Meet France's Biggest Chess Content Creator, International Master And PogChamps 6 Coach

Julien Song is one of France's biggest content creators, and not just in the chess category, recently ranking third among YouTubers in all languages. Julien, an international master, was introduced to many English speakers recently in PogChamps 6, when he coached Inoxtag. Julien continues to grow his audience with the quality and consistency of, as well as the dedication he puts into, his videos and other efforts.

And now, he is the Chess.com Creator of the Month for June 2025! For the occasion, Chess.com recently spoke with Julien about his background, creative process, dream collaborators, and much, much more.

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

Je’ve been creating content for 4 years. Before that, I had a very classic job—I was a strategy consultant, a very corporate career. But during the lockdown, I decided to quit everything to focus on chess. At first, my dream was to become a grandmaster, but over time, I gradually shifted toward a content creator career, especially as I saw other creators getting started too.

What caused that gradual shift?

Becoming a GM is so difficult. I started taking lessons with world-class trainers—people who coach top-20 players. But it was really expensive, and when you put so much money into it but don’t perform in tournaments, it becomes so stressful. Still, I’m happy I tried.

And I think I have better skills for content creation. Even if I did become a GM—then what? But I have a great amount of respect for GMs and the best players in the world. I really respect the work they put in.

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

I love the impact we can have. We’re able to create videos that reach millions of people, and in doing so, get more and more people into chess. That’s the personal mission that drives me and keeps me creating content every day: to grow chess as much as possible in the French-speaking world.

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

There are so many things I appreciate about different creators:

• Anna Cramling – I love her positivity and all the joy she brings into the chess world.
• GothamChess – I really enjoy his humor, his jokes, and the way he’s paved the way for other creators, being number one.
• The Botez sisters – I admire the duo they form and how they manage to make chess fun for such a wide audience. Plus, seeing them juggle multiple activities beyond chess is really inspiring.
• The list goes on!

What is your single favorite piece of chess content you've ever created?

Recently, I organized a match against Dina Belenkaya at the Blitz Society chess bar in Paris, and I broadcast the whole event live in professional conditions—multiple cameras, a control room, custom graphics and intros, live commentators, and more. It was a huge technical challenge for me, and when we hit a peak of 26,000 viewers watching at the same time, I was honestly shocked by how successful it was in terms of audience.

It really made me want to keep creating new projects to bring chess to an even wider audience and give more people a great time around the game!

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

This was the chess livestream organized by Inoxtag, one of the biggest content creators in France—he's actually the first YouTuber to have climbed Everest. He put together a chess event in a set that looked straight out of Game of Thrones. We were fully immersed in a mountain-like setting, with lightning effects and a dramatic sky—even though we were actually filming everything in a studio!

And it was all live, with a peak of over 60,000 people watching at the same time. It’s incredibly inspiring to see how he managed to create something completely new around a game that’s been around for over 1,500 years. A real inspiration as a creator!

You then coached Inoxtag for PogChamps 6. What was that experience like?

As a coach, it’s always interesting to see if your student is going to perform or not. And what a student—because it was Inox Tag. He’s not very well known internationally, but he's one of the biggest creators in France. He’s the first YouTuber who climbed Mount Everest. So yeah, it’s kind of crazy to coach him, but I tried to improve his openings—the French, the Queen’s Gambit, the London System. 

It was a really fun experience, and he managed to qualify for the quarterfinals. I think it’s a good result. I also remember in the quarterfinals, he was livestreaming his match and Inoxtag had a peak of 45,000 viewers simultaneously.

That’s huge. It’s great for chess and the development of chess in French-speaking countries. It was a really great experience.

That’s huge. It’s great for chess and the development of chess in French-speaking countries. It was a really great experience.

In the past few weeks or months, I even started to get interviewed by mainstream media. For instance, I was interviewed on the number one radio station in France. It’s crazy because usually mainstream media are always behind in terms of trends—everything starts with social media. So to see mainstream media getting interested in chess means we’ve managed to break some barriers.

It seems there was definitely a gap there that you've done an excellent job of filling.

What I do is try to simplify chess—to show it as something fun, easy to practice, or I do a mix entertainment and chess. Of course, it’s a strategy to make more views, but I also think it’s the best strategy to bring chess to more people.

Imagine you could do a chess-based collab with anyone in the world. Who would it be, and why?

There are French-speaking athletes who are world-famous and also love chess—two examples are Victor Wembanyama and Charles Leclerc. If a collaboration around chess with them were ever possible, it would be nothing short of magical, and it would be a huge boost in helping grow the game even more!

Wembanyama was playing chess at a park a few months ago. It would be a great collaboration!

If one day Inoxtag manages to bring both Wemby and Leclerc to an event, it would be amazing. I know they really like chess. It could be a great thing to do. But I think I’m just not big enough yet to organize something like that.

Can you tell us a little bit about your creative process?

My creative process is pretty simple: I come up with content ideas, and then I produce them! But the execution is actually quite complex on a daily basis, mainly because of the sheer volume of content I create—I shoot no less than 60 videos a month!

60 videos a month! Do you ever worry about burnout?

You know, I’m Chinese, so usually we work a lot. I think I get that from my parents. I’ve been doing content for just four years. Before that, I was already an IM at 20 years old, but my parents and everyone told me you can’t make a living from chess. So I focused on studies and finding a job. I did a year of consulting—it was a nightmare. Some days I was working from 7 a.m. to midnight.

Maybe that’s why I’m used to working a lot. But it also helped me. Because I had a corporate life before—the typical guy commuting to an office—I think I appreciate the work of a content creator more. It feels less like work to me, compared to other creators, because I know how hard that other life was.

I can imagine you’re much happier doing this and sharing everything with the world rather than being in that other environment.

Definitely. And I have a team around me that helps make it all possible. I come up with the ideas, then I can get help with writing the scripts, then video editors step in, followed by thumbnail designers. And sometimes, for videos shot outside or for bigger events, we need cameramen or more complex production setups. Altogether, there are about ten people who work with me regularly.

So it also involves learning how to manage a team, which is very different from when I started out alone in my bedroom—but just as interesting!