This week we are excited to catch up with the most popular chess content creator in the world, IM Levy Rozman aka Gotham Chess. With a Chessable course launching, and a book coming soon, Levy took a break from his busy schedule to reflect on another year of explosive growth in his content. His YouTube channel recently passed 3 million subs, and Levy’s TikTok account went from 0 to 1 million+ followers in about 3 months! In our interview, Levy takes us behind the scenes of the work that goes into the growth, and speculates about what type of chess fans might be driving the latest surge in popularity. It has been almost 2 years since my last interview with Levy, so there are many other topics to catch up on, including the FIDE World Championship, his retirement from OTB chess, his DMs with Magnus Carlsen and much more. It is always entertaining and enlightening to hear Levy reflect on chess and on his success! Timestamps of topics discussed are below.
0:00- You can check out some of my favorite Chessable courses for different rating levels here:
https://go.chessable.com/perpetual-chess-podcast/
Sign up for the Perpetual Chess Linkfest- https://benjohnson.substack.com/
Prior Levy appearances:
Episode 180
Episode 233
0:02: How much does Levy know about his audience?
0:08- What drives him to keep trying to grow his channel?
0:16:00- Does Levy think this recent growth is propelled by high school kids?
21:00- Does Levy still do his own editing? Who else helps him?
27:00- Has Levy interacted with Magnus one-on-one?
33:00- Levy’s thoughts on the Ding-Nepo World Championship
40:00- How does Levy reflect on his abandoned pursuit of the GM title?
47:00- Patreon mailbag question: What is Levy’s advice to a parent who may be trying to encourage a scholastic player to stick with tournament chess?
56:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Does Levy still have opening novelties he keeps to himself?”
58:00- What lines does Levy recommend in his new Chessable course? What rating range does it target?
1:04:00- Patreon mailbag question: “What differentiates Levy’s course from other Chessable 1. E4 courses?”
1:07:00- How did Levy’s visit to YouTube headquarters come about?
1:12:00- Has Levy’s daily life in New York changed much since our 2021 interview?
1:13:00- Life as a dog dad
1:15:00- Levy discusses his upcoming book, How to Win at Chess.
1:17:00- Levy’s 2023 plans
1:19:00- Thanks again to Levy for catching up with us!
You should check out his YouTube channel!
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