Chess Improvement & YouTube/Twitch

Mackenzie, are you sure that you know how to tile the Kitchen?

Nope! But I can look it up on YouTube!

That’s right everyone, you can learn how to do pretty much anything on YouTube, and that includes the lifelong process of improving at Chess. Today we will be looking at the best Channels/Content Creators for improving at Chess. Let’s be clear — we are talking about Chess Improvement. There are many entertaining Chess streamers on YouTube/Twitch, but there is a difference between Chess Improvement & Chess Entertainment. This story will be focusing solely on Chess Improvement.

#5 —GM Ben Finegold

I must admit, Ben Finegold is not really my favorite Chess analyst/teacher. I have a hard time paying attention to him over longer stretches of time and I much prefer the other 4 individuals on this list. However, it would be unfair to leave him off this list. He is the favorite streamer of many adults in the Chess Improvement community and he has countless YouTube videos focused on Chess Analysis & Chess Improvement. He deserves a spot on this list, even if he is not my “go to guy.” Plus, he’s a GM, so I don’t doubt that he certainly knows what he is talking about.

#4 — IM John Bartholomew

If you haven’t watched John Bartholomew’s YouTube series “Climbing the Rating Ladder,” then you should watch that series all the way through — ASAP, (after you finish reading my article of course). This series is accessible and informative to anyone looking to improve at Chess — from brand new beginners to all players rated below 2000. If you want to hear an IM explain the difference between an 800 strength player and a 1500 strength player, and then break down step by step how to “climb the rating ladder,” then this video series is the place to do just that. It’s fantastic, and he’s a very talented teacher/orator as well.

There are other players included in the group “Chess Brahs,” but GM Hansen & GM Hambleton are my favorites. A lot of their content is geared more towards Chess Entertainment than Chess Improvement, but they have a YouTube series titled “Building Chess Habbits” that I think is absolutely amazing. In these videos, the Chess Brahs break down which habbits players should be focusing on at specific rating levels. They cover in-depth explanations and examples of opening principles, middle-game strategies and blunder prevention techniques. It’s super helpful for anyone rated under 1800.

#2 — “Gotham Chess” (IM Levy Rozman)

If you haven’t heard of Gotham Chess/IM Levy Rozman then you’ve never Googled “Chess Improvement Videos,” or watched a Chess stream on YouTube/Twitch. I’m kidding, sort of, but Levy Rozman is — The Man. No Chess Improvement streamer has more viewers than Levy (in fact only two Chess Entertainment streamers even get more viewers than Levy does). Levy has two many awesome videos/series to list out in this article (I would need an entire additional story just for that), however I will mention a few favorites which can be found on YouTube: Chess Steps, Guess the Eval, Guess the ELO, Endgames, Pawn Play, Gotham Chess Openings… seriously the list continues. IM Levy Rozman is — The Man.

#1 — “GingerGM” (GM Simon Williams)

How do you top Gotham Chess? In some ways that just doesn’t seem possible… I get it. However, I’m going to make an argument here for the GingerGM — Simon Williams to claim the top spot on this list. Sure, he has way less viewers than Levy, but the instructional quality of the content put out by the GingerGM is 2nd to none. There’s a reason that this man has been recruited by Chess.com, Chessable & KasparovChess to create and teach Chess Instructional content — he’s a Chess genius and a fantastic coach as well. I’ll confess, most of his best videos can’t be found on YouTube, but check out his content on Chess.com and I promise that you won’t regret it.

Chess Entertainment:

Even though this list focused on Chess Improvement, I want to give a shout-out to some really fantastic individuals in the Chess Entertainment business.

#1 — GM Hikaru: No chess streamer is no impressive to novice & expert alike that Hikaru. Watch this man play Bullet Chess… it is uncanny the speed at which his mind & hands can dominate a game of Chess.

#2 — The Botez Sisters: Intelligent, hilarious, beautiful — everyone loves the Botez Sisters, and for good reason. They may not be GM’s, but they are still better than 99% of their fans.

#3 — Anna_Chess: Witty, kind and always full of smiles — Anna is always a light-hearted person to watch stream some chess games or occasionally Minecraft.

Interested in Chess Improvement? Check out my recent articles:

5 Apps for Chess Improvement

5 Best Books for Chess Improvement

If you enjoyed reading this, then please consider supporting Mackenzie Tittle’s writing and gain access to all of the thousands of articles written across Medium.com by subscribing here.