"I Genuinely Enjoy The Process": Meet The Active FM Turning Tournaments Into Content

FM Ilija Stanojevic—Eleyah on YouTube and Eleyah.fm on Instagram—is finding ways to both educate and entertain viewers, whether with in-depth, long form analysis of opening variations and other serious chess topics, or dramatic, short form over-the-board moments from his tournament games. As he continues to balance his active tournament play and content creation, Chess.com has named Ilija as Creator of the Month for March 2026. We interviewed him for the occasion, where he discussed all forms of content and concludes with some good advice for anyone looking to get into content creation.

How long have you been creating chess content, and what made you decide to start?

Already two years. I just want to put myself out there more, show my chess knowledge, and teach people how to play chess better.

What it's like to be actively playing rated games while also being a creator? You started streaming right around when you made your FM title.

You want to create good content to show your audience—openings, puzzles, tactics, strategies. On the other side, you have to be focused on your personal games, your preparation, your tournament. And that's actually very exhausting because, at the very beginning, you're alone in that journey, but you want to make sure that everything works, that your stream is correct, that your recaps will be fine, that your video footage is good, your mic is on, and so on. It's stressful, but also makes everything challenging and fun. I like it.

You're also one of the few Creators of the Month who has also been Coach of the Month. How does coaching help you or contribute to making the YouTube videos?

When I started coaching several years ago, it improved my communication with others, and that translated into how I speak to the chess world, how I express myself to help people. In my chess content, I notice my English is improving all the time, especially from coaching. When I start doing the content, it even improved more.

And obviously it's different coaching a student one-on-one versus making a YouTube video for thousands.

That's correct. When you're meeting with someone directly, you're very flexible. Sometimes the student isn't paying that close of attention or doesn't understand something, and you have to find something they will find interesting. With a video, the viewer can just pause or leave the video if not interested, but during a lesson will stay for the whole hour and decide the next time whether to continue the lessons with you or not. So that's a bit different. You have to be precise in both, but in different ways.

What’s your favorite thing about creating? What makes it fun?

I genuinely enjoy the process. Editing videos is not something I do because I have to. I actually like sitting with the footage, shaping the story, refining the cuts, adjusting the pacing. I enjoy thinking about new concepts, stream ideas, formats, angles. It is creative work, and that part excites me.

I genuinely enjoy the process. Editing videos is not something I do because I have to.

The recaps I don't edit too much. There are some cuts here and there, but usually I'm explaining my thinking process. There isn't crazy editing.

I'm also doing short form content for YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, and this is something totally different. It's also based on my recaps, but it focuses on the most interesting moments of the game, like highlights and everything, which is now popular on many different channels on YouTube. WGM Dina Belenkaya inspired me a lot to do that. I like her way of editing this kind of short form content, and I'm trying not to copy her or other people, but to make my own original stuff in that niche of short form content.

Those are actually very hard to edit because you need a lot of time and a lot of research, because it's based on one, two, three second hooks. You need to know what is working, and you can't do everything alone. You need help from someone. I tried to hire an editor for the YouTube Shorts, but I couldn't find anyone until I remembered that my brother had done that stuff a couple times. So I asked him to make just one video to see if it works or not. And he killed it: 200,000 views on Instagram, and I think 600,000 on YouTube. So now my brother and I are working together, and I think that's actually beautiful.

Who are some of your favorite chess content creators, and why?

I personally like GM Felix Blohberger, he is also small YouTuber like me around 10k subs, but his content is for expert chess players. Other than that I like to watch Hikaru.

What is your single favorite piece of chess content that was created by someone else?

Probably the Saint Louis Chess Tournament with GM Peter Svidler commenting. I could watch and rewatch his streams for hours.

Is commentating something else that you would like to do at some point?

Yes, that's something that really attracts me. I'm only FIDE master, and for commentary people are often looking for a grandmaster or international master, or somebody who is already an experienced commentator like [FM James] Canty. But I see from my recaps that people are listening to me; when I go to tournaments, people have started coming up to me and say they enjoy my content.

If I need my English to get even better first, of course I'm open to that. Or for some experienced commentators to show me how best to do it. I'm trying to make myself better and better each day for that role.

You've made some videos about openings, including one about the Kalashnikov Sicilian. Is that your favorite?

It's my most popular, but the Kalashnikov is a beautiful opening. I created it in August 2025. At that time I was very demotivated from making any YouTube content, but I just made that one video to show my audience the Kalashnikov. It got a couple of thousand views in the first few days, and then suddenly it went boom. One or two days later it was at 20,000 views.

I was like, "What happened here?" I was about to not post anymore. I was very, very not into that anymore, to post these kind of videos. And then I just went and tried to recreate another one, and it did okay, got around five or six thousand views quickly.

So that's my most viewed video and the most popular one, but I don't think I want to make this kind of content anymore.

It had that hook too about hitting 2700, so that probably helped too. I'm glad that it got you back into the creation space. 

What I realized is you can create clickbait content, but overall it won't carry the whole truth about the subject. That video shows a very good opening, but if I tried the same idea later, it won't work the next time. People already know what's inside, so if you try the same thing again, fewer people will watch. 

On the other hand, if you create great value after getting people in the video, they will come back later. But they know it's very unrealistic to reach 2700 with one opening.

Any final advice?

I don’t see myself as someone extraordinary. I simply create content, and over time it improves through experience. What makes the difference is not talent or luck, but consistency.

I don’t see myself as someone extraordinary. I simply create content, and over time it improves through experience. What makes the difference is not talent or luck, but consistency.

Anyone can do this. The tools are accessible, the knowledge is available, and the path is clear. The real difficulty is not starting. It is continuing.

The hardest part is facing the repetition. Recording similar videos. Editing again and again. Studying, preparing, uploading, reviewing. At some point it feels routine, even boring. That is the moment most people stop.

If you learn to work through that phase and stay disciplined when the excitement fades, growth becomes inevitable. Once you overcome the monotony of the process, there are no real limits.