The players

Julien Song (left)

Julien Song (born 1 March 1993 in Paris) is a French chess player and has held the title of International Master since 2013 (peak rating: 2422). Song began his career in classical tournament chess before establishing himself in recent years as one of the leading French-language chess content creators, in particular through his YouTube channel with around 800,000 subscribers and his presence on social media. Alongside his chess career, he initially worked as a strategy consultant until deciding in 2020 to focus entirely on chess and online communication. On his channel, Song combines entertaining content, instructional videos and community events, building a large following. He organises online tournaments, runs his own chess club and uses his profile to bring chess to a wider audience.

Levy Rozman (right)

Levy Rozman (born 5 December 1995 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American International Master (since 2018, peak rating: 2421). He is best known as an online content creator: with his channel GothamChess, he is one of the world’s largest chess YouTubers, with more than seven million subscribers, and a leading streamer on YouTube and Twitch with several million followers. Rozman built an international audience through instructive game analyses, beginner guides and entertaining explanatory videos. He has also worked as a commentator at chess events and in 2025 received the Tartakower Prize from the Emanuel Lasker Gesellschaft in recognition of his contribution to the popularisation of the game. Despite his strong focus on online media, he continues to compete actively in tournament chess and remains involved in classical formats as well.

Two draws in the classical games

After a heated opening game in their match, International Masters Levy Rozman and Julien Song played a very precise and calm draw in their second classical encounter. Rozman chose one of his favourite openings, the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, and quickly equalised. Song looked for ways to apply pressure and won a pawn on move 41, but Rozman’s pieces were more active, and the game ended in a draw by repetition on move 53. GM Felix Blohberger and WCM Katharina Reinecke, who commented on the game on Rozman’s Twitch channel, noted that both players moved much more quickly in this game, avoiding the time trouble that had led to so many errors and turning points in the first encounter.

Rapid: Rozman Handles Time Pressure Better

After three points had been awarded for each classical game, victories in the rapid section were now worth only two points. Rozman quickly showed that he seemed to maintain better control in the faster time control. This matched the image familiar from his Gotham Chess streams: “I think my greatest strength is somehow managing to win even under time pressure.” He made use of this strength several times, as Song had a number of good positions in the rapid games but failed to exploit them. In fact, he lost both the very wild first rapid game and the no less exciting second one. In the third game, Song finally managed to convert his advantage into a full point — or rather, two points. In the final rapid game of the match, Rozman once again escaped from an inferior position and steered the game into a draw.

Blitz: Rozman dominates clearly

After the first two days, Song was effectively two blitz games behind. Any hopes of catching up, however, soon faded. As in the rapid section, Rozman proved to be the quicker thinker in the blitz and won the first three games. That meant Song would have had to win the next five to salvage a draw. Instead, he won only the fourth blitz game before losing the next three in a row. At least he managed to claim the very last game of the match in his favour. By then, however, Levy Rozman had already secured overall victory in the show match by 14–8.

Levy's point of view

Blitz games and comments from both players on Song’s French YouTube channel

And the fans?

The show match between IM Levy Rozman and IM Julien Song was received largely positively by the chess community. Rozman’s play, especially in the blitz section, was praised by fans, in particular his creative tactical ideas and his eventual clear 14–8 victory over Song. The event was followed closely via live streams. Well-known commentators such as Dina Belenkaya and Relaxrobby (in French), as well as GM Felix Blohberger and Katharina Reinecke, provided fitting coverage of the match. Overall, many observers considered the event a successful, entertaining and audience-friendly encounter between two well-known chess influencers.

The games

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Links

Official site on chess.com
Gotham website
Gotham at youtube
Song's website
Song at YouTube