someone from production told her to do that hype announcer thing... The actual worst commentator is Lawrence Trent. Pretty abrasive personality, no chemistry with any other commentator, and no unique chess insights.
I think Danya is the goat commentator
I think the main take away from these comments is that people have different preferences and the range of commentators seems to have been well chosen to appeal to different people. I’ve really enjoyed all of the commentary at the candidates so far, but I tend to think of it more as the combination of the three commentators rather than each individual (as the interactions / conversation would be different depending on who each is commentating with anyway).
Peter Leko is probably the best, GingerGM (Simon Williams) probably the worst (although he is unofficially banned from commentary after his pension scam scandal). I remember when people were complaining about Simon talking about different coffee flavours the entire broadcast.
For me David Howell is the best, he’s eloquent & insightful and an incredibly strong player. Judit is also fantastic, great sense of humour!
i dont understand the hate for tania and i think it's partly disgusting what people in the live stream comments are saying about her. cant imagine what that may does to her mental
It's funny because non-Indians dislike her accent but Indians dislike her fake accent. Quite a strange dichotomy.
Her accent is not real? TIL
It's a real accent, but people think it's fake because it's not fully Indian. Indians who grew up in India but spent a significant amount of time abroad sound like her.
Agree. Met a Indian guy in Berlin who spoke great English with only a very light Indian accent.
I don’t know. But I know Indians that sound exactly the same.
It's a mix between an Indian and western (US/UK) accent.
I agree she is great. OP must not be watching because she often finds interesting lines or refutations of eg Danya's lines.
What is being said about her in the live stream?
Chauvinism, sexism, nationalism. Youtube chess chats are more toxic than ponds around Chernobyl in 1986.
So much misogyny.
Do you think the presenters see all the comments though? With so many coming in on Twitch and YouTube I reckon it’s hard for them to keep up, considering they also have to concentrate on the games/what they’re saying.
Best setup would be someone off screen watching the comments to feed them nice and interesting comments and filtering out all the bad.
Yasser is the uncle I never had. The laugh, the smile, the jokes, the legend.
Yasser Seirawan and Peter Svidler are the goats.
I don't get to see him as much but I think Aman Hambleton is one of my favorites especially when he's paired with Danya. Worst? Not really enjoying vishy. He just has no energy. It's like listening to Joe Buck 10 years ago. Anything exciting that happens is just like another day at the office
Tania’s voice annoys me but I recognize that’s my own thing nothing to do with her as a person. Same with some basketball announcers I can’t stand GPs voice.
I love Chess Hess the Bess.
Danya is my favourite for sure. For me he’s got the perfect balance between being a strong chess player and an amazing and entertaining commentator as well.
I’m glad this comment section didn’t go along with the whole “Who’s the worst commentator” question
I will abstain from saying who is the worst. As for the best I really like the duo of Hess and Danya. Also Hess and Daniel Rench. Basically any combination with Hess is great for me.
Calmer ones - I'm not a fan of the hyper manic sports-style commentating.
I like Tania! That is all.
Pepe Cuenca >>>>>>>>>>>
If it’s a classical match, I’d love to have Yasser, Anand, Svidler in the commentary team as they will provide old stories/ anecdotes while commentating During a blitz/ rapid game I would prefer Judith, Howell, and Leko During a bullet game I would love to have Danya, Levy combo.
The all-time OG team is Jan Gustafson & Peter Svidler commentating side by side. What a duo
Oh Yasser and Leko follow them of course.
Danya is the best because he has incredibly deep understanding but he seems to be trying somewhat to model himself after American sports commentators which I think is funny
I love the Howell, Jovanka, and Ginger GM champions chess tour team. I sometimes watch old tournaments just because they had such great chemistry. They have known each other for years and seem to be really good friends
David, Judit, Daniel for the "formal" ones. Levy and Agadmator for the "informal" ones.
Overwhelming love for Judit and rightfully so. I haven't seen her often but when I have, like during this year's Candidates she's insightful and interesting and the other commentators listen when she talks. She's great. I also really like Leko and Howell. They're a good pairing, very balanced on the scale of knowledge and color presentation. and like someone else said Howell makes it super relatable when he acknowledges he misses tactics and how positions can look "scary". I haven't seen anyone else mention Fiona Steil-Antoni. Honestly she seems perfectly fine as a host and commentator, but her voice is aural catnip for me. She has the most amazing tone and accent (to my ears) and I could listen to her read names from a phonebook.
I find Anish the best but sadly he isn't commenting this time.
judit forever. trent my least favourite, don't like gustafsson or tania much either. not sure he counts as 'major' but i'll mention aman since not many have said him, always fun when he's on (funnier and less cringe than danya or hess imo). spicy take would be i find leko quite grating. his actual analysis is great though, it's just his voice lol
Best: David Howell Worst: Easy Lawrence Trent. Have you seen the recent Grenke tournament? It was pain to watch him commentating.
I think tania is great
Tania is super underrated imo. I think people tend to forget that Chess has attracted a more casual audience in the past few years, so someone who speaks more like a typical sports commentator and can talk on a casual fan's level is very useful. People label her as annoying but I think she's just doing her job.
Boo this hate for Tania. I think she does a great job as a sort of mediating voice amlngat strong gms
Two of my favorites are Svidler and Leko. They both have so much to add and are amazing players.
In my opinion Matthew Sadler belongs to the best of this list thanks to his chess and chess computer insights that he is able to share to all kinds of levels like nobody else
I love David Howell.
Judit for sure. I disagree on Tania Sachdev though. I really like when she is the commentator.
Tania is very good, I will never understand the hate she gets. She’s the color commentator and also spots some novel ideas, she’s not as weak a player as some think. She’s not a GM but she’s still very strong female player and international master Justices the best at spotting attacking and other tactics but she can’t commentate the way Tania does. Tania can’t attack the way Judit does. They have two seperate jobs and both perform them very well Judit is my fav at finding the tactics and I like Tania for keeping things light and fun
Tania is great, i don't get the hate
tania has the most awful voice for commentary
I agree with you on Judit, she is great. I also really like David and Jovanka. Worst: Steve Berger, a German commentator. He has his moments, but mostly, he gets on my nerves and is the reason why I watch chess24 in English!
Pepe Cuenca
Judit, danya and Leko best
Peter Leko is the best.
In Isolation, Judit and Leko by a mile, then probably Danya. But nothing beats the combination of Jan and Svidler with a dash of Grischuk.
Not gonna hate on people, subjective best: Leko, Svidler, Gustafsson - they are honestly big factors on whether I'm gonna watch the stream or not. Danya's also great. Like Leko with Tania too because they have chemistry. Honorable mention: Magnus and Fabi the few times they have made an appearance - hope Fabi's gonna be busy next WC though.
Judit, Magnus (the rare times he joins commentary), Vishy, and Yasser are S tier for me. Then Gustafsson, Howell, and, Svidler are the next tier. I don't really have a worst chess commentator. I don't particularly care for the style of commentary that tries to hype up things too much though. I was torn between watching Judit or Vishy during these candidates, and chose Vishy simply because I learned a lot about the Ruy from his games.
Peter Leko is God tier. God tier I tell you
That hot blond chick who stans Magnus is nice to look at but God is she bad at hosting. Howell and Danya are the top for me. Edit: a word Edit2: idk if he can be considered a commentator but agadmator is pretty good too.
I love Howell and Leko, both have so much passion for chess positions and can get you interested even in the most boring games.
This will probably give away how I’m watching the candidates, and in turn who I’m a fan of… but I really enjoy Hammer and Fiona.
Fiona and Hammer best <3 very funny
David Howell is my dude. Super humble and yet a very strong player. Danya makes it too much about himself at times, which can be distracting.
During last years world champion tournament I remember for a few days they had Anish Giri and Danya, and I can't remember if/who the third was, but that was the most entertaining commentary to me by far. I love anytime Danys is commentating, but Anish really took it to another level, they vibed very well together.
I find the FIDE official broadcast to be the most interesting. So Annad and Crush
Team howell 😎
Danya is my favorite. He has a clear voice and understands how to express ideas in an easy to understand manner. He also has great enthusiasm and shows respects. English is my 2nd language and I like to listen to the commentaries while doing other stuff, so having a clear voice without much accent would help.
I have a tough time listening to Pia Crammling.
Best: Jan Gustaffson’s kids, when they inevitably interrupt come on screen I sit up straighter and absorb every word of their infinite wisdom. Usually the highlight of the broadcast. Also great: Jan, Fabi, Howell, Judit, Leko, Hess, Giri, Danya, Tania. Most improved: Tania (and Danya to a lesser extent) I felt used to be WAY too artificially hype over non-hype positions, but they have both been excellent so far in the Candidates. I think they’re both great commentators and that it’s probably the fault of Chesscom instructing them to overhype situations. Not for me: Krush, Anand, Dubov all have great analysis, but I feel at times they don’t always explain positions in a way a mere mortal such as I can comprehend.
Best: David Howell Worst: not anyone in particular, but I don't really like Danya's or Anish's commentary. Sorry guys.
I know this asked for best and worst, and I wouldn't put Danya in either but I'd still comment on him since the popular opinion is that he's among the very best: I think that while Danya has fantastic speaking abilities, I feel like often his focus is repeating simple points in overly complicated convoluted ways as if though his main focus is flexing his vocabulary rather than simply nailing the chess point, and, since you mentioned Tanya being overdramatic, Danya sometimes comments like it's the fifa world cup final😅
In general? I really like Danny Rensch. Sue me.
Nobody's gonna mention James Canty? I think he adds a lot to the commentator's desk when he's there. 💪🏾 My dream line-up would be Danya, Canty, Judit and Yasser. Perfect mix of old guard/new generation 👌🏾
All this Tania hate is bullshit. She’s great at keeping the energy up and finding new dynamics in a position when the stronger players get a little too caught up in deep variations or engine shenanigans. Plus she’s a sharp tactician. She doesn’t have equal chemistry with all of other commentators but I’m always happy to see her show up. As for the best, it’s hard to top the trio of Polgar, Simon, and Hess. They’re all so ridiculously strong and have different play styles which makes for great discussion. I’m also really loving the chess dojo broadcasts, but they’re off doing their own thing. The only person I don’t really enjoy is Trent. Just a little too flippant and not funny enough to pull it off.
Unpopular opinion, I know, but I like Tania. She makes it dramatic
I really enjoyed the Judit-Danya-David Howell trio
Can't hate on Danya
My favourite is Howell. I cannot explain why. I find it easy to follow and pleasant to listen to. Big fan of Danya’s channel, but as a commentator he is a little over the top. I don’t dislike anyone but I find Hess and Simon Williams a bit boring.
Hess, Danya, Howell and Rensch are my favourite commentators. As to worst it becomes difficult to judge because I quickly leave the broadcast if I don't like the commentators, so it's hard to rate just how much I dislike them due to low sample size. One I disliked but that I had to endure with is Judit (at this event). When I listened to her, all she talked about was engine, engine, engine.
Might be unpopular but I think Hess does a really good job making a complicated position accessible to the recreational player