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Levy Rozman

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Levy Rozman
Rozman in 2021
CountryUnited States
Born (1995-12-05) December 5, 1995 (age 28)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
TitleInternational Master (2018)
Years active2001–2022[1]
FIDE rating2322 (August 2022)
Peak rating2421 (August 2018)
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2018–present
GenreOnline chess
Subscribers4.3 million[2]
Total views1.8 billion[2]
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2020
1,000,000 subscribers2021
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2018–present
Followers1 million
Last updated: October 22, 2023

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.

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 is Jewish.[6] Rozman grew up speaking Russian as his first language and only started learning English in preschool.[7] He began playing chess at the age of 6 as an extracurricular activity and entered his first tournament at the age of 7.[8][9] Rozman attained the titles of National Master in 2011 through the US Chess Federation, FIDE Master in 2016, and International Master in 2018.[10][3] Rozman started as a scholastic chess coach in 2014.[11]

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.[12]

Online career

Rozman is a Twitch streamer and YouTuber. As of October 31, 2023, he has the most-subscribed chess channel on YouTube, with over 4 million subscribers; additionally, he currently has the highest total view count of any chess-focused channel, amassing over a billion views, the first chess channel to accomplish this.[13][14][15][16][17] Rozman works closely with Chess.com and has been part of their streaming partnership since 2017.[18] 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 TV miniseries The Queen's Gambit.[9][19] As of November 2022, Rozman's YouTube channel had a total view count of more than half a billion views and 98 videos with a million views. In the space of just 3 months, starting with December 2022, Rozman experienced another surge in viewership, eclipsing a billion views, including 185 total videos with a million views or more. For reference, in the year preceding December 2022, Rozman had been averaging about 20 million views, but this average soared to about 155 million per month, including one month of over 200 million new views.[20][21]

As for his video content, typical video examples include an instructional opening overview where he discusses how to play openings, such as the Queen's Gambit, or a video where he plays against the Beth Harmon bot on Chess.com.[9] He has done in-depth explanations of games played in The Queen's Gambit miniseries.[22] Other common video concepts include analysis of low-Elo viewer games, all the way up to grandmaster-level games (particularly players like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura) and beyond, including chess engines such as Stockfish or AlphaZero. Rozman's YouTube channel reached 1 million subscribers on June 1, 2021.[23]

Rozman entered international news in March 2021 when he lost a Chess.com match to an Indonesian chess player nicknamed Dewa_Kipas or "God of Fans".[24][25] 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, which drew backlash from Indonesian netizens and resulted in Rozman being harassed on social media. Rozman went private on his social media accounts and took a short hiatus from streaming.[24][25] Dewa_Kipas later was unable to play at a high level in a series of live matches.[26]

On July 11, 2022, Rozman announced his retirement from "competitive chess events" due to physical and mental stress.[27][28]

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.[29]

Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2022 The Streamer Awards Best Chess Streamer Nominated [30]
2023 Won [31]

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. ^ a b "About GothamChess". YouTube.
  3. ^ a b "Rozman, Levy". Ratings.fide.com. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "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. ^ Light, Bill Motchan, Special to the Jewish (December 31, 2020). "Young Jewish chess players develop matchless life skills".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Gotham Clips (March 14, 2022). "How Levy Learned English..." YouTube.
  8. ^ 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 February 11, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c 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.
  10. ^ "12879834: Levy Rozman". US Chess Federation. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  11. ^ About page, gothamchess.com
  12. ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/levyarozman/ [self-published source]
  13. ^ I'm a billionaire, retrieved March 2, 2023
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "GothamChess - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  16. ^ "ChessBase India - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  17. ^ "agadmator's Chess Channel - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  18. ^ "Chess Streamers Directory". Chess.com. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "GothamChess - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  21. ^ "GothamChess's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) - Social Blade Stats". socialblade.com. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ 1 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS!, retrieved June 4, 2021
  24. ^ a b "Indonesian Chess Player Beats Online Grand Master, Causes Backlash". go.kompas.com. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  25. ^ a b "A Bird-Feed Seller Beat a Chess Master Online. Then It Got Ugly". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  26. ^ Doggers, Peter (March 23, 2021). "Cheating Controversy Results In Most-Watched Chess Stream In History". Chess.com. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  27. ^ Rozman, Levy (July 11, 2022). "GothamChess on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  28. ^ McGourty, Colin. "Chess = pain?". chess24. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  29. ^ "IM Levy Rozman Announces Chess Scholarship Fund". ChessKid. October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  30. ^ Miceli, Max (February 22, 2022). "All nominees for QTCinderella's Streamer Awards". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group.
  31. ^ Polhamus, Blaine (February 20, 2023). "All 2023 Streamer Awards nominees". Dot Esports. Gamurs.
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