- Media
Chess’ largest influencer at ICE Barcelona: GothamChess’ story
Chess has exploded in popularity over the last few years, with many noting that the sport started becoming especially popular during the times of Covid lockdown, when many people took up interest and started watching matches and informational content about chess on social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitch.
With all that happening, one man ultimately stood out as the pre-eminent online figure in chess, an American International Master named Levy Rozman, who often goes by his online alias GothamChess.
Levy Rozman’s background
Rozman, who has been dubbed “The Internet’s Chess Teacher”, has amassed a significant online following. His YouTube channel currently has over 7 million subscribers, while his Twitch channel has over 1 million followers. Part of the reason why he has been so successful is his consistency in his upload schedule, generally uploading a video a day. His YouTube videos have been viewed more than 2 billion times.
Rozman was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1995 to immigrant parents with backgrounds in physics, mathematics, and computer science. He has said that he loved chess from a young age, practicing it every day, and eventually playing in his first tournament in 2003 at the age of 7. He was ranked Top 5 for his age category in the United States throughout his childhood.
He started teaching chess 20 hours a week in 2013 while he was a freshman in college, and eventually began running his own chess program for youths from Kindergarten to 12th Grade. Their team won multiple city and state championships while Rozman himself was a 19-year-old head coach. He said that this was his job for 5 years, but that he shifted to online content in 2020.
Rise of GothamChess
Most of his content revolves around breaking down and explaining chess matches, whether that be his own matches, games submitted by his viewers, or high-profile matches between some of the greatest players in the world. His style is to take the reasoning and thought behind the moves being played, and explain them in a way that less experienced players can understand and in turn begin further developing their own skills.
His ability to break down the complex decision making process of high level chess, in combination with his comedic commentary style, has helped him to carve out a spot for himself in the online chess space, where even higher ranked players such as renowned Grandmasters operate their own channels where they similarly dissect and explain games to their viewers.
Having said that, as an International Master in his own right, Rozman is still an elite player, and often plays against Grandmasters, both in unplanned online matches on sites such as chess.com, as well as in tournaments.
In addition to his channels, Rozman also has courses available for people who want to learn chess in a more structured and traditional manner. He has also authored a book titled ‘How to Win at Chess’, which was published in 2023, and serves as a comprehensive guide for beginners and even more experienced players to better learn the game. Rozman has described the book as a “refreshing and revitalised take on a beautiful and timeless board game”.
GothamChess at ICE Barcelona
Rozman is at ICE Barcelona 2026, where he, Magnus Carlsen, and Hikaru Nakamura are appearing together in Europe for the first time as part of a BETBY activation.
BETBY has stated that the highlight of the occasion is an unprecedented blindfold exhibition match between Carlsen and Nakamura, a spectacle which will be brought to life with play-by-play commentary by GothamChess through his distinctive style.
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