Zachary Saine - From YouTuber to FIDE presenter

by ChessBase
4/25/2026 – Zachary’s journey is a remarkable rise from a small content creator to the face behind the YouTube channel thechessnerd, now with over 227,000 subscribers, and a presenter for FIDE, hosting press conferences at the 2026 Candidates Tournament. He began in 2019 at just 18 years old, uploading chess videos, and saw explosive growth during the pandemic as his content reached a global audience. Alongside this, his playing strength climbed from 1680 Elo in 2016 to over 2100 within a decade. So how did he make the leap from creator to official FIDE presenter, and how did his chess level improve? In this interview with Arne Kaehler, he shares the full story.
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Zachary Saine

From YouTuber to FIDE presenter

Zachary Saine’s journey has taken a remarkable turn since 2024, as the growing YouTuber has stepped into the spotlight at the Candidates Tournament 2026 as a FIDE press officer and presenter. The opportunity came through a mix of preparation and timing: after impressing at a FIDE conference in Washington, where he moderated a demanding panel on chess and social media, he was brought in to handle press conferences and even appear on the main broadcast.

Behind the scenes, Saine approaches his role with the mindset of a serious competitor. Hours of preparation, deep opening research, and close observation of elite games allow him not only to ask insightful questions, but also to absorb the thinking patterns of the world’s best players.

While he admits that this exposure doesn’t immediately translate into concrete calculation strength, the experience has clearly enriched his understanding of high-level chess—particularly the extreme depth of modern opening theory.

Despite his growing media presence, Saine remains focused on his own chess ambitions. Competing regularly in tournaments, he sees the Candidates experience as both a career milestone and a unique training ground. His interactions with top players, offer valuable lessons that go far beyond standard study methods.

When it comes to preparation tools, Saine keeps things simple: for him, the ChessBase Mega Database is the key asset. He relies on it to track fresh theory, study recent games, and prepare against opponents, highlighting especially the “player preparation” feature as an essential and evergreen tool.

In his words, the database itself remains “supremely good,” forming the backbone of his chess improvement.

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