“Chess is the most humbling activity a person can do”: GothamChess discusses signing with BASILISK at the intersection of chess and esports

With 8 million subscribers on YouTube alone, Levy “GothamChess” Rozman is the biggest chess content creator worldwide. After decades of dedication to the game, the “Internet’s Chess Teacher” has now joined his first esports organization, BASILISK, as its Head of Chess.

In an exclusive interview with Esports Insider, GothamChess shared his motivations behind the move as well as how chess can benefit from intersecting with the world of esports.

Esports Insider: This is your first signing with an esports organization. We’ve seen chess becoming more and more popular in the esports space for some time now. So, why did you choose to sign with an esports organization now, and why did you choose BASILISK specifically?

GothamChess: I think the fit was really good. […] There’s been content creators in chess that signed with, I think, even multiple orgs since then. The reason I didn’t necessarily, and I think now I have […] is, for me, everything I’ve always done over the years has been: I focus on my content, I have my educational platform, I’m writing books…

Like, I wanted to make chess as accessible as possible to the millions, and I don’t know, maybe even billions of people that are getting into the game all around the world. I didn’t wanna join an org just sort of because. […] I think what I really like about this partnership is two things. Number one: 

And the second thing is, I get a leadership role. I’m not just like, “Oh, we have a chess guy, and he’s gonna make some stupid content somewhere, and we’re gonna try to go viral.” I mean, we will try to do that. It’s not gonna be stupid. I’m in a role where I’m on a team of players who are going to try to get as many points as they can in the Esports World Cup and all these chess events as it does its best to become an esport. 

But I also want to be responsible for directing and making interesting content. And last but not least, if we can use chess to collaborate with different games or different organizations or different people or start a non-profit or build different STEM programs with chess and everything — that’s the stuff I wanna do.

Esports Insider: Do you have anything specific planned already that you can share?

GothamChess: I don’t wanna announce it just in case somebody takes the idea. I will say, I always think big. […] For example, when I stopped teaching chess right around when COVID started. I was a chess teacher in a school. I was running the program. And perhaps one of the best achievements that we ever got was our incoming pre-K and kindergarten class had more girls than boys playing chess — which is like completely unheard of. […]

As far as esports and content [goes], we’re living in a time where people love the best athletes in the world in traditional sports. But in esports and in chess, the content creators also have a very big voice and a very big platform, and I think if we put on the right type of creator event, we can easily eclipse viewership of like three or four commas.

So, I’m dreaming big. Maybe we put on one of the biggest creator chess tournaments ever. 

Esports Insider: I saw on X (formerly Twitter) that you reposted a chess game between gaming personality Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp and League of Legends icon Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. Do you have a personal interest in esports, or do you follow any specific titles?

GothamChess: Yeah, I’m getting more into it. This all started for me in the pandemic. I was playing a ton of Overwatch, like a very unhealthy amount of Overwatch. And I was actually very good. Okay, look, I don’t wanna say I was very good because it’s like how people say they’re very good at chess, and I’m like, “Yeah…” But I got up to Diamond, which I think, for a 25-year-old playing for like a year, is not bad. Maybe it’s bad. […] 

I’ve always played some video games. But for me, it’s always been more interesting to play it with friends, and, you know, I was just at my first Esports World Cup last week. I was just blown away by like how global it is. […] My big thing is I like to do collabs, which make people at home sit and go, “Oh, wow! This was really unexpected! Like, my worlds are colliding.” That’s music to my ears. 

So, they’ve tried chess, and I think it’s time that I, as the biggest chess content creator, try to play some of their games and humiliate myself. Because chess is hard. And I think chess kind of has a unique way of publicly making you look either very smart or very dumb.

So, I’m ready for my trial by fire in esports.

Esports Insider: You just mentioned this was your first Esports World Cup, and you were also casting there. How was casting an event like that in an esports setting?

GothamChess: It was incredible. […] For me, it’s like two things: I can do casting anywhere. That’s not intimidating for me. It’s actually a pleasure to be in a setting like that, casting chess. But the second thing is that chess has to get used to that. And we’ll see. ‘Cause chess is played in quiet banquet rooms at 5-star hotels.

The chess players themselves have to lean into this kind of esports vibe, and we’ll see if they do. […] Certainly, Magnus and Hikaru [Nakamura] and some people from the old guard have, but it’s mostly the younger players that are excelling at this online play. 

I love it, though. I mean, it’s great. And it gives chess players a lot of new opportunities, and maybe even something to build on from the beginning of their career as opposed to adapting now that they’re older. 

Esports Insider: If you think about a chess player who is a bit more at the beginning of their career, do you think they have something to benefit from joining an esports organization?

GothamChess: I think it could potentially be life-changing. At this last Esports World Cup, Denis Lazavik got second. […] He’s 19. And this year has been his best year in chess ever. And it’s through games played on a screen, and not physical chess like tournaments. 

I think Denis is from Belarus — I’ll take a step back. A lot of chess tournaments actually traditionally rely on invitations, which might sound crazy. But it’s not a bunch of people showing up, and then qualifying, and then playing. Actually, a lot of tournaments are like, “Hey, I wanna organize a tournament with 10 or 14 players. Let’s invite some of the best players in the world, and let’s invite some young, up-and-coming players.”

But that way, you miss a ton of people. I don’t know why that’s how chess works. Maybe it’s to save money. […] But historically, that’s sort of how it works. Maybe 80%, 90% of elite tournaments are invitational.

And when you’re from a country like Belarus […], he’s not getting that many invitations. And so, he sits at home. His skill level is going up, and it’s very incubated, but he doesn’t get to play much. And this year, he gets third place at the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship, which was in London in February. […] And then he gets second in the Esports World Cup. So, the guy has made like $300,000 in winnings. 

And there’s other players like that. […] I think these young players who are like as young as 13 and 14 now, get rewarded for the chess that they play online, something they couldn’t do in the past. And they could make huge careers for themselves in these online events. 

Esports Insider: I was also wondering if it could work vice versa. Do you think esports has something to learn from chess, or do you think those two worlds are too far apart as of now?

GothamChess: That’s an interesting question. I have to think. […] Let’s put it this way: On the scale of who has to learn from whom, chess has to learn from television sports, esports. […]

I have to think about what chess can give. […] How about this? It’s one of the few things people who are 100 years apart can do, whereas I think esports skew younger. In many chess tournaments, you can have a five-year-old playing a 95-year-old. That’s kind of cool for the community, and sort of interesting.

But I don’t know what the lesson there is.

Esports Insider: You are very good at breaking down information and selling it to people of all skill levels but also different levels of familiarity with chess. If you had to give a quick sales pitch for chess targeted at a hardcore esports gamer, what would that look like?

GothamChess: I respect and appreciate any activity people do, whether it’s physical sports [or] esports. Chess is probably the most unique and humbling activity that a person can do. So, you can play some of these games for entertainment, you can play sports to stay in shape, you can play it for community and to have a social activity.

You can play it to try to become one of the best in the world.

But for most people, chess exposes all of your bad habits, all of your insecurities […] and, obviously, also can highlight some of your biggest strengths. So it’s a uniquely humbling activity. Most people who learn and improve at chess actually fix a lot of their other issues. Or the opposite: If you’re an addictive personality, chess could ruin your life. Because you really, really wanna get better, and some people get obsessed with it. 

And oftentimes, actually fixing your chess and becoming better at it can help you apply some of the stuff in your other day-to-day life. Also, chess is about understanding your opponent. You have to think for your opponent. It teaches you a level of empathy. […]

But I think chess is on the rise. I think a lot of things are changing. I think it’s really modernizing. So, I will stay optimistic. I think chess still has a lot of room to grow. So, you can kind of be an early investor. Let’s put it this way.