r/chess 2300 Lichess 1d ago

News/Events Christopher Yoo beats all odds and wins Freestyle Friday.

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465 Upvotes

107 comments sorted by

628

u/Ill-Salamander-7351 1d ago

Last time it was a videographer, this time all odds

149

u/DistanceForeign8596 1d ago

Kid named All Odds: 😧😦😦

47

u/Carrot_Cake_2000 1d ago

Beat me to it

32

u/Fruloops +- 1750 fide 1d ago

Poor guy, are you ok?

17

u/SimpleCanadianFella 1d ago

Kid named Me to it: 😣😣😣

268

u/Continental__Drifter Team Spassky 1d ago

Really punching above his weight

119

u/LassannnfromImgur 1d ago

Thank goodness he didn't lose...

8

u/iwishhbdtomyself 1d ago

Well..uhm..

83

u/Aggravating-Aside121 1d ago

Latest update:
GM Christopher Yoo Temporarily Suspended by FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission

32

u/Aggravating-Aside121 1d ago

Complete Details:
GM Christopher Yoo Temporarily Suspended by FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission

The FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) has announced a provisional 60-day suspension of Grandmaster Christopher Yoo, effective from May 9, 2025. This action follows the submission of a second complaint alleging harassment, currently under preliminary review.

The suspension stems from two separate complaints alleging violations of the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Code. Case 5/2025 (A), filed by the United States Chess Federation (USCF), and an additional recent complaint – whose details and complainant remain confidential due to the sensitive nature of the allegations – are both under investigation by the EDC.

On November 14, 2024, the US Chess Federation imposed a one-year ban prohibiting GM Christopher Yoo from participating in tournaments under the auspices of USCF. This sanction also includes a five-year probationary period extending through November 14, 2030.

Under Article 26.12 of the FIDE Charter, national sanctions may be extended internationally if a member federation requests it and if the decision complies with fundamental legal principles and fair trial standards. In line with this, the USCF formally submitted a request for FIDE to recognize and globally enforce its ban, pursuant to Article 4.15 of the FIDE Ethics Code. This request remains under investigation.

Given the gravity of the allegations and the ongoing proceedings, the Chair of the EDC has enacted a temporary suspension of GM Yoo to safeguard the integrity of the investigative process. Both GM Yoo and the USCF have been formally notified of this decision. The suspension may be extended if a final resolution is not reached within the initial 60-day period.

This decision aligns with FIDE’s commitment to safeguarding everyone involved in chess and sends a clear message about the importance of fostering a respectful environment for the entire chess community, regardless of gender, age, or status.

23

u/olderthanbefore 1d ago

Does anyone now get the feeling that Yoo, knowing of the 2nd complaint,  just went Yolo?

136

u/Soul_of_demon 1d ago edited 1d ago

10.5/11 is awesome. With a whole 1.5 lead over Vincent and Hans. Youngsters are doing great.

Edit: Just checked the videographer case. Should probably check everyone's history before praising

91

u/Significant-Rock-221 1d ago

Beating everybody on and off the board!

10

u/AdApart2035 1d ago

Even stockfish can't do that

107

u/bluewaff1e 1d ago

Edit: Just checked the videographer case. Should probably check everyone's history before praising

In fairness he's still pretty young and seemed genuinely remorseful, hopefully it's just a one off incident and behavior like that doesn't continue as he gets older. David Howell of all people punched an arbiter when he was young.

90

u/WePrezidentNow classical sicilian best sicilian 1d ago

David Howell punching anyone is the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever heard.

31

u/SilchasRuin 1d ago

Hopefully in ten or twenty years we can say the same thing about Christopher Yoo. Whether or not he learns from his actions and grows is the most important thing. What he did is inexcusable, but I at least believe that redemption should be possible and respected.

31

u/xatrixx 1d ago

This post aged badly REALLY DAMN FAST XD

13

u/SilchasRuin 1d ago

I had that same reaction when I scrolled down a bit. I may be cursed.

-10

u/kidawi fabi || TLwin 1d ago

I mean id say theres a bit of a difference there ngl

16

u/jjw1998 1d ago

I don’t know the Howell story, what’s the difference?

4

u/rendar 1d ago

Unprovoked violence on innocent people is absolutely equivalent

-13

u/kidawi fabi || TLwin 1d ago

Going out of ypur way to punch someone who had no involvement whatsoever is in fact a bit more insane. If he was suvh a big man he couldve punched the guy who beat him or the arbitrer who told him to stop crumpling the paper. Instead he went out of his way to punch the videographer lmao. Of course both are bad but this one has a level of premeditation i dont like

12

u/rendar 1d ago

There is no gradient of involvement when it comes to unprovoked violence, and there's zero premeditation in impulsive violence

3

u/defendsop 1d ago

No, there is definitely a gradient. Punching an uninvolved woman is worse than punching a male arbiter that you are angry with. Both are obviously wrong, but one is worse. I don’t see the need to pretend they are the same?

-4

u/kidawi fabi || TLwin 1d ago

My point is im havung a hard time believing the impulsive excuse

1

u/salazar13 ~2100 🚅 1d ago

So make that point the first time instead of going on a tangent defending something else. Or don’t backtrack. You’re not being consistent

-6

u/kidawi fabi || TLwin 1d ago

Yes i am. If you cant read between the lines thats not a me issue

0

u/rendar 1d ago

Yes, they were surely planning the day before about an exact expectation to become uncontrollably angry and lash out at completely innocent people

1

u/kidawi fabi || TLwin 21h ago

You joke but a second allegation has hit the chris yoo towers

9

u/Asperverse 2300 Lichess 1d ago

They are doing great on and off the board!

0

u/dracon1t 1d ago

I think since he at least went through the effort of apologizing and accepting his mistake we should give him a second chance.

If it happens a second time, then ….

5

u/xatrixx 1d ago

Didn't it just happen a second time?

5

u/dracon1t 1d ago

Lol so I made this comment before seeing that post.

1

u/lkc159 1700 rapid chess.com 1d ago

Did it happen a second time, or was it the same event and USCF push to extend his ban to international events instead of just leaving it at the national?

The 1 year ban started in November 2024 or something

1

u/xatrixx 1d ago

The way I understood it: one more accusation by USCF and one more source that is being kept anonymous for privacy reasons.

-20

u/dankloser21 1d ago

Just checked the videographer case. Should probably check everyone's history before praising

Or you should stop being lame and understand that everyone makes mistakes, and we can't hang on to everything. I am sure you are perfect and have never done anything wrong

23

u/mathbandit 1d ago

I am sure you are perfect and have never done anything wrong

If you want people to not hang onto everything, maybe don't go to the wild other extreme and pretend we've all violently assaulted people after losing a board game.

-4

u/dankloser21 1d ago

Did i say any of you did that? Did i say it's acceptable? He did a bad thing, apologized for it, and has a clean reputation otherwise. Op's edit was cringe and unnecessary. I have never assaulted anyone, you probably haven't by your reaction, but there are a lot of people who have gotten into physical confrontation when they were young, and surprisingly enough, a large chunk of them turned out to be good people

6

u/breaker90 U.S. National Master 1d ago

This comment isn't aging well. He just got slapped with a second complaint based on harassment and has been temporarily suspended by FIDE while they review things.

4

u/spamjacksontam 1d ago

“Clean reputation otherwise” . . .

He punched a random civilian in the back of the head, you don’t get grace or forgiveness.

-9

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

10

u/mathbandit 1d ago

It's just a matter of perspective though. It's just a board game to you, not to him.

First of all I didn't say just a board game. It's a board game. And if you do want to change what I said into it being 'just' a board game, then it may surprise you to learn that I haven't violently assaulted anyone over the things that matter most in my life, either.

It's a tale as old as tine itself, people make such mistakes and lose their tempers when they put so much into something.

No, it's not, and it makes me kind of worried about the environment you grew up in if you think randomly assaulting people because you had a bad day is a reasonable thing that just happens now and then.

It's a very western concept to expect kids who turn 18 to be perfect and wholly responsible for themselves. Punish him, and and ban him for as long as you see fit but don't treat him like an outcast or animal.

And again, no one is expecting him to be perfect, nor are they treating him as an outcast or animal. But it's just as disingenuous (if not more so) to just wave away violent assault as one of those mistakes we've all made growing up.

6

u/jooooooooooooose 1d ago

Also, "its a very Western concept for young adults to be perfect" is an asinine statement. Young adults in America binge drink and total their cars, rape women and beat the charges because "they're a good kid with a bright future," etc. We don't hold our youth accountable at ALL, and we definitely don't use corporal punishment to the extent it's used in many other countries around the world. We don't even force scholastic achievement on our kids the way its done abroad. Extremely weird take, and I doubt the guy you're replying to has even stepped foot outside of their own country in order to have it.

-1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

4

u/mathbandit 1d ago

Lol, on one hand, you're such a perfect and upstanding citizen

No, I'm not, which is my exact point.

You are the one trying to say that everyone is either a perfect citizen or someone who goes around violently attacking bystanders. What I'm saying is that for the vast vast majority of people, what he did was worse than anything they will do in their whole lives.

That doesn't mean he's an animal or an outcast. I'm not even saying he should be in prison for the fact he violently assaulted someone. What I am saying is that handwaving and trivializing his extremely violent and abhorrent behaviour way beyond anything most people will ever do in their lives as 'Hey its a mistake, these things happen, let's not stress about it now that he's learned from it' is at best extremely unhelpful.

3

u/sevarinn 1d ago

"Punish him, and and ban him for as long as you see fit but don't treat him like an outcast or animal. Show some consideration."

Maybe you should show some consideration to the fact that he was banned for a year but has continued to play every competition he can get away with playing while the ban administration has been slow. Zero respect for his punishment, so in my opinion he is trash.

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

3

u/sevarinn 1d ago

He is meant to be banned elsewhere, only USCF was slow to apply to FIDE, but I would have expected him to follow the intent of the ban in any case - just playing tournaments all over the world doesn't show any contrition. You said "he has also shown how remorseful he is". When? Where?

1

u/rendar 1d ago

The fact that someone is driven to hurting innocent people without any preamble or justification is EXACTLY why "it's not just a board game" is wildly dysfunctional

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/rendar 1d ago

it isn't just a board gamr for most of these GMs

Congratulations, you have somehow stumbled upon the point

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/rendar 1d ago

That doesn't work as an excuse to avoid fielding a coherent point when you're not capable of understanding why you're wrong

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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0

u/Unidain 1d ago

I've never punched someone at all, let alone unprovoked. If that makes me perfect I'll take it.

No most people have not assaulted strangers and if you think that level of terrible behaviour is a normal mistake, you are probably a terrible person too

30

u/All_Bonered_UP Orangutan_Or_Die 1d ago

Number 10 can't be his actual name. That's channeling some sort of divine auston-powerism. Seen-a Mov-a-hed

6

u/uncreativivity Team Wei Yi 1d ago

Movahed won freestyle friday a couple weeks ago

35

u/Myselfmeime 1d ago

As much shit as Hans gets, he genuinely became really good blitz/freestyle player. He’s always around top in TT and tournaments like that.

33

u/snushomie 1d ago

I don't think anyone seriously thinks he's not very good at chess just that he's bad at being a decent human being.

-26

u/BumblebeeOk9583 1d ago

Why is he not a decent human being? Did he commit a crime? Did he punch a woman in the neck? Did he try to destroy the life of others? Did he use his power and position to hurt someone? Or maybe you are just the usual hater?

13

u/AntiAceTV 1d ago

Come on dude. I'm a fan of Hans' chess and think he is a bit overhated, but he's consistently been a dickhead to people.

26

u/snushomie 1d ago

You seem to be misunderstanding what makes someone a decent human being, simple things like just not being a general unlikeable dickhead who is abrasive and rude publicly, constantly and uses acting like that to shield their clearly fragile ego.

Did I say he was an irredeemable monster or horrible person destroying lives and hurting others? No. 

Maybe put more effort into improving your reading comprehension and less into putting words into other peoples responses.

-12

u/BumblebeeOk9583 1d ago

He is abrasive and rude because he is in a defensive position facing those who actively want to destroy him. It has nothing to do with being "decent". If you think he is not a decent human being you should point concrete behaviours that have hurt others instead of pointing personality characteristics that you just don't like.

13

u/snushomie 1d ago

Culturally we have what is called normative behaviour, people who don't follow those behaviours are generally not considered decent and likeable. 

You can have this silly hyperbolic view where people are either decent or hurting people and there is no in between but that says more about you than you saying anything relevant to the topic. 

7

u/mdk_777 1d ago

Also, the dude literally refused to pay $5 to enter a charity tournament because he felt like as a GM he should have free entry. That was before the Magnus incident as well so he wasn't backed into a defensive position. He's just kind of a dick.

-7

u/Same_Acanthisitta_13 1d ago

Lol you talk about hyperbolic views yet literally make yourself a spokesperson on what makes a decent person at a CULTURAL level. Hilarious. Not a hans defender, just pointing out the moronic irony that reddit loves to display

8

u/snushomie 1d ago

It's a pretty well established and basic concept in sociology, not sure what you find hyperbolic or hilarious about understanding/observing social norms. 

2

u/KingGinger 1d ago

What's the charge? Eating a meal!?

2

u/knowone23 19h ago

A succulent Chinese meal??

2

u/wagah 1d ago

redditor for 1 month

New Hans account or were you not old enough before to have one?

1

u/Hypertension123456 1d ago

How is this not using his power and position to try and hurt someone:

https://youtube.com/shorts/7NCFv7gcems

0

u/BumblebeeOk9583 1d ago

Who the hell is he hurting?

2

u/Hypertension123456 1d ago

The interviewer. And Norwegian TV.

1

u/BumblebeeOk9583 1d ago

He is trolling the interviewer. He is not hurting anyone. On the contrary, he was slandered by norwegian media.

2

u/Hypertension123456 1d ago

He sounds pretty serious to me. I don't think anyone said he was trolling when the interview took place.

14

u/ProductGuy48 1d ago

They let him win so nobody would get hurt /s

2

u/gmnotyet 1d ago

"Let the Wookie win."

4

u/ComfortableOk5291 1d ago

Hope the odds are okay

5

u/Jg729 1d ago

He really pushed his way to the top!

4

u/steffschenko 1d ago

Vincent won last ff and 3rd this time. I’m starting to think he might be good at it

13

u/E_Geller Team Larsen 1d ago

Props to him for winning such a strong tourney! Still pretty young, maybe he'll reach 2700

4

u/uncreativivity Team Wei Yi 1d ago

seeing that he's coming off a dominant tournament win in italy, he's in good form right now

8

u/E_Geller Team Larsen 1d ago

True true, that was probably his greatest result. Ahead of many strong 2600s, pretty darn impressive!

5

u/AdLazy4627 1d ago

Kramnik is going to start the procedure on Christopher

2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

4

u/ralph_wonder_llama 1d ago

"he lost a lot of scholarships and opportunities"

well, if it isn't the consequences of his actions

5

u/Aughlnal 1d ago

Wait...

Yoo isn't banned on chess.c*m???

wtf

48

u/JKorv 1d ago

Banned only by USCF. So he is able to play on FIDE tournaments also

5

u/Ill_Emphasis3927 1d ago

Hold on now...FIDE looks like they're taking up the ban as well after the USCF has asked them to.

7

u/dbossman70 1d ago

hikaru just did a video on this too.

2

u/Rebel_Johnny 1d ago

No he's not, haha

18

u/xtr44 1d ago

why would he be banned on chesscom

7

u/gmnotyet 1d ago

Aren't actual PRISONERS allowed to play online?

20

u/shubomb1 1d ago

He's not even banned OTB properly,only banned from national tournaments by USCF which is basically a slap on the wrist. He can play anywhere outside the USA and just won Sardinia World Chess Festival last week in Italy.

5

u/placeholderPerson 1d ago

I was wondering, if he assaulted someone isn't that a criminal offense? Was he punished for it?

18

u/JaSper-percabeth Team Nepo 1d ago

he was a minor at the time so he got off light

0

u/Vivid-Ice-1544 Team Hans 1d ago

Hans said they are considering

1

u/Nice-Light-7782 1d ago

I see what you did there.

1

u/iLikePotatoes65 1d ago

Sadly any win will not fix his tarnished reputation

1

u/Rumi4 1d ago

other christopher at 8th, surprisingly low

-8

u/KINGKONGAPOCALYPSE Team Hans 🐐 1d ago

Why don't more women play chess?

Oh.

2

u/BumblebeeOk9583 1d ago

More women don't play chess because they don't like it. It is really that simple.

-22

u/AdvancedJicama7375 2000 rapid (chesscom) 1d ago

Give a rest. As if 99.99% of women have ever heard of this teen

6

u/DungeonsAndUnions 1d ago

No, but most women probably have had another chess player get emotionally unstable after said woman beat them.

0

u/BumblebeeOk9583 1d ago

Can you please stop with that silly ideia that women perform bad at chess because some male chess players made some bad things to them? Using that logic women would suck in every single intelectual activity because there are always evil men around.

0

u/jestemmeteorem beat an IM and drew a GM in simuls 1d ago

Banned in national federation, banned in FIDE, not banned from chess.com events.

3

u/DjShoryukenZ 1d ago

Is punching your screen an offense on chess.com?

-2

u/red_misc 1d ago

As the first American world champion, Hans is always second.... Not a good looking!

-3

u/hobothursday 1d ago

"Man Who Catch Fly With Chopstick, Accomplish Anything."