Note: The cover photo for this interview was made by an amazingly talented artist, musician and chess enthusiast Adam Genesis. You can follow him on Twitter or go to his Youtube and check out the amazing things he has been doing!
Note 2: Other photos used in the interview were supplied by Antonio or taken with permission from his social channels.
Note 3: This interview was originally published in “Šahovski Glasnik” – the official publication of the Croatian Chess Federation. They have very kindly allowed me to re-publish it on my own blog, as well!
Table of Contents
Introduction
Hello everyone!
Even though the second half of 2020 has been very quiet for this blog, I seem to be on a roll with interview lately.
After the recent interview with my colleague Maaike Keetman, today I am happy to announce the return of the interview series. And in quite some style.
Because – as some of you might have figured out from my blatant ripping of my interviewee’s trademark opening words at the very beginning – today we will be talking with none other but my fellow countryman, the owner of the largest Chess Youtube Channel in the world, the famous Agadmator.
For those of you who have never heard of him 1 Agadmator – better known to Croatian authorities under his real name Antonio Radić – is a chess player from a small town of Križevci in Croatia who currently runs the largest chess Youtube channel in the world (which recently crossed 900k subscribers – at the time of writing2).
Ever since starting the channel back in 2017, Agadmator has been uploading almost daily chess videos and growing his fanbase exponentially. Today he is one of the most recognizable „personas“ within the chess world, whose endeavors have recently extended way beyond Youtube.
In this interview, we will take an opportunity to talk a bit about what’s going on in his life – about the current state of his Youtube Channel, about his other projects such as his Podcast or Manga, about his future plans and about other off-the-channel events.
Please note that we will not talk about how he started to play chess or how and why he decided to start his own Youtube channels, as he has already talked about these topics extensively in a number of previous interviews, some of which can be found in the „References and Further Reading (and Listening)“ section at the end of this interview.
Many thanks to Antonio for taking the time from his busy schedule to do this.
Hope you will enjoy it!
Recent break/heart surgery
Q: Hi Antonio! Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview, it is my pleasure and privilege to be able to ask you some questions.
Allow me to start by asking a question or two about your health. 3 Recently, you had undergone a hearth surgery. In a video of yours and in our prior conversations, you mentioned it is a heart valve replacement. From what I have figured, it is a „routine“ surgery, but whenever someone relatively young requires a heart surgery it makes everyone worry. Would you mind sharing which cause requires a heart valve replacement surgery and how did you realize you might need one?
A: In my case, it was a birth defect. My valve never fully developed and I knew it would have to be taken care of one day. When they told me I needed surgery, it wasn’t that big of a surprise.
Q: How did the operation go? Considering the current situation with the COVID, I imagine it is not the best time to get „sick“ in any sense of the word. Did precautionary measures make your stay in the hospital more difficult (was anyone able to visit you, for example?).
A: The actual stay in the hospital was very pleasant and we were not really “bothered” by COVID. We were not allowed to ever leave our floor. But all the tests and examinations leading to the surgery were a bit annoying as I had to get tested every time and they don’t do tests in my hometown so it was always time-consuming.
Q: Judging on your first video after the surgery – posted only three weeks after the video announcing the break due to the surgery – your recovery was very speedy and efficient. How are you feeling right now? Are you already feeling a difference in certain aspects of your physical state (say, in how quickly you get tired) compared to the time before the surgery?
A: My recovery is going much better than I anticipated. Lifting heavy objects aside, I am already doing pretty much everything and feeling much better than I ever did. There is no more constant pressure in my chest, I’m never out of breath and I don’t lose my strength suddenly out of the blue. As soon as my sternum fully heals, I’m hitting the gym, for the first time fully operational. All in all, I am extremely happy with my progress so far.
The current state of Antonio’s Youtube Channel ONLINE EMPIRE
Antonio’s Youtube Channel
Q: Okay, I think that does it with medicine-based questions. Time to switch to more cheerful topics! After the surgery, you continued going strong with your Youtube channel and you have also recently crossed 900k subscribers. Do you feel proud and amazed every time you hit a new milestone, or has it become „business as usual“ by now?
A: I am happy with every new milestone and with every new subscriber that joins our ancient game. However, nothing compares to the moment when my channel first hit 100k subscribers. To borrow a GOT reference, I felt like that 1 in a 1000 special boys that mastered the dark arts. I was successful at something that involves chess – something I loved more than anything, without being particularly good at actually playing it.
Q: How do you handle such a major community. I imagine you must be bombarded with emails on a daily basis. Do you have someone helping you with that? Do you know some of your subscribers by name?
A: I mostly just tend to my videos and ignore everything else. I try to be active on other social media like Twitter and Instagram, but I mostly just post whatever comes to mind without much planning – nowhere near your daily joke quality content. I tend to it alone, but mostly by ignoring it, it would take up too much of my time.
Don’t get me wrong, I read every e-mail sent to me and enjoy absolutely every interaction with a subscriber, but I realized I simply can’t respond to all of it. Yes, I know most of my early subscribers by name and I’m very happy when I see them after all these years in the chat or the comment section.
Q: The magical number of 1 million subs seems closer than ever. Does that number ever figure in your mind or are you not thinking about those goals? Are you still planning a special Nezhmetdinov petition + agadmator nickname reveal at 1 million subs? Do you have any other surprises in store?
A: I will do a nickname reveal, although that is something I promised when reaching a million subscribers didn’t seem like an actual possibility 🙂 As for Nezhmetdinov and his GM title, I’m still not sure. I will definitely make something big so even more people hear about him. It’s an important decision with dire consequences and quite possibly way above my pay grade. When the time comes, I will consult some competent people about it.
Q: Do you have any particular future plans/goals for your channel? Do you intend to mix it with the content a bit (say, by doing more instructional videos such as the video about the bishop and knight checkmate?). Or you intend to continue doing your thing and focus more on branching in other directions? 4
A: I have some ideas, but things mostly turn out differently so I’m not thinking about that too much. I’m not that big on planning. I’ve always been more of a “Wait and good things will happen” person.
Q: When you first announced you will do a major break due to the heart surgery in the video mentioned above – I realized this is your first major pause from video filming in a number of years.
This ability to always work is often quoted as one of the dangers of being a Youtuber/content creator. In these past years, did you ever feel like you were in danger of getting burnt out? Did it ever happen to you that you woke up and didn’t feel like filming a video? Do you take some precautionary measures to prevent it from happening?
A: The first time I heard big Youtubers speak of the term “burn out”, I thought it was nonsense and just something they were using to get attention. Now I know it’s an actual condition.
I try to do many other things alongside my Youtube “career” and even though I make a video every day, there were days where I skipped making one. I told myself long ago, if I don’t feel like making a video today, I’m not going to. Takes the pressure off.
However, I am still “young” in my Youtube career. Creators that have been doing it for 10 years or more would probably have more to say about this. Ask me again in a few years (if I don’t go mad, that is).
Q: One last Youtube-related question I can’t resist asking :P. It seems to me that you paved the way in a way for many content creators as the number of high-quality chess channels with huge following seems to increase on a daily basis.
The channel „Chess Talk“, is one of those that has risen very quickly to fame. If I am not mistaken, it is currently the 2nd chess channel in the world with more than 700k subs.
My provocative question, therefore, is: Do you ever worry about your „throne“ being shaken? About being overtaken? If that starts to happen, are we going to see the chess version of „Tseries“ vs PewDiePie in the near future? 😛
A: PewDiePie had the help of every major Youtuber and it still wasn’t enough. Some things you can not influence. It’s nice being on the top, but I am not worried about being dethroned. Different creators cater to different audiences and I am not the one that decides what people enjoy at this moment in time.
When I was starting out, I was amongst the weakest chess players making chess content online but became the biggest chess channel “in the blink of an eye” nevertheless. That is what people needed at the time and they came in large numbers. The same will happen with the next big channel I think and I am very happy for them. I started my channel to promote chess – someone dethroning me means I am doing a good job! 🙂 5
The Agadmator Podcast
Q: When you first started your channel, you focused mainly on chess game analysis videos and you kept doing it for a few years. However, somewhere in the middle of 2019 6 you announced you will start „branching out“ and doing some other things, such as Agadmator Manga and Agadmator Podcast.
I do hope to talk about these endeavors in turn, but before we get to that, perhaps you can tell us how and when did you start thinking about doing things outside of Youtube (or outside of the „chess game analysis“ domain?).
A: Both the Podcast and the Manga are chess-related so it’s basically just a different medium to promote chess on.
Q: When was the idea for Agadmator Podcast first born? Why did you decide to start a podcast yourself (apart from stealing all Ben Johnson’s listeners, of course)?
A: I got the idea after seeing Lex Fridman’s podcast with Garry Kasparov. I thought it might be a good idea to start one about chess and also a good way for me to meet people who also spend their time promoting chess. Ben is doing an awesome job btw, I had the privilege of being a guest on his podcast. 7
Q: It did take quite some time to get the podcast going after the initial announcement – the first episode with Maxime Vachier Lagrave was published „only“ in May 2020? Was it because you wanted to get everything perfect and didn’t rush it or because you always took Podcast a bit more lightly than your Youtube Channel? What are the required steps in starting your own Podcast?
A: First I did some research on what equipment to get. Once I decided and finally bought the equipment, we needed to set everything up. The room had an echo so we needed to take care of that as well. My colleague Tino (the manga artist) helped a lot with that. Researching where and how to upload the episodes also took some time. Once everything was set up, it was time to start inviting guests.
Q: What is the current status of the Podcast? Some time has passed since the last episode with Hikaru and Nakamura. Are there any short-term and/or long-term plans for a release of subsequent episodes?
A: I had a lot of fun talking to MVL and Nakamura, but podcasting is much harder than you would think hahaha. I’m sure it will become more natural to me with time. I already had my third guest planned but my surgery got in the way and it put everything on hold. Once I recover sufficiently, I plan to continue with the podcast, maybe even soon.
The Agadmator Manga/Website
Q: Another major project you have been very enthusiastic about for quite some time is your own Chess Manga, the first chapter of which has been just recently published. If I am not mistaken, that project was in the making for almost a year or so?
How come you decided to do a manga compare to an „ordinary“ comic book? When was this idea first conceived?
A: The idea for the Manga came some 2 years ago but it took us some time to set everything up. Tino and I were talking about it and slowly started getting more serious about it. We have made 1 chapter so far and the second one is soon to be released.
Q: It was probably obvious to you that it is not a project you can undertake on your own, without an entire team of people. How did you go about assembling a team and selecting people for this project?
A: At one point, we were ready and I announced on my channel we needed a writer. Some 400 people applied and we went through all of their applications and asked them to supply a short story to see their writing style. We decided on a writer and a few months later we finally released Chapter One.
The only Manga I ever read was One Punch Man 8 but Tino reads a lot of it and that’s why we decided to go with that (Tino is a friend since childhood btw, we grew up as next-door neighbors). I just wanted another way to promote chess alongside my Youtube channel, and this seemed like a great idea. We’ll see how it goes 🙂
Q: Even though people can find out who the team members are on your website, perhaps we can give them a shoutout here and say who they are and what do they do? Perhaps it is a nice opportunity to mention who was the person/team who created your website and other people who help you maintain your ONLINE EMPIRE like your Discord mods?
A: Some of them would prefer to remain anonymous for now, we will do the full team reveal soon :).
Q: While we are at it – it was in this positionerino agadmatorino face reveal – when?
A: I don’t think we will ever witness that. I could be wrong, though. He/she is a very mysterious person.
Q: What was the workflow on the manga alike? How difficult it was to align between the team members? Did you let your team do your job or did you personally fulfill the role of a coordinator? Was Zoom often „burning“?
A: We had to do a lot of coordinating in the beginning, but I wanted to be included as little as possible. We set some ground rules and I wanted them to do their thing the best they can without any micromanaging. It was never burning as we didn’t have any deadlines. I hope we never will, but who knows 🙂
Q: Last and a little off-topic, but do you have favourite Manga/Anime? Could you at least provide us with your top 3 (apart from Age of Caissa, of course :P).
A: I’m a big fan of Dragon Ball. Watched all of it except Super (I tried, but it’s just sooooo bad). As for some shorter ones, Castelvania and Death Note were really good.
Twitch Streaming and Collabs
Q: On top of everything, you have recently also branched away from Youtube in the world of Twitch and streaming. How did you decide to start streaming on Twitch relatively recently? Was it because in order to diversify a bit from Youtube, or just because you wanted a place where you can display your other passion – old computer games – and interact with people?
A: I wanted to try out Twitch. I never used it before and it’s kind of a pretty big deal online so I wanted to at least know the basics. I decided to stream some chess, but mostly stick to other games. I have gotten much better at Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and even beat the game in one sitting hahahah. If time will allow, I would like to be able to speedrun at least one game.
Q: You were streaming very regularly some 3-4 months ago and even uploaded to your „half-forgotten“ Agadmator’s chess channel, but I don’t recall much activity lately. What is the current status of your Twitch channel and streaming career?
A: Ever since I learned I was to have surgery, I dropped most things to still have time for my chess videos and all the tests I needed to do for the procedure. I will probably get back to it, but I have no idea when.
Q: There were quite a few collaborations with other chess streamers and personalities during that period as well – most notably on the initiative of Samay Raina (who seems to be doing a wonderful job in doing the chess world and people together). How did this initiative come to fruition and can we expect to see more 4-player-chess and Scribble action in the near future?
A: It was fun hanging out with other streamers and I would enjoy more such collaborations in the future, regardless of the content (still haven’t tried Among Us). Sometimes it’s nice to just chill.
Off the board. Future plans and other (non) chess questions
Q: Last, but not least, I would like to do some non-Youtube and non-chess talk in the final bit of the interview.
Despite all the major events and successes, you will most certainly remember 2020 by proposing to your long-term girlfriend Jelena. 9 Huge congratulations! Was the proposal a complete surprise for her, or did she SUBTLY HINT that she would like to get a ring before?
A: Nah, it was a complete surprise. I was very sneaky about it. It’d be much better if she said Yes, though..
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Nah, just kidding, she did say yes :).
Q: In one of your videos you also mentioned you are also in the middle of building a house? 10 From what I have heard from other people, undergoing that process is quite a nightmare? How is the house doing? Are you enduring the battle against Croatian bureaucracy and workers?
A: We spent a lot of time on it but in the end gave up. Something got in the way and we couldn’t continue the house building saga. We did buy a house last month so it’s not all that bad 🙂
Q: Damn, I wanted to ask so many more questions, but this is already getting too long. So let me just ask three more. I do recall you mentioning analyzing games for videos isn’t particularly helpful and that you have some plans to try to improve. What is the status of your own chess game at this moment?
A: Basically, non-existent. It’s been a long since I did any work on my own game and I mostly just play bullet for fun with a blitz game here and there. Who knows what the future will bring 🙂
Q: I also recall you expressing a wish to organize a big Open tournament in your hometown of Križevci. Once again, now is not the time to organize any sort of events, but just wanted to check – is that idea still in plans for the future?
A: Of course. The First Agadmator Invitational and Open tournaments will happen, but the way things are going in the world, chances are it will be online.
Q: Allow me to wrap things up with a cliche of a question – if you could give one piece of advice to potential content creators and potential Youtubers/Streamers, what would it be?
A: Yes. Be yourself. Answering cliche question with a cliche answer, but it is true. By this I mean: Be the BEST possible version of yourself. If you pretend in your videos, you will only be able to do it for a little while before streaming and making videos becomes too difficult for you and you will either drop it or go mad.
Q: All right, Antonio! Thank you so much for taking the time and pilling through the „deep dark forest where 2+2=5“ of text I left you with. I really enjoyed asking you some of the questions as I wanted to ask them for quite some time and I hope you at least had SOME fun while answering them.
I wish you all the best in both your personal and private life and can’t wait to see what you have in store for the chess world in 2021.
A: Thank you for this amazing interview. I can’t remember the last time I answered so many questions hahaha. Looking forward to your daily jokes! (not a joke)
Be careful with what you wish, it might come true :D. Thanks once again for this amazing interview!
References and further reading (and listening)
Interview with Agadmator on FollowChess
Interview with Agadmator on Chessbase India
Agadmator on Quoth The Raven Podcast
Agadmator on Perpetual Chess Podcast
Agadmator’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit
- Are you living under a rock or something?
- December, 2020
- Everyone’s favourite topic
- Which is something I also hope to discuss later in this interview
- Vjeko: And this, dear content creators, is how you answer stupid provocative questions with grace and dignity. :)
- or the beginning of 2020?
- Vjeko’s note: Indeed, Ben is doing a wonderful job and still going strong as he has recently published his 200th episode featuring none other but Boris Gelfand.
- Vjeko’s note: Incidentally, One Punch Man is one of my own favourite Manga/Anime – I even went as far as writing an entire article about the lessons we can take away from it :P.
- Or at least that is the official story for her :P
- Which would explain certain „lack of activity“ in other fields
Great Antonio! Chess is becoming popular thanks to him (and the Queen’s Gambit)
I just wanted to say to Antonio that his insights into chess and it’s subsequent carryover to his videos is definitely a reward to watch. .Especially suggesting what happens under different move scenarios. I am a 1200 to 1600 bouncer. I play too long. Rapid online games. Playing too long results in bouncing down. REAL long. 36 hours at a time. It’s been detrimental to my health and the obsession begins once I start. I wish you the best of luck.