Where's the option to manually set your own elo? If it doesn't exist, how did some YouTubers do it?

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Avatar of mellohit5100

Hi,
There are some YouTube channels where the whole idea is to play vs specific elo to make funny content. For example, "100 elo chess, except I'm only allowed to make captures with pawns" or similar such funny restrictions. The thing is that he somehow "sets" his own elo to be 100, which then gets him matched with very low-ranked players, which is the whole idea, the videos are funny because he's able to get away with such odd restrictions and sometimes still win. But... how does someone do that? When we make a chess account we automatically start at 800 elo and furthermore when we win rounds, our elo goes up, obviously. I don't see any option anywhere "I want to play against players as if I'm elo 100" (and with good reason, or else players could just pick on players ranked lower than them, whenever they want)I do not want to do exactly the above myself, but I'd like to know HOW YouTubers are able to pick their elo as they've done for their videos?
I wanted to do something similar, but not stay indefinitely at 100! I wanted to do videos like "Can I reach 500 elo under (XYZ condition)?" and play ranked until I reach 500. Once reaching 500, I then change the videos goal to "Can I now reach 600 elo (under same XYZ condition)?", then 700 and so on, raising rank as a normal player would do with elo raising/lowering from wins and losses... I think that might make for some fun video progression. But I got auto rated ofc, and the only way for me to begin at a lower rank would be to intentionally lose games, which is bannable (again, with good reason). So... hence my initial question at the start. How are other YouTubers manually choosing such a low elo (like 100) for their accounts to enable them to make those videos in the first place? Thank you
I can link the type of videos I'm referring to if necessary. I was just hesitant to post any links in my first post

Avatar of Martin_Stahl
mellohit5100 wrote:

Hi,
There are some YouTube channels where the whole idea is to play vs specific elo to make funny content. For example, "100 elo chess, except I'm only allowed to make captures with pawns" or similar such funny restrictions. The thing is that he somehow "sets" his own elo to be 100, which then gets him matched with very low-ranked players, which is the whole idea, the videos are funny because he's able to get away with such odd restrictions and sometimes still win. But... how does someone do that? When we make a chess account we get auto ranked based on our performance and furthermore if we win rounds, our elo goes up, obviously. I don't see any option anywhere "I want to play against players as if I'm elo 100" (and with good reason, or else players could just pick on players ranked lower than them, whenever they want)I do not want to do exactly the above myself, but I'd like to know HOW YouTubers are able to pick their elo as they've done for their videos?
I wanted to do something similar, but not stay indefinitely at 100! I wanted to do videos like "Can I reach 500 elo under (XYZ condition)?" and play ranked until I reach 500. Once reaching 500, I then change the videos goal to "Can I now reach 600 elo (under same XYZ condition)?", then 700 and so on, raising rank as a normal player would do with elo raising/lowering from wins and losses... I think that might make for some fun video progression. But, I see that making a new account actually starts you out right away at 800. And the only way for me to begin at a lower rank would be to intentionally lose games, which is bannable (also with good reason). So, hence my initial question at the start. How are other YouTubers manually choosing such a low elo (like 100) for their accounts to enable them to make those videos? Thank you
I can link the type of videos I'm referring to if necessary. I was just hesitant to post any links in my first post

That's not an option for regular members and even streamers that are allowed generally have a specific account for that. Those are not something generally available either.

Avatar of mellohit5100

"That's not an option for regular members and even streamers that are allowed generally have a specific account for that. Those are not something generally available either."
Thanks for the reply. Interesting, well one channel I'm referring to is called "Chess Simp" and he seems to be a totally anonymous player, but the videos are indeed the Chess.com interface
Can you elaborate on what "not generally available" means? Like, I get what it means as in not gonna be available to the majority, and only available to a select few. But what qualifies someone then?
I have seen one video from GothamChess where he made a low-ranked account to play vs low elos but he deliberately played poorly to try to teach them stuff (like hanging pieces), and furthermore he stated that if they did lose, they would get any elo back. Which all sounds fine, and we all know who Levy is. But to me the other channel I mentioned had no real person's name attached so it's like some seemingly random player, which seems to imply anyone can potentially do this even without being well known like Levy and/or a GM or such?

Avatar of Martin_Stahl

It's very possible that person is doing it on their own and it is against the site TOS if not approved and can result in account closures

Some very popular streamers have allowed speed-run accounts, mostly Titled players. The site also allows members to have two accounts of approved but can't be used for the type of activity being described

https://support.chess.com/en/articles/8568381-can-i-have-multiple-accounts

Avatar of mellohit5100

I see! I understand it's a dead end then however, I suppose that I should add that I quite enjoy Simp's videos so I wouldn't advocate anyone getting in trouble, and due to his funny self-imposed rules/restrictions, he actually loses a lot of games too, so in his case it doesn't come off as preying on low-ranked players. But it is a bit questionable now that you mention it, lol. 
Ah well, so I understand I can't do this, thank you for the clarifications and very quick answers!

Avatar of kyzjwlarq

What I want to know is, how do I become a paid (or unpaid) actor in one of Chess Simp's videos? See, if I create a 100 rated account, maybe I will get matched up with him and could put it on my channel as a kind of counter-challenge where I have to play a certain way while figuring out what his challenge is. Sort of like a variant on drawback chess, except possibly without one side knowing that the other is playing the same game.