Levy Rozman

Levy Rozman was born on December 5, 1995, in Brooklyn, New York.⁠[1]

By his own account, both sides of his family came from the former Soviet Union; his mother enrolled him in after-school chess as a young child, and he played his first tournament at seven.⁠[2]

In 2011, at 16, he earned the US Chess national master title.⁠[3]

From 2014 to 2020 he worked as a scholastic chess teacher in New York City, coaching hundreds of students of different ages and levels.⁠[4]

Among the titles awarded at the FIDE board meeting in July 2018, Rozman received the International Master (IM) title.⁠[5]

The same year he reached his peak US Chess rating of 2520 and FIDE rating of 2420.⁠[1]

As of June 2020 he was a New York-based chess streamer, Chess.com announcer and instructor.⁠[6]

After the pandemic halted in-person teaching he began making YouTube videos in mid-2020, for about a year posting two a day; after Netflix released The Queen’s Gambit, his opening tutorials were widely recommended to new viewers.⁠[2]

In 2020 he announced his retirement from competitive chess, due to physical and mental stress.⁠[3]

In September 2021 he surpassed Agadmator to become the largest chess creator on YouTube.⁠[1]

He announced a $100,000 “Levy Rozman Scholarship Fund” giving grants of $5,000 to $15,000 to US schools with competitive chess programs, with ChessKid.com helping to select the schools.⁠[7]

The grants helped numerous school chess teams attend nationals in spring 2022 and also funded the Chess in Slums initiative in Lagos, Nigeria.⁠[8]

He won Best Chess Streamer at the 2022 Streamer Awards and Best Content Creator at the 2022 Chess.com Awards.⁠[9]

He appeared on episode 327 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, discussing Elo ratings, Chess.com versus lichess, teaching chess, Magnus CarlsenMagnus CarlsenMagnus Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who won the World Chess Championship five times between 2013 and 2021, set the highest rating in history, 2882, in 2014, and has won multiple world rapid and blitz titles; he also co-founded Play Magnus Group.Open the full entry, the Hans Niemann cheating scandal, retiring from competition and chess bots.⁠[10]

His first book, How to Win at Chess: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners and Beyond, was published by Ten Speed Press; its first half addresses beginners rated 0–800 and its second half players rated 800–1300, with more than 500 instructional diagrams and QR codes linking to videos.⁠[11]

After its October 24 release the book reached No. 1 in three AmazonAmazonAmazon is a publicly traded U.S. technology and retail company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, with its principal corporate offices in Seattle. Its businesses span e-commerce, logistics and fulfillment, digital advertising, membership and entertainment services, consumer electronics, and Amazon Web Services cloud computing.Open the full entry categories: Puzzle Books, Board Games and Chess.⁠[12]

With nearly 20,000 preorders, the book made the New York Times bestseller list in the first week of November, and he was named to ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry’ 2023 30 Under 30 list; he then had 4.4 million YouTube subscribers and another million followers on Twitch.⁠[13]

He announced his return to over-the-board competitive chess with the goal of earning the grandmaster title, taking on Latvian grandmaster Arturs Neiksans as his coach.⁠[3]

He was one of the organizers of the 2024 Madrid Chess Festival and came close to a grandmaster norm in one of its closed tournaments, losing in the penultimate round to eventual winner Julio Suarez.⁠[14]

At the July NYC Norms Invitational, in his second event since returning from retirement, he scored 8/9 in the IM-D section with a 2581 performance rating.⁠[15]

He scored 6/9 at the Spilimbergo Open in Italy, beating grandmaster Alberto David in the final round; by then he had more than five million YouTube subscribers.⁠[16]

In 2025 he staged the GothamChess Europe Tour of live events, including a London date hosted by How To Academy featuring Chess.com Chief Chess Officer Danny Rensch.⁠[17]

In 2026 he toured Europe again with a show featuring chess explanation, “Guess the ELO” games and simultaneous blitz against several players including celebrity guests; the promoter said that as GothamChess he reaches more than 10 million people worldwide.⁠[18]

Personal website: Public link: https://gotham-chess.com (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

YouTube: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/gothamchess (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

X: Public account: https://x.com/GothamChess (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

Twitch: Public channel: https://www.twitch.tv/gothamchess (opens in a new window)⁠[10]