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Chess.comInvite only~7.4M YouTube subscribers; invite-only Chess.com club ~2,000 members

GothamChess (Levy Rozman)

The largest chess creator audience, funneled into a sub-only Chess.com club and the paid Chessly platform.

By Antoine - 2250 Lichess

Focus

Adult improvement · Openings study · Kids learning

Rating band

any–1600

What it is

IM Levy Rozman runs the most-subscribed chess channel on YouTube (~7.7M). The community gathers on his Discord and the invite-only Chess.com club 'Gotham City Subscribers', gated to Twitch subscribers. Structured paid learning lives separately on Chessly, his course platform (70+ courses plus an AI bot), with opening courses also published on Chessable. There is no open, free community club.

Review

GothamChess is the front door to chess for more people than any other single source. For an outright beginner, the YouTube channel is the fastest way to go from "knows the rules" to "has a plan" - the explanations are clear, fast, and relentlessly beginner-aware.

The community itself is thinner than the audience suggests. The Chess.com club is invite-only and gated behind a Twitch subscription, and the Discord is built for announcements and hype more than study. The paid learning lives on Chessly, a separate course platform with an AI bot; its pricing has shifted across relaunches, so confirm the current plan on the site before subscribing. For players past roughly 1600, a structured program like ChessMood or a spaced-repetition course on Chessable will go deeper than anything in the Gotham ecosystem.

What works

  • Unmatched reach and beginner-friendly explanation - the highest-volume on-ramp for brand-new players.
  • Chessly bundles structured courses with an AI sparring bot and gamified progress in one app.
  • The subscriber Chess.com club gives paying fans organized, on-platform tournaments and games.

What doesn't

  • The community is gated: the Chess.com club is invite-only via Discord and tied to a paid Twitch sub - not an open hangout.
  • Chessly content tops out at beginner/intermediate; there is little for 1600+ players, and reviewers call it pricey for the depth.
  • The Discord is creator-fan-driven (announcements, hype) rather than a curated study environment.

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