Breakout Streamer On Building Her Community: "I'm Obsessed With It"

WFM Charlotte "Charly" Sanati, known online as Azizana, only began streaming relatively recently, but she has already started to build "a really nice and engaging community" of nearly 10,000 followers on Twitch with a dedicated two-a-day streaming schedule. It is this passion for and progress in streaming that makes Azizana the August 2025 Chess.com Creator of the Month! For the occasion, Charlotte spoke with Chess.com about the community she is growing, her goals and dreams, a little bit about her background, and much more.

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

Chess has always been part of my life but I stopped competing because of Covid and also starting university. I never liked playing online, but I felt like chess was missing in my life and honestly I was just bored so I decided to give streaming a chance in fall of last year and now I'm obsessed with it.

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

Very simple, I love talking and I like chess. If I can do both at once I'm having a good time!

You're really grinding, too. What motivates you? Is it just your enjoyment of it?

I usually stream in the morning and evening. Back when I studied computer science, I would do a little bit of studying in the morning, and I combined that with chess. I also did a computer science coding stream, but I'm not doing that anymore. That's how I got into this rhythm — so now it's my routine: wake up, stream a little bit of chess, go on with my day, and then come back to chess in the evening.

People really like it. We start the day together, then I do my studying, and in the evening I come back. Sometimes I skip the morning or evening stream, but I just really enjoy it. For me, it's kind of hard to stream five or six hours at once, so this way I can take a break in between and avoid getting bored. When I finish in the morning, I'm excited to stream again in the evening, rather than doing hours and hours straight. That's my current rhythm. It might change in the future, but right now I like it, I enjoy it, and people seem to like it too. I'm also growing with this rhythm, so it's easy to stay motivated.

On at least one stream I heard you throw in some German, although of course your stream and chat are in English. Do you know what countries most of your audience is based in? Does that affect your approach at all?

They're from all different countries, of course. Some Germans, but also Americans. I'd say it's a mix of everything. We also have this thing where we do a “German word of the day,” and there are people who study German. I'd say 90% of my streams are in English, but when there are people from Germany, I'll speak German. People are also interested in hearing about Germany, like what's going on or what's annoying me. 

On one of your streams you were asked if you would ever stream from the train.

Yeah. [Laughs.] If you watch my streams, you know that if there's one thing I hate, it's Deutsche Bahn (the German trains)! I travel a lot between my apartment and my parents' place, so that's important for me. I stream a lot, but every second weekend I go home, so I take Friday to Sunday off. That's important, because otherwise it would be too much. If I streamed twice a day every single day, it would be overwhelming. So I've built this rhythm where I take a few days off, and that's when I travel by train.

It's an inside joke at this point. I have a really nice and engaging community. One thing I've noticed is that my chat is really active and engaged. There's also a lot going on in the Discord. I'm really happy for the people who keep coming back to the stream and keeping it alive, because I can only do so much. I can talk for hours, but it's really nice to have the same people return, knowing my struggles, and for me to know about their lives too.

I'm really happy for the people who keep coming back to the stream and keeping it alive.

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

I'm still at the beginning of my journey I would say and streaming brings a lot of joy and new opportunities. If you watch my streams you'll know that it has always been my dream to be in front of a camera. This new hobby feels like it could bring me one step closer to get into that business. Creating content for a live audience, while doing something I've always enjoyed, is honestly just a big W.

Creating content for a live audience, while doing something I've always enjoyed, is honestly just a big W.

I'm not even a creative person. I'm just being myself and I'm excited to see where it'll take me. It would be cool though to someday have some projects that require some kind of creativity and preparation. 

Do you have any ideas on what kinds of projects you might want to branch into eventually? Game recaps, instructional videos, news commentary?

My dream would be to get into broadcasting. I studied computer science, but I recently switched to PR and communications because that's been my dream forever. My hope is to get to the point where I can engage with people, meet people, and talk to people. I feel confident in this role.

Right now I'm just sitting at home, but even from the beginning it felt natural. I can talk for hours, and I'd also love to do research on people, learn about their backgrounds, come up with questions, and present at events. I'm trying to network on the side, get to know more people, and maybe connect with the American scene, where a lot of the action is. From Germany, it's kind of hard. I'm open to exploring, talking to people, and that kind of thing.

I haven't done anything other than streaming yet, but if there's one special piece of content I could create it would be an Interview with GM Judit Polgar. She's just an icon. For every girl, especially, she's number one. That would be an honor and a dream someday.

What would be the first thing you asked her?

Something unrelated to chess. Maybe something personal, like her favorite food. It's not all about chess for me; it's about the person. First, I'd ask how she's doing, and then I'd get into her life, because it's not just about chess. It's about growing up, family, the country, all of that. I'd be really interested in her as a whole person, not just one aspect.

It's not all about chess for me; it's about the person.

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

I don't know if this counts but my dad gifted me a DVD of the movie Searching For Bobby Fischer, and we watched it together when I was a child. It's an emotional story between a son and his dad and brings back many memories when I think about it. 

It's a great movie. 

It's been ages since I've watched it, but I still have the DVD. My dad is the reason I got into chess. For all my tournaments, we were always together; it was always a team thing. In the movie, the dad really wants his son to succeed, and it was the same with my dad and me.

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

One thing to know about me is that I'm the biggest Lady Gaga fan, so obviously I would pick her. I would teach her some chess basics so we could play a few games together and she could teach me something about life. I would turn it into a show called “How to win in chess and life” , so content that isn't just aimed at good chess players but basically anyone who's interested, just like what I do every day now. 

Share any other thoughts you have! Unique things about your content that no one else does; something your audience doesn't know about you; or anything else.

I always say I'm just a girl being myself, not trying to behave in a certain way that makes me more likable or something I'm not. I'm a very honest, sarcastic and straightforward person. Some people like it, others don't—I don't really care about that. People tell me I'm fun and entertaining to watch and I'm enjoying it, so it's worth it either way.

What makes my streams also very chill in my opinion is the fact that I don't have any mods. Roasting and trash talking each other is part of the fun. If someone takes it too far or annoys me, I take care of it myself. It's a chess stream, but I talk about whatever comes to my mind. I think people enjoy the mix of maybe learning something about chess while having discussions about the most random things. 

If you watch my streams, you can pretty much tell who I am as a person, what my attitude is, and what the vibe is. I'd say the stream is pretty chill. Like I said, I'm just starting out on my whole journey, and I hope it takes me somewhere I dreamed about as a child, ideally combining it with chess. People keep asking me when I'll play my next tournament, and I don't know. I'm just going with the flow, trying to enjoy it, and seeing where it takes me. I'm pretty chill about it and just excited for the future.