Levy Rozman

Levy Rozman (born December 5, 1995), known online as GothamChess, is an American chess International Master[3] and commentator. He produces content on the online platforms Twitch and YouTube.

Levy Rozman
Rozman in 2021
CountryUnited States
Born (1995-12-05) December 5, 1995
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
TitleInternational Master
Years active2001–2022[1]
FIDE rating2322 (November 2022)
Peak rating2421 (August 2018)
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2018–present
GenreOnline chess
Subscribers2.92 million[2]
Total views907 million[2]
Associated actsHikaru Nakamura, Anna Rudolf, Eric Rosen, Antonio Radić, BotezLive
100,000 subscribers 2020
1,000,000 subscribers 2021
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2018–present
Followers767 thousand
Total views40.2 million
Follower and view counts updated as of February 13, 2023.
Last updated: February 14, 2023

Early life

Rozman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 5, 1995, and lived in both New York and New Jersey growing up.[4][5] He began playing chess at the age of 6 as an extracurricular activity and entered his first tournament at the age of 7.[6][7] Rozman attained the titles of National Master in 2011 through the US Chess Federation, FIDE Master in 2016, and International Master in 2018.[8][3] Rozman started as a scholastic chess coach in 2014.[9]

Rozman attended Baruch College where he completed a Bachelor's degree in statistics and quantitative modeling in 2017. Before focusing on chess as a full-time career, he worked as a client service associate for UBS Wealth Management.[10]

Online career

Rozman is a Twitch streamer and YouTuber. As of February 9, 2023, he has the most-subscribed chess channel on YouTube, with 2.84 million subscribers; he currently has the highest total view count of any chess channel with 883 million views.[11][12][13][14] Rozman works closely with Chess.com and has been part of their streaming partnership since 2017.[15] Rozman is a regular commentator for the platform, analyzing tournaments like PogChamps and the 2020 Candidates Tournament.[4]

Like many online chess personalities, Rozman experienced a viewership surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly following the release of The Queen's Gambit.[7][16] As of November 2022, Rozman's YouTube channel has a total view count of more than half a billion views, including 98 videos with a million views or more.[17] Examples include an instructional opening overview where he discusses how to play the Queen's Gambit and a video where he plays against the Beth Harmon bot on Chess.com.[7] He has done in-depth explanations of games played in the series.[18] Rozman's YouTube channel reached 1 million subscribers on June 1, 2021.[19]

Rozman entered international news in March 2021 when he was defeated by an Indonesian chess player nicknamed Dewa_Kipas or "Fan God".[20][21] Rozman suspected that his opponent was cheating, and he reported his opponent's account to the Chess.com Fair Play Team. Dewa_Kipas' account was later closed for cheating (and Dewa_Kipas later was unable to play at a high level in a series of live matches),[22] which drew backlash from Indonesian netizens and resulted in Rozman being harassed on social media. Rozman later went private on his social media accounts and took a short hiatus from streaming.[20][21]

On July 11, 2022, Rozman announced his retirement from "competitive chess events" due to physical and mental stress.[23][24]

Philanthropy

On October 14, 2021, Rozman announced the Levy Rozman Scholarship Fund, through which he is donating $100,000 to elementary-, middle-, and high-school chess programs. The fund is administered by ChessKid, a subsidiary of Chess.com, and schools can be awarded between $5,000 and $15,000 to pay for the costs of training, tournament fees, and travel expenses.[25]

Awards and nominations
Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2022 The Streamer Awards Best Chess Streamer Nominated [26]

References
  1. Rozman, Levy. "I am retiring from all competitive chess events. My preparation is outmatched, my calculation skills are too flawed, and most importantly my anxiety is beyond repair. I physically and emotionally cannot do it anymore. I will stick to what I do best: bringing chess to you all". Twitter. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  2. "About GothamChess". YouTube.
  3. "Rozman, Levy". ratings.fide.com. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  4. "Levy Rozman". Chess.com. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  5. Alostatz, Steve (January 30, 2020). "International chess master coming to campus". The Lantern. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  6. Greenwald, Morgan. "This chess teacher quit his full-time job to become a streamer: 'It's become [the primary source of income]'". Yahoo! Entertainment. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  7. Stevens, Ashlie D. (November 13, 2020). "How "The Queen's Gambit" is inspiring a wave of new chess fans, especially women". Salon. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  8. "12879834: Levy Rozman". US Chess Federation. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  9. About page, gothamchess.com
  10. https://www.linkedin.com/in/levyarozman/
  11. Copeland, Sam (September 18, 2021). "The Top YouTube Chess Channels | Congrats To GothamChess On #1!!!". Chess.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  12. "GothamChess - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  13. "ChessBase India - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  14. "agadmator's Chess Channel - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  15. "Chess Streamers Directory". Chess.com. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  16. Gregory, Molly (November 19, 2020). "The Queen's Gambit Has Caused a Huge Surge in Chess Set Sales and Online Classes". MentalFloss. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  17. "GothamChess - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  18. Ellis, Philip (November 5, 2020). "The True Stories Behind 7 Pivotal Chess Matches in 'The Queen's Gambit'". Men's Health. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  19. 1 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS!, retrieved June 4, 2021
  20. "Indonesian Chess Player Beats Online Grand Master, Causes Backlash". go.kompas.com. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  21. "A Bird-Feed Seller Beat a Chess Master Online. Then It Got Ugly". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  22. Doggers, Peter. "Cheating Controversy Results In Most-Watched Chess Stream In History". Chess.com. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  23. Rozman, Levy (July 11, 2022). "GothamChess on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  24. McGourty, Colin. "Chess = pain?". chess24. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  25. "IM Levy Rozman Announces Chess Scholarship Fund". ChessKid. October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  26. Miceli, Max (February 22, 2022). "All nominees for QTCinderella's Streamer Awards". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group.
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