Chess fans were left stunned after learning that YouTuber GothamChess’s book ‘How to Win at Chess’ won’t be allowed in a physical or digital copy at the Speed Chess Championship Finals.
The Speed Chess Championship Finals is set to take place in London on February 7-8, and while fans can buy tickets, there are some rules about prohibited items that are raising eyebrows among would-be attendees.
In a Google doc detailing FAQs about the event, there are a list of items that aren’t allowed in the venue. While some of these are quite obvious such as animals, weapons, and illegal substances, there are a few other items that are banned, likely because they could distract players like noisemakers and laser pointers.
However, among the list of banned items is the book ‘How to Win at Chess’ by Levy Rozman, better known as GothamChess on YouTube, where he has over 7M subscribers. This bizarre move has caught the chess community off-guard, and it’s raising quite a few questions.
Speed Chess Championship bans GothamChess’s book from venue
The banned book sparked a discussion on Reddit, where players began pondering why GothamChess’s beginner’s guide was prohibited.
“Must be some kind of joke,” one said.
“Is Levy going to be at the event? The only sort of reasonable explanation I can think of is that they want to prevent people asking Levy for book signatures en masse,” another hypothesized.
“Chess for Babies by Levy Rozman is not banned though (in either physical or digital format),” someone else noted.
It’s not clear why the book was banned or if this was just an elaborate way to advertise it, given Rozman’s sequel titled ‘How to Win at Chess, Next Level’ is set to release later in 2026.
The rules don’t add any additional clues, either. The only banned item with more info comes in the form of “Objects being used to signal to player.”
“Please bring signs to cheer! We reserve the right to look, celebrate and check that all signs are not being used to advantage any specific player,” the FAQ states.
So far, the YouTuber and occasional “food blogger” hasn’t responded to his book being banned.
In any case, the Speed Chess Championship Finals is shaping up to be an exciting event with Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura among the 8 set to compete. Both competitors have won the Speed Chess Championship every year since 2016.
