Levy Rozman
Rozman in 2023
CountryUnited States
Born (1995-12-05) December 5, 1995
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
TitleInternational Master (2018)
Years active2001–2022
FIDE rating2322 (August 2022)
Peak rating2421 (August 2018)
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2018–present
GenreOnline chess
Subscribers4.5 million[1]
Total views2.0 billion[1]
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2020
1,000,000 subscribers2021
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2018–present
Followers1 million
Last updated: January 5, 2024

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

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Rozman grew up in a Russian and Ukrainian immigrant family and began playing chess at 5. He earned the title of International Master and reached his peak rating in 2018. He began content creation in 2018. His Twitch and YouTube channels gained popularity, with a surge during the COVID-19 pandemic and The Queen's Gambit release in 2020. In 2022, he officially retired from competitive chess, citing physical and mental stress. In January 2023, his YouTube channel became the first chess channel to surpass one billion views. As of January 5, 2024, he has over 4.5 million subscribers on YouTube.[1]

Early life

Rozman was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 5, 1995, to Russian émigré Lina (née Zeldovich) and Ukrainian émigré Eugene Rozman.[2][3] Growing up, he lived back-and-forth between New York and New Jersey.[4] As a first-generation American, Rozman grew up speaking Russian as his first language and only started learning English in preschool.[2][5] Growing up, Rozman was an energetic child, described by his mother as "a bit of a bruiser on the playground." At the age of 5, his parents enrolled him in chess classes and noticed that the game had a calming effect on him.[2] Rozman entered his first chess tournament at the age of 7.[6] In February 2008, at 12 years old, Rozman achieved a FIDE rating of 2000 but progress stalled for three years. After contemplating quitting chess, he returned to the game consistently at the age of 15.[7]

Career

At the age of 16 in 2011, Rozman achieved the title of National Master through the US Chess Federation.[8][9] While attending Baruch College in Manhattan, he pursued a bachelor's degree in statistics and quantitative modeling, with plans to secure a "serious job" after finishing his involvement in playing and teaching chess. In 2014, a year into his degree, he approached local schools to propose running his own chess program that involved coaching kids for tournaments and secured city and state titles with the students.[10] Rozman then obtained the title of FIDE Master in 2016 and International Master in 2018.[11] In 2018, he reached his peak US Chess rating of 2520 and a FIDE rating of 2420.[2][3]

While working to attain the title of Grandmaster, Rozman began streaming on his own Twitch channel on May 19, 2018.[2] His streams mainly focused on instructional videos and chess commentary. Despite having only 10 followers at the time, he spent extensive hours online, sometimes streaming from 9pm to 4am. His first notable surge in viewership occurred in November 2018 during the World Chess Championship between Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen.[6] Rozman expanded his online presence further by launching his YouTube channel a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar to many online chess personalities, he experienced a viewership surge during the pandemic, particularly following the release of the TV miniseries The Queen's Gambit.[2] Transitioning from his role as a chess teacher, Rozman embraced full-time streaming. By October 2020, his Twitch channel amassed over 100,000 followers, a significant increase from the just over 17,800 followers in early 2020. In January 2021, he ranked as the third-largest chess streamer on Twitch with 200,000 followers. Simultaneously, his YouTube channel saw substantial growth, reaching 379,000 subscribers.[12]

In March 2021, Rozman gained international attention when he faced a loss in a Chess.com match against an Indonesian chess player known as Dewa_Kipas, translated as the "God of Fans." Suspecting that his opponent was cheating, Rozman reported his account to the Chess.com Fair Play Team. Consequently, Dewa_Kipas' account was closed due to cheating. This development, however, led to a backlash from Indonesian netizens, resulting in Rozman facing harassment on social media. To cope with the situation, Rozman opted for privacy by making his social media accounts private and took a brief hiatus from streaming.[9][13] Dewa_Kipas later was unable to play at a high level in a series of live matches.[14]

By mid-2021, Rozman's YouTube channel reached one million subscribers, and in September 2021, he became the largest chess creator on YouTube, surpassing Agadmator.[3]

On July 11, 2022, following a disappointing performance at the New York Summer Invitational tournament, Rozman announced his retirement from "competitive chess events" due to physical and mental stress.[15]

Amidst the increasing popularity of chess on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, coupled with the controversy surrounding cheating accusations against Hans Niemann in his match against Magnus Carlsen scandal in late 2022, Rozman's YouTube channel continued to grow at a rapid rate, accruing over 300 million views in January 2023, according to Rozman. Shortly after, his YouTube channel became the first chess channel to amass over one billion views.[10][16] By November 2023, his YouTube channel had garnered 4.3 million subscribers and 1.8 billion views.[17]

Awards and nominations

On November 28, 2023, Rozman was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 under the "Games" category.[18]

Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2022 The Streamer Awards Best Chess Streamer Nominated [19]
2023 Won [20]

Personal life

Family and religion

Rozman has a younger brother named Leo.[7] He met his wife Lucy in November 2015.[2][7] Rozman is Jewish.[21]

Book

Rozman authored the book How to Win at Chess: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners and Beyond, which was released on October 24, 2023. It reached fourth on The New York Times Best Seller list in the category "Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous".[22]

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. ChessKid, a subsidiary of Chess.com, administers the fund, and schools can be awarded between $5,000 and $15,000 to pay for the costs of training, tournament fees, and travel expenses.[23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "About GothamChess". YouTube.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Forgrave, Reid (December 8, 2023). "'Starting Soon, Nerds': Levy Rozman Wants to Teach You Chess". The New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 "Levy Rozman". Chess.com. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  4. ↑ Alostatz, Steve (January 30, 2020). "International chess master coming to campus". The Lantern. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  5. ↑ Gotham Clips (March 14, 2022). "How Levy Learned English..." YouTube.
  6. 1 2 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.
  7. 1 2 3 GothamChess: How Levy Rozman Became The Internet's Chess Teacher. Chess.com. November 26, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via YouTube.
  8. ↑ "12879834: Levy Rozman". US Chess Federation. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  9. 1 2 D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "A Bird-Feed Seller Beat a Chess Master Online. Then It Got Ugly". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Jones, Ralph (October 17, 2023). "'It exposes your every flaw': Chess's YouTube king GothamChess on the game he loves". The Guardian. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Rozman, Levy". Ratings.fide.com. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  12. ↑ Greenwald, Morgan (January 27, 2021). "This chess teacher quit his full-time job to become a streamer: 'It's become [the primary source of income]'". Yahoo Entertainment. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Indonesian Chess Player Beats Online Grand Master, Causes Backlash". go.kompas.com. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  14. ↑ Doggers, Peter (March 23, 2021). "Cheating Controversy Results In Most-Watched Chess Stream In History". Chess.com. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  15. ↑ McGourty, Colin (July 14, 2022). "Chess = pain?". chess24. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  16. ↑ Svensen, Tarjei (April 5, 2023). "GothamChess On Success, Carlsen Message, World Championship Match". Chess.com. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  17. ↑ Gawthrop, Alice (November 3, 2023). "How to win chess, according to International Master Levy Rozman". Reader's Digest. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  18. ↑ Rodgers, Jack (November 29, 2023). "GothamChess Announced In Forbes 30 Under 30". Chess.com. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  19. ↑ Miceli, Max (February 22, 2022). "All nominees for QTCinderella's Streamer Awards". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group.
  20. ↑ Polhamus, Blaine (February 20, 2023). "All 2023 Streamer Awards nominees". Dot Esports. Gamurs.
  21. ↑ Motchan, Bill (December 31, 2020). "Young Jewish chess players develop matchless life skills". St. Louis Jewish Light. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  22. ↑ Svensen, Tarjei (November 5, 2023). "'GothamChess' Releases New Book, Immediately Tops Three Amazon Lists". Chess.com. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  23. ↑ "IM Levy Rozman Announces Chess Scholarship Fund". ChessKid. October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
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