Behind the Avatar - F1-24
Interview conducted on August 25, 2025.
Me: Today we'll be interviewing @F1-24 in the 13th episode. How are you doing today?
F1: I'm doing splendid, thanks! How about you?
Me: Um...good enough I just read things I don't like. Tell us a it about yourself, though!
F1: Oof, hope it wasn't too bad. Well, I'm F1-24, but the vast majority of people call me F1. I enjoy F1, listening to music, biking, and lasagna. In CC, I help out in the wonderful club Chess.com Vs. ChessKid as well.
Me: I think we all know about the "F1" part of your username. But why the "24"?
F1: It's my favourite number! 24's the amount of hours in the day, it can be divided by 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 12, and it's just a nice number that fits everywhere 
Me: I think you're the first person on CC I've learned the favorite number of...interesting! Is this the only username you've had or are there others?
F1: Now this is gonna be fun 😅 I was one of the Covid-joiners who popped in when I began to try to find ways to stay un-bored by going online, and I went with "freyrobert" then. Much later (I'd say... late 2023-early 2024) I came out with this username (just seemed nicer to me all around). And we shall not speak of the Summer of '24 when I tried to copy Caleb341 by making mine Kaleb341 only to realize I had to wait a few months to change it back 🤣. I was looking deeply for any 3-letter usernames that weren't taken, but I ended up simply reverting to this one after my search came up dry.
Me: I'm glad I asked XD. I knew about Kaleb341 but not that you had something before those two. Now, what about the pfp? Why did you choose this current one?
F1: Ah yes, my beautiful Moose 🥰 For a bit of time I didn't really have a pfp, and afyter that I went with the F1 logo and so forth. I admit, @Jared's pfp was (in my opinion) awesome, and I was looking for something similar. I found this guy right as I was about to travel for a bit, and it has stuck since! I think it has the same vibe I like to be, so it works out 😉
Me: I've grown used to this pfp and I do think it fits you (:
Me: Do you own or have a staff position in any clubs?
F1: Ah, thanks (: To answer your question, yes I do! Ofc, the main one is Chess.com Vs. ChessKid (aka CVC). I actually wouldn't have gotten a role there if I hadn't won a "Coord giveaway" that Caleb made... but some things are just meant to be I guess 😁 And I've run (owned) about 9 clubs that I remember off the top of my head, 5 of which I own today. I won't get into the nitty-gritty of it right now, but the first one I owned is called The Italian Game (it's now inactive and I just left it, being the amazingly-timed person I am 🗿)
F1: Permission to tell a joke I just thought of?
Me: I might have to comb through the interviews for quo- NO NOT THE QUOTE-BEGGARS *runs from the low quality quotes* *shakes them off at a random lake* *comes back and catches my breath* Anyway, how did you find Chess.com social and what is your opinion on it? And yes I'm legitimately going to quote you.
Me: Permission granted
F1: Alright, first I'll tell the joke: How did the judge describe the chicken that won the prize for the best beak
Me: IDK. How did he describe it?
F1: Im-PECK-able
Me: 😆
F1: Now lemme answer your question XD
F1: My memory's fuzzy lol, but what I can say is that I just randomly clicked on the clubs page, and searched for an Italian Game-themed club. I was inactive there for a while, but the first club I was truly active in actually still exists today, called "Road To GM". I'm not kidding, that pandemic activity was something else :0 For some perspective, they were running a League, a monthly Membership competition, daily Puzzles (which they called daily Puxxles), a coaching program, arenas drawing tons of members, etc. I'd have to check the archives to see everything they did, but yeah ;-;
F1: I branched out later on after trying to help some inactive clubs be revived, and got invites here and there. Then I got invited to CVC on an October night, and the rest is... well, not history quite yet, but you know 😀
Me: I can make it history. *bans you* (jk) Do you prefer clubs or OTF, and why?
F1: NO PLEASE I'LL DO ANYTHING *makes a top gun shrine* To your question... well, that's hardly a contest for me. I made one OTF Forum that got a lot of activity (https://www.chess.com/forum/view/off-topic/rate-the-status-of-the-person-above-you-1) but besides that I rarely interact with it. Allow me to explain; as I type this, the top 3 forums in OTF are: "hewo I'm ruby", "Where is ___", and "kiss😘,marry🤵♂️👰,slap😖👋,none😶,date👫,hug👨👐👩,handshake🤝,rizz😏,Dap🤝, secret handshake🤝👤"
F1: People talk about style vs. substance, but most of the time OTF has neither ;-; In clubs, you have a community, events, some level of organization, and amazing people that always have a vision for the future (along with some pretty good "lore" contrary to popular belief). I'm not saying that OTF doesn't have any of that, but it's tricky to find when you've got thousands of 12 year olds filling the feed ;-;
Me: Making a Top Gun shrine wouldn't help because I don't regard Top Gun as holy. But let's not make this religious. Instead, answer this question, please: What would you say is your greatest achievement on Chess.com?
Me: But yes I agree with the OTF thing.
F1: My greatest achievement? It might be ironic that my greatest achievement isn't chess-related on a site like this, but of course it has to be what me and the dream team have accomplished in CVC. We're many miles from each other, but we've built an awesome community with the help of many wonderful members. I originally just found it nice to chat with a variety of people (you know, the reason everyone starts out on social media) but I guess people liked me back then as well, and now it's become a passion.
Me: Acceptable achievement! Are there any blogs/clubs/people you would like to shoutout, and if so what/who are they?
F1: Of course, a shout-out is owed to CVC *insert raucous cheering* And I've gotta shoutout some people that have helped us get so far (in no particular order) @Jared, @Caleb341 (miss you both), You, @Qoiuoiuoiuoiu, @carlsen, @NoahdeAlwis
F1: And some members who I'm honored to have friendship with as well: @ChessBeteigeuze, @TheMidnightExpress12, @ToastBread1, @sailsword, @Forsaken, @Iansicles, @mjtcan, and many more. All of you and hundreds of others that I might not remember off the top of my head have been so amazing and kind and have made CC a truly special place. And I wanna shout out my favourite blog, F1-24's Weekly Mem- (*author screams NO ADVERTISING in background) uhm I meannn.... Author's Quotes as well.
Me: I allow advertising here XD. Thank you for the 50th shoutout I've gotten in this series! Do you have anything else to say?
F1: Thank you for having me!
