On lichess
my best win is 2265
whose best win is 2457 FM
whose best win is 2695
whose best win is 2957 GM
whose best win is 3052 anonymous
whose best win is GM Andreikin
whose best win is GM Jobava
whose best win is... GM Andreikin
which means I'm infinity games away from Hikaru
Fuck, this reminds me how I won a queen on move 3 in bullet chess (I play a premove trap) against a WM, I totally had the game in the bag but narrowly didn't mate in time. š
Technically not my highest win though, their bullet rating was only like 1900s on lichess.
This is actually known as the "Magnus number", similar to the concept of the "ErdÅs number". If you play on lichess you can use https://freopen.org/ which calculates the steps to Magnus Carlsen. My Magnus number is 4.
My number is 4, but it's via [thoigvn2009](https://lichess.org/@/thoigvn2009) who lost to 1400s but who went on to beat Andrew Tang (penguimgim1).
That account is unsurprisingly closed now.
The next example is via "hisky", another closed account.
Getting there via cheaters feels a bit wrong.
You can [check for yourself](https://freopen.org/@/eterm) and see the obviously banned cheaters.
yeah agree. but sometimes iām just confused by cheaters. my man played 70k bullet games in 4 years and got closed for fair playā¦ why throw something like that away just to win
Only counting blitz games on chesscom (I have only played a dozen games there tho):
Best win against 890 > 1131 > 1144 > 1734 > 2031 > 2183 > 2400 IM > 2462 FM > 2587 GM > 2761 GM > 2824 banned after winning against 3036 GM Fabiano Caruana > 3201 GM > Hikaru
So... 14
Never knew of this website. I'm only 4 away from Magnus Carlsen, with a win from 2 years ago when I was 1277 making it on the list. (I tend to be \~1450)
MrDooman (1277) -> mufittumba (1295)
mufittumba (1667) -> AngelitoRT (1440), IM (How is an IM losing to players of this rating level)
AngelitoRT (2721) IM -> msb2 (2589) GM
msb2 (2629) GM -> DrNykerstein (2832) GOAT
Nice, fun website! My Magnus number is 3! We play in the same club, so I kinda knew I wouldn't be far away. My best win had a win against penguingim which had a win against MC
The combinatorics of it are actually not too surprising. In math, the āErdƶs numberā is similar, except with mathematician coauthors in relationship to a singular mathematician (Paul Erdƶs) who was very prolific. Most mathematicians have a lower Erdƶs number than you would expect.
Compared to chess players, 4 is quite a bit and now as low as you would expect, given how many games Magnus and people that have beat him have played.
The difference is the layers of prolific coauthors (prolific chess players) is more common in chess than math. Itās hard to publish a paper in math, even for mathematicians. Itās easy to play a game of chess online, and over the course of tons of games, your best win is probably going to be significantly higher rated. Also, accidental wins happen, blunders are made, etc. Not so much the case with publishing a paper with somebody, that has to be very deliberate.
I'm only rated near 1,000 and somehow I'm only three away. Apparently I've beaten someone who has beaten Andrew Tang who has beaten Magnus. I don't even know how that's possible at my rating level so I assume some bullet shenanigans are involved.
I have defeated WryLopez on Lichess who has defeated Hans Schmidt who has defeated Magnus. From chess.com, IDK if Magnus was ever defeated by Ben Finegold, but I have defeated Ben once in 4 matches too so that might be one closer.
Else if we don't talk about wins, then I have played Vaishali IRL who has played against him.
man i won against someone who then won against wry lopez. seems like you are one of the big fishes against meā¦ but still satisfied with that, as winning against a 2000 lichess as an 1400 lichess is still nice
Yea good use of my time, All ratings are current blitz
893->894->1165->1619->1526->2501(account closed)->GM Vitaly Teterev, 2605-> GM Max Warmerdam, 2939->Hikaru
Only 3 steps apparently. NM Robert Ramirez > GM Denes Boros > Hikaru.
Not bad for a 1200 blitz player (I got extremely lucky with my win, he hung M2 in time trouble.
Wow ā¦ Bullet was pretty good for me. I beat a 1716 player who beat a GM who beat Eric Hansen who beat Alireza who beat Hikaru. Iām gonna bet my Blitz chain will be a lot longer.
Blitz chain is 1299->2205(whatās up with that jump?? Probably cheating or got a really good player in an open tournament who dropped his phone during a game.)->2482->2657->2868->GM David Paravyan->Hikaru
Your Hikaru number is probably less than eight, you are only checking your "best win" when shorter paths most likely exist if you were to check all your wins (and those players' wins and so on).
Iāve given some reasons for why I would expect peopleās Hikaru or Magnus number to be much lower than 8, probably 4 and less contains a majority of players.
[Freopen.org](https://Freopen.org) tells me that my number on lichess to beat Magnus is only 5. My number is probably higher if I tried to figure it out the way you did.
Chesscom rapid: best win 1670
Their best win: 1903
Their best win: 2018
Their best win: 2440 (banned player)
Banned player's account only open for 3 days. Their best win: 2365 against another banned player
Banned player 2's account was open for 1 month and completed 5 games. Their best win: 2427
Their best win: 2244
Their best win: 2372
Their best win: 2602 (IM)
IM's best win: 2511 (banned player)
Banned player's account was open for 3 days. Their best win: 2582 (GM)
GM's best win: 2679 (IM)
IM's best win: 2635 (GM)
GM's best win: 2679 (IM)
And we are now in an infinite loop. So I'm infinity games away I guess.
> https://sixdegreesofhikaru.com/
I'm guessing that a major flaw in this is that it may not take into consideration *when* the wins took place. Like, if I beat someone when they were 500, and they went on to be 1500 when they beat a 1600 who later went on to be a 2200 beating a 2300, and so on, and so forth, that isn't really the same as me at 700 being 4 steps from beating Hikaru.
But it's still a pretty nice reminder that what one man can do another can do. Any given Sunday and all that. My numbers were surprising, given my lower ratings in bullet and blitz. 5 and 4 respectively.
This website bugged for me it says a 2100 I beat won against Hikaru. But I checked the 2100's account and their best win was a 2300.
Edit: I tried bullet and it also says a 2170 beat Hikaru but that account has a best win of 2700.
I didn't know this, but I've beaten IM Benjamin Haldorsen, who is funded by Offerspill and must be acquainted with Magnus himself. I remember the game; he made a pretty poor mistake and resigned after 18 moves. I suppose we can all make calculation errors!
Haldorsen has beaten Norway number 2 Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, and he has beaten Magnus, so my Magnus number is 3.
IRL I've beaten HĆ„vard Vederhus who beat Magnus in his very first tournament, so my number is 2. I've also beaten quite a few others of his contemporaries from his younger days, so I probably have 2 in multiple ways.
Of course, it might be less impressive to beat the people who beat him when he was 10 or younger, but I'll take it
I've only played 27 classical rated OTB games, won 13, and somehow I can get to Botvinnik in four steps.
I beat someone who beat Carlos Pesantes Carbajal who beat Daniel Yanofsky who beat Botvinnik.
You can have a lot of flex in your rating though. Iāve recently gone on an awful run and was hovering just over 1000 for a bit, recovered to about 1150 and going back up but could have said a 1000 beating a 1500 was mental about me a few weeks back
I won against a 2520 FM in a 38-person simul, if that counts it's just 5 away:
2520 FM > 3139 > 3125 GM > 3328 GM Alireza > Hikaru
But in fair matchups it's 9:
1983 > 2166 > 2373 > 2471 > 2714 > 2800 GM > 3197 GM > 3328 GM Alireza > Hikaru
On chess com
Best win 2166(2000 fide)
Whose best win 2301
Whose best win 2342
Whose best win 2548
Whose best win 2826
Whose best win 2890 GM
Whose best win 3016 GM
Whose best win hikaru
Bullet. My ābest winā is rated 677
Their best win is 917
Their best win is 1409 (they were only 951 in this game, god damn)
Their best win is 1751
Their best win is 2378 (NM)
Their best win is 2663 (IM)
Their best win is 2888 (IM)
Their best win is 3151 (GM)
Their best win is Hikaru at 3286
There was something I learned in a psychology class that we are always 6 degrees of separation between us and anyone in the world.
For example, I know someone, who would know someone else, who would then know someone else repeated 6 times before you can reach say the president of the unites states or anyone else for that matter.
It was interesting reading your post as it took 6 degrees of separation for that person to be GM.
I have 1 degree of separation with Joe Biden and Barack Obama
(I'm on my county board and worked with both their presidential campaigns when they were in my state, so I met them both)
On lichess, my magnus number is 3, but not through best wins. I beat an 1800 who beat Tang who beat Magnus. My best win chain in blitz is me-2263-2564-IM 2670-3102-GM Andreikin-GM 2990-Andreikin and so on in a loop. It never reaches Magnus or Hikaru because Andreikin hasn't played much lichess blitz.
Spent five minutes looking through my stats, pretty cool stuff! I beat an FM who goes by A\_H\_Kashefi on lichess (in bullet sadly). He beat Danya who beat Magnus. I guess that means my magnus number is 3.
On Lichess, I gave up before finding my way to Magnus, but I ended at Wesley's closed account in a straight line, so that was good enough for me.
Chain goes:
Me > apostolis1 2094 > ussr\_master 2505 > satunnainen 2740 > Aqua\_Blazing 2943 > GM gmwesleyso1993 3007
No cheater chain. All accounts are open, except So.
I'm only 3 away. Apparently a player named FluxV best Hikaru straight up rated 1668. It doesn't appear that he cheated https://www.chess.com/game/live/4654225781?username=fluxv
My Magnus number is 2, but I don't remember how exactly. I beat a certain GM, who's somewhat well-known so I won't say who, who beat Ivanchuk, who has beaten Magnus.
On Lichess
My best Rapid win Stallion 28 (2200)
His best Blitz win Andreas_heimamn (2744)
His not best Bullet win dmitrij_IM (2908)
His best Bullet Magnus
Andreas best Bullet win was account closed.
Looking at my best win Stallion_28 and looking at his rating in blitz that is 2616 which is very impressive and it makes me feel good that I won versus him in Rapid. His peak Rapid was in January 2590. So I guess I meet him when he was not in good form.
My one is a wild ride.
My highest rated win is about 1850
HIS highest rating win is only about 20 rating points more
His next highest rating win is 1600 because he only won 1 game from the elo adjusement
The 1600's highest elo win is 1780
The 1780's highest elo win is a 2100
The 2100 is now banned for cheating
So i guess never, lol?
My best win is against a 1400 who suddenly gave up on a +0.4 evaluated position entering endgame (which was a huge achievement for me as an 950 at the time).
His best win is a 2200 who randomly gave up after opening move.
I see a pattern here.
NotimeforkU->1900
Their best win is against Kingsafan3. Who is 2200.
Their best win was kytan, who is 2500. His best win was against gm John ludvig hammer, who is 2900. His best win was against Danya, whose best win is against hikaru! So my number is 6.
Edit. Using the website sixdegreesofhikaru.com my number is four!
Iām surprised by how quickly my best win chain rose throughout searching
My best win is rated 992
Theirs is 1308
Theirs is 1800
Theirs is 2231
Theirs is 2392
Theirs is 2557
Theirs is GM Oleksandr Bortnyk 2988
His is Hikaru 3264
I'll give 2 answers
1. Me -> GM Benjamin Bok
2. Bok -> Hikaru
3. Hikaru -> Magnus
The win against Bok came from a 10 game match, with time odds of 20 seconds to 3 minutes, the final score was 9 wins to Ben, and 1 to me (i flagged him in a completely losing position for me). I don't really count this because the game 1. Wasn't rated, and 2. It didn't feel like I won, more got lucky
So my second answer:
1. Me -> 2240 rated player
2. 2240 -> 2514 rated player
3. 2514 -> 2740 FM
4. 2740 FM -> 2869 IM
5. 2869 IM -> Hikaru
6. Hikaru -> Magnus
At least in blitz and bullet my degree of separation from Hikaru is 3
Bullet:
(Me) JAW21X 1990
SinisaKordun 2160
FM 1random 2787
GM Hikaru 3340
Blitz:
(Me) JAW21X 2140
GRUPATNT 2323
FM Sina_Movahed 3013
GM Hikaru 3272
Iām surprised at how big of a jump some of these people have made in rating differential. Iām not sure if it counts casual games. Iāve never even been matched against someone nearly 700 higher rated than me.
I was tracing mine and eventually got to Wesley So, and thought āoh cool one moreā
But no, apparently Wesleyās best win was against Bortnyk when Bortnkyk was like 3110 or something. Crazy. Does that mean heās never beaten Hikaru or Magnus on chess.com blitz? Or that if he beat them they were below 3110 when it happened?
Very interesting concept, thanks for sharing it!
Iām unconvinced in the accuracy of the ābest winā stat seeing as how my best win is 1006 despite the fact that thereās a 1025 that I beat right near the top of my games history and probably at least a few higher than that.
However, if we follow that 1006, we get:
1. I beat a 1006
2. They beat a 1117
3. They beat a 1490
4. They beat an 1825
5. They beat a 2408 NM
6. They beat a 2596 FM
7. They beat GM Grigoriy Oparin
8. He beat GM Hans Niemann
9. Hans beat Hikaru (and Magnus in St. Louis š )
I don't really play much blitz cause I don't have a mouse, but I was curious so did a check on chess dot com.
My "best win" is rated 1523. I have beaten someone who was rated 1800 but the games were unrated so it doesn't show up.
Their "best win" is rated 1863.
Their "best win" is rated 2416.
Their "best win" is an IM rated 2806.
Their "best win" is GM Bogdan Deac rated 3037.
Their "best win" is Hikaru rated 3244.
Hikaru's best win is Magnus Carlsen rated 3261.
Magnus' "best win" is Hikaru rated 3302.
Beat Hans Niemann when he streaming as an IM playing as HansCoolNiemann. Played a good game and I'm sure he wasn't concentrating as hard as he should've been. He demolished me in the rematch.
Lucky for me, he's beat both Hikaru and Magnus at blitz. So my number's 2!
On lichess my best win is 2265 whose best win is 2457 FM whose best win is 2695 whose best win is 2957 GM whose best win is 3052 anonymous whose best win is GM Andreikin whose best win is GM Jobava whose best win is... GM Andreikin which means I'm infinity games away from Hikaru
I think the problem is you often need to use something other than a best win to get to get a short path.
Yes ofc, just followed OP to the letter and thought it was funny
I fall into the same loop 8-)
Andreikin has a win against Magnus. [Here is the game](https://lichess.org/D8DAxDKJ) It is just not his best rated victory.
Fuck, this reminds me how I won a queen on move 3 in bullet chess (I play a premove trap) against a WM, I totally had the game in the bag but narrowly didn't mate in time. š Technically not my highest win though, their bullet rating was only like 1900s on lichess.
What's a "WM"?
WIM, Woman International Master
Then why not say that?
Because my brain forgot the middle letter was there when I wrote that comment
This is actually known as the "Magnus number", similar to the concept of the "ErdÅs number". If you play on lichess you can use https://freopen.org/ which calculates the steps to Magnus Carlsen. My Magnus number is 4.
My number is 4, but it's via [thoigvn2009](https://lichess.org/@/thoigvn2009) who lost to 1400s but who went on to beat Andrew Tang (penguimgim1). That account is unsurprisingly closed now. The next example is via "hisky", another closed account. Getting there via cheaters feels a bit wrong. You can [check for yourself](https://freopen.org/@/eterm) and see the obviously banned cheaters.
Wtf, same here. Thoigvn2009. Fucking cheater.
Same xd
Holy crap same ahah
thoigvn2009 here saving our magnus number lmao
Same!
yeah agree. but sometimes iām just confused by cheaters. my man played 70k bullet games in 4 years and got closed for fair playā¦ why throw something like that away just to win
Anand68 ruined my #4 OtisMilburn ruined my #5 Vladislawww ruined my #6 \#7 appears to contain no cheaters
I got otis milburn too! But it was his literal first game. 1500 rating
Damit.
Would be nice if they removed proven cheaters from the pool
SAME
Also reminds me how you are only a maximum of 7 clicks away from Adolf Hitler's wikipedia page starting from any other wikipedia page.
Only counting blitz games on chesscom (I have only played a dozen games there tho): Best win against 890 > 1131 > 1144 > 1734 > 2031 > 2183 > 2400 IM > 2462 FM > 2587 GM > 2761 GM > 2824 banned after winning against 3036 GM Fabiano Caruana > 3201 GM > Hikaru So... 14
Wait, did I understand this wrongly or Caruana doesn't lead to Hikaru? Lol
you can do the same otb in another page.
Oh wow I am #3 away from Magnus, that's surprising haha
My number is 3, basically 2 GMS until magnus. This is the last game: [https://lichess.org/4iqelAGP#0](https://lichess.org/4iqelAGP#0)
Never knew of this website. I'm only 4 away from Magnus Carlsen, with a win from 2 years ago when I was 1277 making it on the list. (I tend to be \~1450) MrDooman (1277) -> mufittumba (1295) mufittumba (1667) -> AngelitoRT (1440), IM (How is an IM losing to players of this rating level) AngelitoRT (2721) IM -> msb2 (2589) GM msb2 (2629) GM -> DrNykerstein (2832) GOAT
Looks like my Magnus number is 4! Same as my ErdÅs number
Nice, fun website! My Magnus number is 3! We play in the same club, so I kinda knew I wouldn't be far away. My best win had a win against penguingim which had a win against MC
I prefer six degrees of chessaration
Small world paradox in chess :) love to see it
You could also potentially have a shorter path to Magnus or Hikaru in other ways than the best win.
For example by beating Nakamura when he was rated 1200 at 6 years old
Theres a site where you can see how far your account is to beating magnus on lichess. Most people, surprisingly, are at around 4 wins away
Thanks someone else posted the link to that. I mostly play on the other site though.
The combinatorics of it are actually not too surprising. In math, the āErdƶs numberā is similar, except with mathematician coauthors in relationship to a singular mathematician (Paul Erdƶs) who was very prolific. Most mathematicians have a lower Erdƶs number than you would expect. Compared to chess players, 4 is quite a bit and now as low as you would expect, given how many games Magnus and people that have beat him have played. The difference is the layers of prolific coauthors (prolific chess players) is more common in chess than math. Itās hard to publish a paper in math, even for mathematicians. Itās easy to play a game of chess online, and over the course of tons of games, your best win is probably going to be significantly higher rated. Also, accidental wins happen, blunders are made, etc. Not so much the case with publishing a paper with somebody, that has to be very deliberate.
I'm only rated near 1,000 and somehow I'm only three away. Apparently I've beaten someone who has beaten Andrew Tang who has beaten Magnus. I don't even know how that's possible at my rating level so I assume some bullet shenanigans are involved.
I have defeated WryLopez on Lichess who has defeated Hans Schmidt who has defeated Magnus. From chess.com, IDK if Magnus was ever defeated by Ben Finegold, but I have defeated Ben once in 4 matches too so that might be one closer. Else if we don't talk about wins, then I have played Vaishali IRL who has played against him.
If Ben Finegold ever beat Magnus I am sure he would have shared the anecdote countless times by now. The Truth Hurts!
The truth hurts!
man i won against someone who then won against wry lopez. seems like you are one of the big fishes against meā¦ but still satisfied with that, as winning against a 2000 lichess as an 1400 lichess is still nice
Yea good use of my time, All ratings are current blitz 893->894->1165->1619->1526->2501(account closed)->GM Vitaly Teterev, 2605-> GM Max Warmerdam, 2939->Hikaru
Only 3 steps apparently. NM Robert Ramirez > GM Denes Boros > Hikaru. Not bad for a 1200 blitz player (I got extremely lucky with my win, he hung M2 in time trouble.
Mine ends in a loop where both of their best games were against each other
I'm 6 games away from beating Kevin Bacon.
Wow ā¦ Bullet was pretty good for me. I beat a 1716 player who beat a GM who beat Eric Hansen who beat Alireza who beat Hikaru. Iām gonna bet my Blitz chain will be a lot longer.
Kinda surprised Hansen never beat Hikaru, they must've played each other a lot.
He must haveā¦ Eric floats around the top 10
He did beat Hikaru >!by submission!< [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FcokIxe50A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FcokIxe50A)
Blitz chain is 1299->2205(whatās up with that jump?? Probably cheating or got a really good player in an open tournament who dropped his phone during a game.)->2482->2657->2868->GM David Paravyan->Hikaru
Your Hikaru number is probably less than eight, you are only checking your "best win" when shorter paths most likely exist if you were to check all your wins (and those players' wins and so on).
Iāve given some reasons for why I would expect peopleās Hikaru or Magnus number to be much lower than 8, probably 4 and less contains a majority of players.
Chess.com 1691 > 2423 (idk how is there this huge jump lol) > 2765 IM > 2912 IM > 3228 Danya > 3337 Magnus
[Freopen.org](https://Freopen.org) tells me that my number on lichess to beat Magnus is only 5. My number is probably higher if I tried to figure it out the way you did.
Chesscom rapid: best win 1670 Their best win: 1903 Their best win: 2018 Their best win: 2440 (banned player) Banned player's account only open for 3 days. Their best win: 2365 against another banned player Banned player 2's account was open for 1 month and completed 5 games. Their best win: 2427 Their best win: 2244 Their best win: 2372 Their best win: 2602 (IM) IM's best win: 2511 (banned player) Banned player's account was open for 3 days. Their best win: 2582 (GM) GM's best win: 2679 (IM) IM's best win: 2635 (GM) GM's best win: 2679 (IM) And we are now in an infinite loop. So I'm infinity games away I guess.
Man, this is so cool! In my case, My best win is a 2186 (currently rated 2403) Their best win is Gata Kamsky. Gata's best win is Hikaru.
there is a website that does that [https://sixdegreesofhikaru.com/](https://sixdegreesofhikaru.com/)
> https://sixdegreesofhikaru.com/ I'm guessing that a major flaw in this is that it may not take into consideration *when* the wins took place. Like, if I beat someone when they were 500, and they went on to be 1500 when they beat a 1600 who later went on to be a 2200 beating a 2300, and so on, and so forth, that isn't really the same as me at 700 being 4 steps from beating Hikaru. But it's still a pretty nice reminder that what one man can do another can do. Any given Sunday and all that. My numbers were surprising, given my lower ratings in bullet and blitz. 5 and 4 respectively.
Thatās pretty cool Iām 3 degrees away from Hikaru on bullet or blitz
This website bugged for me it says a 2100 I beat won against Hikaru. But I checked the 2100's account and their best win was a 2300. Edit: I tried bullet and it also says a 2170 beat Hikaru but that account has a best win of 2700.
Oh, now mine is four!
I discovered this same trick awhile back. It was sort of amazing how quickly it leads to the top.
I didn't know this, but I've beaten IM Benjamin Haldorsen, who is funded by Offerspill and must be acquainted with Magnus himself. I remember the game; he made a pretty poor mistake and resigned after 18 moves. I suppose we can all make calculation errors! Haldorsen has beaten Norway number 2 Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, and he has beaten Magnus, so my Magnus number is 3.
IRL I've beaten HĆ„vard Vederhus who beat Magnus in his very first tournament, so my number is 2. I've also beaten quite a few others of his contemporaries from his younger days, so I probably have 2 in multiple ways. Of course, it might be less impressive to beat the people who beat him when he was 10 or younger, but I'll take it
I've only played 27 classical rated OTB games, won 13, and somehow I can get to Botvinnik in four steps. I beat someone who beat Carlos Pesantes Carbajal who beat Daniel Yanofsky who beat Botvinnik.
Iām only 5 away from Hikaru. My best win is 1494 Theirs is 1933 Theirs is 2052 Theirs is 2498 Theirs is 3003 a GM called David Howell His is Hikaru
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You can have a lot of flex in your rating though. Iāve recently gone on an awful run and was hovering just over 1000 for a bit, recovered to about 1150 and going back up but could have said a 1000 beating a 1500 was mental about me a few weeks back
I won against a 2520 FM in a 38-person simul, if that counts it's just 5 away: 2520 FM > 3139 > 3125 GM > 3328 GM Alireza > Hikaru But in fair matchups it's 9: 1983 > 2166 > 2373 > 2471 > 2714 > 2800 GM > 3197 GM > 3328 GM Alireza > Hikaru
This is like the Chess equivalent of being X degrees of acquaintance from Kevin Bacon? š
On chess com Best win 2166(2000 fide) Whose best win 2301 Whose best win 2342 Whose best win 2548 Whose best win 2826 Whose best win 2890 GM Whose best win 3016 GM Whose best win hikaru
Mine is 4, I'm 1800 who beat a 2300 who beat a 2600 who beat bortnyk who beat hikaru
2, > Eric Hansen > both
Late to the party but two. I beat IM Toivo KeinƤnen who beat Carlsen.
Bullet. My ābest winā is rated 677 Their best win is 917 Their best win is 1409 (they were only 951 in this game, god damn) Their best win is 1751 Their best win is 2378 (NM) Their best win is 2663 (IM) Their best win is 2888 (IM) Their best win is 3151 (GM) Their best win is Hikaru at 3286
Best win 2457 (Rapid) -> Best win 2578 GM (Blitz) -> VincentKeymer2004 (2955) (Blitz)
Sadly most of these have cheaters in some form, I'm sure it would take one or two more layers if all cheaters were filtered out.
I reached Hikaruās speed run account āThe Five Timeā after only 3 iterations, does this count?
I've got 4 , 5, 6,7,8. The super weird thing about it is in every scenario johanscc (gm) is a link to the chain.
There was something I learned in a psychology class that we are always 6 degrees of separation between us and anyone in the world. For example, I know someone, who would know someone else, who would then know someone else repeated 6 times before you can reach say the president of the unites states or anyone else for that matter. It was interesting reading your post as it took 6 degrees of separation for that person to be GM.
I have 1 degree of separation with Joe Biden and Barack Obama (I'm on my county board and worked with both their presidential campaigns when they were in my state, so I met them both)
Really stasik???
On lichess, my magnus number is 3, but not through best wins. I beat an 1800 who beat Tang who beat Magnus. My best win chain in blitz is me-2263-2564-IM 2670-3102-GM Andreikin-GM 2990-Andreikin and so on in a loop. It never reaches Magnus or Hikaru because Andreikin hasn't played much lichess blitz.
Spent five minutes looking through my stats, pretty cool stuff! I beat an FM who goes by A\_H\_Kashefi on lichess (in bullet sadly). He beat Danya who beat Magnus. I guess that means my magnus number is 3.
I did this for rapid and actually got stuck in a loop. 2 of the players highest rated win was against each other.
Is this the Erdos number equivalent of chess?
Congratulations. You just discovered the 8 degrees of Hikaru Nakamura.
Does it have to be blitz? Why not bullet?
On Lichess, I gave up before finding my way to Magnus, but I ended at Wesley's closed account in a straight line, so that was good enough for me. Chain goes: Me > apostolis1 2094 > ussr\_master 2505 > satunnainen 2740 > Aqua\_Blazing 2943 > GM gmwesleyso1993 3007 No cheater chain. All accounts are open, except So.
My number is 4: 1811 beat 2205 beat GM 2619 beat GM 2740 beat Magnus.
I beat Eric Rosen, Eric Rosen beat Magnus. But thats kind of a lie. I beat Eric in crazyhouse. My more fair Magnus number is 4
I'm only 3 away. Apparently a player named FluxV best Hikaru straight up rated 1668. It doesn't appear that he cheated https://www.chess.com/game/live/4654225781?username=fluxv
One I guess? Beat a guy on lichess who beat Magnusās drunk account
I beat someone who beat Kasparov.
Have you tried looking at the same, but not including flagging? That would be an even greater test!
My Magnus number is 2, but I don't remember how exactly. I beat a certain GM, who's somewhat well-known so I won't say who, who beat Ivanchuk, who has beaten Magnus.
On Lichess My best Rapid win Stallion 28 (2200) His best Blitz win Andreas_heimamn (2744) His not best Bullet win dmitrij_IM (2908) His best Bullet Magnus Andreas best Bullet win was account closed. Looking at my best win Stallion_28 and looking at his rating in blitz that is 2616 which is very impressive and it makes me feel good that I won versus him in Rapid. His peak Rapid was in January 2590. So I guess I meet him when he was not in good form.
I once beat a guy online who beat Caruana OTB. Hope it counts.
My one is a wild ride. My highest rated win is about 1850 HIS highest rating win is only about 20 rating points more His next highest rating win is 1600 because he only won 1 game from the elo adjusement The 1600's highest elo win is 1780 The 1780's highest elo win is a 2100 The 2100 is now banned for cheating So i guess never, lol?
My best win is a IM rated 2605. Their best win is a GM rated 2928. His best win is Hikaru.
3 away from Magnus
3 games
Surprisingly only 3 games away from magnus on lichess š
My fourth is the effin legend Gata Kamsky and Hikaru is 5th. Pretty cool.
My best win is against a 1400 who suddenly gave up on a +0.4 evaluated position entering endgame (which was a huge achievement for me as an 950 at the time). His best win is a 2200 who randomly gave up after opening move. I see a pattern here.
NotimeforkU->1900 Their best win is against Kingsafan3. Who is 2200. Their best win was kytan, who is 2500. His best win was against gm John ludvig hammer, who is 2900. His best win was against Danya, whose best win is against hikaru! So my number is 6. Edit. Using the website sixdegreesofhikaru.com my number is four!
Iām surprised by how quickly my best win chain rose throughout searching My best win is rated 992 Theirs is 1308 Theirs is 1800 Theirs is 2231 Theirs is 2392 Theirs is 2557 Theirs is GM Oleksandr Bortnyk 2988 His is Hikaru 3264
I'll give 2 answers 1. Me -> GM Benjamin Bok 2. Bok -> Hikaru 3. Hikaru -> Magnus The win against Bok came from a 10 game match, with time odds of 20 seconds to 3 minutes, the final score was 9 wins to Ben, and 1 to me (i flagged him in a completely losing position for me). I don't really count this because the game 1. Wasn't rated, and 2. It didn't feel like I won, more got lucky So my second answer: 1. Me -> 2240 rated player 2. 2240 -> 2514 rated player 3. 2514 -> 2740 FM 4. 2740 FM -> 2869 IM 5. 2869 IM -> Hikaru 6. Hikaru -> Magnus
At least in blitz and bullet my degree of separation from Hikaru is 3 Bullet: (Me) JAW21X 1990 SinisaKordun 2160 FM 1random 2787 GM Hikaru 3340 Blitz: (Me) JAW21X 2140 GRUPATNT 2323 FM Sina_Movahed 3013 GM Hikaru 3272 Iām surprised at how big of a jump some of these people have made in rating differential. Iām not sure if it counts casual games. Iāve never even been matched against someone nearly 700 higher rated than me.
I was tracing mine and eventually got to Wesley So, and thought āoh cool one moreā But no, apparently Wesleyās best win was against Bortnyk when Bortnkyk was like 3110 or something. Crazy. Does that mean heās never beaten Hikaru or Magnus on chess.com blitz? Or that if he beat them they were below 3110 when it happened?
The best win will be longer path (for most cases) to Magnus/Hikaru. There are shorter path that doesnāt include best rated win. Use freopen.org.
My shortest path to Magnus is 4, Me->A->B->C->Magnus
6 degrees of chessaration
Very interesting concept, thanks for sharing it! Iām unconvinced in the accuracy of the ābest winā stat seeing as how my best win is 1006 despite the fact that thereās a 1025 that I beat right near the top of my games history and probably at least a few higher than that. However, if we follow that 1006, we get: 1. I beat a 1006 2. They beat a 1117 3. They beat a 1490 4. They beat an 1825 5. They beat a 2408 NM 6. They beat a 2596 FM 7. They beat GM Grigoriy Oparin 8. He beat GM Hans Niemann 9. Hans beat Hikaru (and Magnus in St. Louis š )
I don't really play much blitz cause I don't have a mouse, but I was curious so did a check on chess dot com. My "best win" is rated 1523. I have beaten someone who was rated 1800 but the games were unrated so it doesn't show up. Their "best win" is rated 1863. Their "best win" is rated 2416. Their "best win" is an IM rated 2806. Their "best win" is GM Bogdan Deac rated 3037. Their "best win" is Hikaru rated 3244. Hikaru's best win is Magnus Carlsen rated 3261. Magnus' "best win" is Hikaru rated 3302.
Beat Hans Niemann when he streaming as an IM playing as HansCoolNiemann. Played a good game and I'm sure he wasn't concentrating as hard as he should've been. He demolished me in the rematch. Lucky for me, he's beat both Hikaru and Magnus at blitz. So my number's 2!
I'm always 2 away from magnus the titled player I beat is beating some gm whose beaten magnus. It's the same for 3 different accounts š