Levy Rozman — known to tens of millions of people simply as GothamChess — is the American International Master who became, by a wide margin, the most popular chess YouTuber in the world. He is not a super-grandmaster and doesn’t claim to be. What he is might matter more for how chess grew in the 2020s: the internet’s favorite chess teacher, a game-recap entertainer, and a New York Times best-selling author who turned a niche board game into daily must-watch content for a global audience.
Quick facts
- Full name: Levy Rozman · Born: 5 December 1995, Brooklyn, New York
- Title: International Master (IM), earned in 2018
- Peak rating: peak FIDE 2421 (2018) — a strong IM, not an elite competitor
- Famous for: the GothamChess channel — game recaps, the “Guess the Elo” series, and opening courses
- Book: How to Win at Chess (2023), a New York Times best-seller
- Reach: the largest chess channel on YouTube — over 7 million subscribers (as of July 2026)
Who is Levy Rozman?
Levy Rozman was born on 5 December 1995 in Brooklyn, New York, to a Russian émigrée mother and a Ukrainian émigré father. He started chess young — his parents enrolled him in lessons as a small child, and he played his first tournament at around age seven. He climbed the competitive ladder steadily rather than explosively: he earned the U.S. Chess National Master title in 2011, the FIDE Master title in 2016, and finally the International Master title in 2018.
That’s a genuinely strong chess player — an IM is a title held by only a few thousand people worldwide — but it’s important to be honest about scale. Levy is roughly 400–500 rating points below the world’s top grandmasters. His fame has almost nothing to do with tournament trophies and almost everything to do with what he did off the board: he became the person who taught the world how the pieces move, why they matter, and why chess is fun.
Before the cameras, Levy worked as a chess coach (from around 2014) running programs in New York City schools, and he studied statistics at Baruch College. That teaching background is the whole story — GothamChess is essentially a chess coach who found the biggest classroom on Earth.
How did GothamChess get so big?
Levy began streaming on Twitch in 2018 and got an early bump commentating the 2018 World Chess Championship. But the rocket ship was the 2020 chess boom: lockdowns, the streaming explosion, and Netflix’s hit series The Queen’s Gambit sent millions of curious new players looking for someone to explain the game. Levy was ready, energetic, and relentlessly consistent — and his YouTube channel took off.
By September 2021 he had passed the popular creator Agadmator to become the largest chess channel on YouTube, and he never looked back. His channel became the first chess channel to surpass one billion views, and as of July 2026 it sits at more than 7 million subscribers and several billion total views. He also has over a million followers on Twitch. Those numbers drift upward constantly, so treat them as an approximate, ever-growing snapshot — but the headline is stable: no one in chess content is bigger.
What is Levy known for?
- Game recaps. His bread and butter: fast, funny, dramatized breakdowns of top games and viral online moments.
- “Guess the Elo.” His signature series, where he analyzes viewers’ games and tries to guess their rating — equal parts comedy and teaching.
- Opening courses & the beginner path. Through his platform Chessly (which he founded in 2022) and his YouTube “10-Minute Openings” videos, he’s taught systems like the London System and the Caro-Kann to countless first-timers.
- The book. How to Win at Chess: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners and Beyond (2023) became a New York Times best-seller, with a follow-up, How to Win at Chess, Next Level, on the way.
What openings does Levy Rozman play and teach?
Because Levy’s mission is teaching, his most-associated openings are the ones that are easy to learn and hard to blunder — perfect for beginners. Chief among them is the London System, a calm, repeatable setup with the white pieces that you can play against almost anything. With Black he’s a fan of the solid Caro-Kann Defense, and he’s taught the classic Italian Game to more new players than almost anyone alive.
See the full picture on Levy Rozman’s openings.
Career highlights (the content-creator résumé)
- 2011: earns the U.S. Chess National Master title at 16.
- 2016 & 2018: earns the FIDE Master then International Master titles.
- 2018: peaks at a FIDE rating of 2421; begins streaming on Twitch.
- 2021: becomes the largest chess channel on YouTube.
- 2023: publishes How to Win at Chess, a New York Times best-seller; named to Forbes 30 Under 30 (Games).
- Ongoing: the GothamChess channel passes 7 million subscribers, making Levy the face of chess for a whole generation of new players.
The “best games” question
Here’s where we stay honest. Levy’s pages on this site aren’t a super-grandmaster’s tournament scrapbook — they’re the story of a teacher, entertainer, and skilled online player. His most memorable chess moments are things like huge community events and instructive online games, not world-championship classics. We frame them exactly that way in Levy Rozman’s best games.
Fun facts
- He has a degree in statistics from Baruch College — fitting for a guy whose whole brand includes guessing ratings.
- His How to Win at Chess hit the New York Times best-seller list, a rare feat for a chess instructional book.
- He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Games category (2023).
- In November 2025 he ran a “Levy Rozman vs The World” event, taking on a single game against a vote of well over 200,000 players.
FAQ
Is Levy Rozman a grandmaster? No. He is an International Master (IM), a title he earned in 2018. He has spoken about wanting to chase the grandmaster title, but as of July 2026 he holds the IM title.
Why is GothamChess so famous if he isn’t a top competitor? Because his fame comes from teaching and entertaining, not tournament results. He built the biggest chess channel in the world by explaining the game clearly and making it fun.
What is Levy Rozman’s rating? His peak FIDE rating was 2421 (2018) — a strong IM. Live ratings drift, so we quote his verified peak rather than a number that goes stale.
What is “Guess the Elo”? His signature YouTube series, where he analyzes submitted games and tries to guess the players’ rating (Elo). It’s part teaching tool, part comedy.
Did Levy Rozman write a book? Yes — How to Win at Chess (2023), a New York Times best-seller, with a sequel, How to Win at Chess, Next Level, following it.
Keep exploring
Go deeper: his best games & big moments · his playing style · his openings · his rating history · fun facts & records · or browse all chess players.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, his FIDE profile, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.