Please note that while I do accept friend requests, I can't respond to all my Chess.com messages - if you have a specific question, tune into one of my Twitch Streams and ask me there

[Note: I haven’t yet returned to content creation since I took a break to finish my PhD - you can join the HashtagChess discord server for updates on when there’ll be some streams again]

I'm an education economist/researcher based in South Africa. I occasionally blog about my personal chess studies and South African chess, and I stream over at @HashtagChess (Twitch) and post my adult chess improvement journey on YouTube. You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more content, and if you enjoy my content and would like to support me, you can use my Chess.com affiliate link (at no cost to you) when upgrading your membership: go.chess.com/hashtagchess.

FAQ:

Q: Hi

A: Hi.

(not really a question, but given how many DMs I get saying just some version of 'hi', I feel like I need to give a response).

Q: Can we have a game?

A: I regularly do streams where I accept on-stream challenges from my Twitch viewers, or I participate in the HashtagChess Club's arenas, so you can try play against me there. I unfortunately can't accept challenges in my free time.

Q: How did you get your title?

A: I qualified for my WCM title in 2018 by achieving a 50% score at the 2018 World Chess Olympiad and reaching a FIDE rating over 1800.

Q: You have a title, why is your rating so low?

A: Since my title was a direct title, I didn't have to reach 2000 to get the WCM title (just 1800 FIDE). And then Covid happened and it turns out 3 years of bullet and blitz isn't good for classical chess. Crazy, I know But I'm working on improving my classical chess, and my blitz and bullet were never great to begin with!

beccrajoy