What is Levy Rozman’s IQ?
The Internet’s Chess Teacher has a published FIDE rating, 2318 in November 2026, and no published IQ score.
Levy Rozman, known online as GothamChess, has no published IQ score; our Levy Rozman IQ estimate is 120–135 on the usual scale (mean 100, SD 15), as of November 2026. It rests on his published chess record: International Master since 2018 and a FIDE standard rating of 2318. A chess rating measures chess strength, not IQ.
Levy Rozman’s estimated IQ
- A FIDE standard rating of 2318 (rapid 2319, blitz 2354) on the November 2026 list, with the International Master title since 2018 and the FIDE Master title since 2016 (FIDE profile).
- On the same FIDE profile he ranks 3,541st among active players worldwide and 161st among active players from the United States.
- A peak FIDE rating of 2421 and a peak US Chess rating of 2520, both in 2018, and the US Chess National Master title at 16 in 2011 (Wikipedia).
- A FIDE rating of 2000 at age 12 in February 2008, and a return to over-the-board play in April 2024 after stepping away from competition in July 2022 (Wikipedia).
A chess rating measures strength against other rated players, not general intelligence, and the link between the two is modest. Rozman has published no IQ test, so this range uses the site’s rating-based method at its lower end. The size of his YouTube audience is left out because it counts viewers, not reasoning. Confidence is low.
- Born
- December 5, 1995, Brooklyn, New York
- Known as
- GothamChess, “The Internet’s Chess Teacher”
- FIDE titles
- FIDE Master (2016); International Master (2018)
- FIDE ratings, November 2026
- Standard 2318, rapid 2319, blitz 2354 (FIDE ID 2039877)
- Peak ratings
- FIDE 2421 and US Chess 2520, both in 2018 (Wikipedia)
- Book
- How to Win at Chess (October 24, 2023); fourth on The New York Times advice and how-to list
- YouTube
- First chess channel to pass one billion views (Wikipedia)
- Circulating figure
- None found; no IQ score, Mensa listing or school test score is published
What an IQ of 120–135 actually means
Set the claim aside for a moment. If someone genuinely scored in this range, here is what that would represent.
| Score range | Classification | Share of people | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 – 114 | Average | ~68% | The range most people fall into. |
| 115 – 129 | Above average | ~13.6% | Roughly one person in seven. |
| 130 – 144 | Gifted | ~2% | The threshold most high-IQ societies use. |
| Above 144 | Highly gifted | ~0.1% | Figures above this range are extrapolated from the curve rather than measured. |
Percentages are approximate and describe a normal distribution. The same number means different things on tests with different standard deviations.
Thirty questions gives you a measured position on this exact scale — your score, your percentile and the ability breakdown behind it.
Find out in 30 minutes →Who Levy Rozman is
Who is Levy Rozman? Levy Rozman was born on December 5, 1995, in Brooklyn, New York. He is an American chess International Master, content creator and author, known online as GothamChess and called “The Internet’s Chess Teacher.” His YouTube channel became the first chess channel to pass one billion views (Wikipedia).
What does Levy Rozman’s chess record show? He became a National Master with the US Chess Federation at 16 in 2011, a FIDE Master in 2016 and an International Master in 2018, a title FIDE’s profile dates to its Presidential Board meeting of July 8–11, 2018, in Bucharest. He stepped away from competition in July 2022 and returned in April 2024 with the goal of becoming a grandmaster (Wikipedia). A rating is evidence of chess skill, not of IQ.
Is Levy Rozman smart? “Smart” is a label, not a score. A published International Master title puts him well above most rated players, and his book How to Win at Chess (2023) reached fourth on The New York Times list for advice and how-to books (Wikipedia). See other athletes we have checked, or compare your own result on the same scale with the IQ Metrics test.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed November 2026
.jpg){kind=link}
Levy Rozman: the documented record
The estimate above rests on this record. Every entry here is a matter of public fact, which is more than can be said for the number itself.
- 1995Born December 5 in Brooklyn, New York.
- 2008Reaches a FIDE rating of 2000 in February, at age 12.
- 2011Becomes a US Chess National Master at 16.
- 2016Earns the FIDE Master title.
- 2018Earns the International Master title and reaches his peak ratings, FIDE 2421 and US Chess 2520.
- 2022Steps away from competitive chess events in July.
- 2023Publishes How to Win at Chess on October 24.
- 2024Returns to over-the-board play in April, aiming at the grandmaster title.
- 2026Holds a FIDE standard rating of 2318 on the November list.
Why no figure circulates
Following a claim back to its first appearance is the part almost nobody does — and it is what most people are actually asking.
What is Levy Rozman’s IQ? No IQ score is published for him. FIDE’s profile lists his rating and titles, Wikipedia’s biography lists his career, and a web search for a stated score found none with a test and a date. If you meet a figure for GothamChess, ask which test, which year and which source; for how such labels turn into numbers, see where celebrity IQ numbers come from.
What is Levy Rozman’s chess rating, and can it stand in for an IQ? A FIDE rating is published, internationally governed and hard to inflate quietly, which is why this site uses it for chess players, but it is a measure of chess strength. Our explainer on chess ratings and IQ shows where the link holds and where it fails, and chess players ranked by IQ traces every number to its source.
Levy Rozman vs Hikaru: how do the ratings compare? On our Hikaru Nakamura page his FIDE rating is 2792 on the October 2026 list, against Rozman’s 2318 on the November 2026 list, a gap of 474 points. By the standard Elo formula, the lower-rated player is expected to score about 6 points in 100. Magnus Carlsen and Bobby Fischer sit higher still on this site’s chess scale.
How we read a number →Standard 2318, rapid 2319, blitz 2354 on the November 2026 list; United States; born 1995; International Master (title decision at the 2018 Presidential Board meeting, July 8–11, Bucharest) and FIDE Master (2016); world rank 3,541st among active players and 161st among active US players. It states no IQ.
Birth date and place, National Master at 16 in 2011, FIDE Master 2016, International Master 2018, peak FIDE rating 2421 and peak US Chess rating 2520 in 2018, FIDE 2000 in February 2008, the break from competition (July 2022 to April 2024), the one-billion-view YouTube milestone and the October 24, 2023 book. The article gives no IQ.
Confirms the identifier Q27530896 is the American chess streamer and YouTuber, not a namesake.
Photograph by Collision Conf (Piaras Ó Mídheach for Sportsfile), June 20, 2024, licensed CC BY 2.0.
Nakamura’s FIDE rating of 2792 (October 2026 list) and the ranges used for comparison: Nakamura 140–155, Carlsen 145–160, Fischer 160–180.
The FIDE profile, Wikipedia and a web search for a stated score found no IQ test result, Mensa listing or school test score for Levy Rozman.
The sources behind our estimate
The figures that circulate for Levy Rozman, what we were able to confirm, and where the two diverge.
People search for “GothamChess IQ,” “Levy Rozman IQ estimate” and “Levy Rozman IQ test,” but we found no page that gives a number for him with a test, a date and a source.
FIDE publishes his rating, titles and rating history, and Wikipedia’s biography gives no IQ, Mensa listing or school test score. The documented number is a chess rating, 2318, which is not an IQ.
Two of these numbers sit on the IQ scale (the ends of our range) and one is a FIDE rating, so the 2318 cannot be compared with the other two. Next to Hikaru Nakamura (140–155) and Magnus Carlsen (145–160), whose ratings are far higher, Rozman’s range sits lower.
Want a number that does hold up? Every figure on this page is somebody’s claim. Take the 30-question test and get a percentile you can check rather than a figure you have to trust.
Levy Rozman — frequently asked
What is Levy Rozman’s (GothamChess’s) IQ?
Levy Rozman has no published IQ score. Our estimate is 120–135 on the usual scale (mean 100, SD 15), drawn from his published chess record, and it is an IQ Metrics estimate, not the result of a test.
What is Levy Rozman’s chess rating?
On FIDE’s November 2026 list his standard rating is 2318, his rapid rating 2319 and his blitz rating 2354. His peak FIDE rating, 2421, came in 2018, according to Wikipedia.
Levy Rozman vs Hikaru: how do the ratings compare?
Hikaru Nakamura’s FIDE rating is 2792 on the October 2026 list, against Rozman’s 2318, a gap of 474 points. The standard Elo formula expects the lower-rated player to score about 6 points in 100.
Is Levy Rozman a grandmaster?
No. He is an International Master (2018) and a FIDE Master (2016). Wikipedia says he returned to over-the-board play in April 2024 with the goal of earning the grandmaster title.
Has Levy Rozman taken an IQ test?
He may have, but no result is public. We found no school score, Mensa listing or test report for him, so this page says so instead of guessing a number.
Does a high chess rating mean a high IQ?
Not by itself. A rating measures chess strength against other rated players, and the link to IQ is modest. See chess ratings and IQ for the research and the limits.
How does my IQ compare with Levy Rozman?
You can find out in about fifteen minutes. The IQ Metrics assessment is 30 questions, scored on the same 100-mean scale used throughout this page, so your result and the estimate above are at least expressed in the same units — one measured, one inferred. Once you have a number, the leaderboard shows where it would sit, and how we score and norm it explains the benchmarking.
Where does this estimate come from?
From the documented record rather than a test — the method is named above and set out in full under how we read a number. Compare it against the other athletes profiles, starting with Magnus Carlsen.
- Take the 30-question IQ test — get a measured score and percentile of your own
- Average IQ by country — how the scale behaves across populations
- How IQ Metrics scores its assessment — the method behind our own number
- More on how IQ testing works — reliability, error and what a score can and cannot say
- More athletes profiles — same field, same method
More athletes
Portrait © Frans Peeters, CC BY-SA 2.0. The background-removed portrait above is a derivative work and is likewise offered under the same licence. · Photograph by ChessKelly, CC BY 4.0. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Bert Verhoeff for Anefo (1972), CC0. Background removed for the portrait above.
.jpg){kind=link}
An estimate is an inference.
Yours can be measured.
Thirty questions, scored against general-population benchmarks. Your score, your percentile, your ability breakdown and a printable IIF certificate.
Find your IQ score now! →