Scrabbler Q&A: Eric Rosen

Welcome to another installment of our Scrabbler Q&A series. This one is a little off the beaten path - today's guest has actually never played a single rated Scrabble tournament, yet he's still an influential figure in our community.

Eric Rosen is an expert chess player. He holds a 2342 FIDE rating and a 2422 U.S. Chess Federation rating, making him the No. 107-ranked player in the United States. He's held the title of International Master since 2015.

In recent years, Eric has made a name for himself as one of the biggest chess streamers on Twitch, where he's currently got over 50,000 followers. In addition to regularly streaming online chess action, he also dabbles in another game: Scrabble. He's recently begun broadcasting ISC games on a semi-regular basis, and he's drawn large audiences. Considering the amount of traffic he's drawn to his Scrabble videos, both on Twitch and YouTube, it's not a stretch to call him one of the most successful Scrabble content creators in the world.

I thought it would be interesting to sit down with Eric and chat about a wide range of topics - his streaming career, his experience living that quarantine life in 2020, and his interest in our favorite board game. Hope you enjoy.

EVANS: I guess the first question I wanted to ask you is just... what do you do with your life? Like, between chess coaching and the streams that you do, is chess a full-time gig for you?

ERIC: Yeah. I mean, I've been playing chess since I was 7. But more recently, I graduated in 2017 from Webster University, where I went on a chess scholarship. After I graduated, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life - like, if I wanted to get a full-time job in digital media or web development or web design, or if I wanted to pursue chess.

I started my Twitch and YouTube channels as a passion project, and it gradually evolved into a full-time career. I don't know if there was a particular point in time where I made that realization - it was kind of gradual. At first, I was coaching students on the side, which was where I made the majority of my income right after college, and even during college too. But nowadays, a lot of my days are consumed with streaming on Twitch and creating almost daily YouTube content. And of course, there are a lot of different monetization streams there. So I'm really grateful that I've been able to turn my passion into a career. I enjoy all aspects of it.

EVANS: That's really cool. I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about the origins of your Twitch stream. When was it that you first decided you wanted to devote your time to streaming? What went into that decision to get started?

ERIC: I guess I first had aspirations to make a YouTube channel in my early days of college - like, maybe around 2012, 2013. I think I actually created a channel sometime in 2013, and Twitch probably sometime in 2015. But I didn't start regularly producing content until after college. I always had that inkling of interest in it, but a lot goes into actually getting started - finding your rhythm with speaking in front of a camera, being comfortable talking to a live audience, and so on.

My first few streams on Twitch were just kind of experiments. I don't think very many people were watching. I remember the viewer count on my first one - I had like, 1 to 3 people watching at a time. I actually put one of my very first Twitch streams on YouTube, and at the time only like, 3 people were watching live. The YouTube video now has close to half a million views.

I always enjoyed the teaching aspect of chess. I made the realization sometime during college that I definitely wasn't going to be like, a full-time professional chess player. You have to be... I don't know, probably top 50 in the world to make a good living just by playing chess. But because I enjoyed the teaching part of it, streaming made good sense. Streaming chess and creating video content is a lot more scalable than doing 1-on-1 coaching. You can produce educational content for a vast audience rather than just spending your time with 1-on-1 lessons.

So yeah - once I got started, and once I got comfortable in the rhythm of things with Twitch, I haven't really taken an extended break from it since I began.

EVANS: So you started with just 3 people watching, and now you've got over 50,000 followers! What was the process like, scaling up from 3 to 50,000? Was there a certain inflection point you can identify, or was it more gradual?

ERIC: Well, the thing about Twitch is, if you're just streaming on Twitch, it's not the best discovery platform. When you start a new Twitch stream, it's hard for new viewers to find it if you're not promoting it elsewhere. So what really helped for me in the beginning was, when I first started my Twitch stream, after a couple weeks, the chess site I play on, lichess.org, started promoting my stream on the front page. That was and always has been a huge help in terms of getting new people to discover my content. And then, having other platforms like YouTube is important, and I'm active on other social media too. There's a saying we have among Twitch enthusiasts: "The best way to grow on Twitch is to leverage other platforms that are not Twitch."

I actually talked with Will Anderson a few weeks ago, and I gave him this same advice for Scrabble. I told him, if you want to grow a Twitch stream, you have to be active on YouTube, and you should try to leverage the Scrabble platforms too.

EVANS: Yeah, and he's starting to do that! His videos are cool.

ERIC: Yeah!

EVANS: So, shifting gears, I wanted to ask you specifically about what life is like in 2020. I know at least in the Scrabble world, a lot of things came screeching to a halt right around mid-March. We had to cancel a lot of tournaments, and basically all play had to move to online only. I'm guessing it's been like that in chess too.

ERIC: Mmm hmm. Very similar.

EVANS: What's that transition been like for you?

ERIC: Yeah, I mean, over the span of a couple of weeks, it was so abrupt how like, all tournaments were halted. The shutdown actually stopped one of the most important events of the year - the Candidates Tournament, the world championship qualifier - midway through the tournament. It was being held in Russia, and they had to stop the event and charter a jet to rush the players home before all the borders closed.

So yeah, definitely the whole landscape has changed over this past year. But there's also been a silver lining: A lot more people are getting into the game. A lot of sporting events and things have been cancelled, and people are looking for new forms of entertainment, so they go online. They go on Twitch. And chess kind of dominated Twitch over the span of a few months there. I myself was grateful to be in a position to take advantage of that and continue making content for a growing audience. And there's been some other, very popular chess streamers that have had just incredible growth. Like, I don't know if you're familiar with Hikaru Nakamura...

EVANS: Sure! Yeah.

ERIC: He's turned into one of the biggest streamers on Twitch.

EVANS: Yeah, I read the big New York Times feature last week.

ERIC: Yeah. I mean, there's just been so much media attention around him, and around the whole chess boom. I actually wrote a piece for Chess Life magazine covering all the details of the chess boom. For example, there was a post on Chess.com saying that they've experienced 10 years' worth of growth in a matter of a few months, there were just so many players flocking to the site. It's the same thing with lichess.org. Both sites have had server issues, just keeping up with the amount of traffic they've had to deal with.

There's been a lot of change. More traditional in-person tournaments usually feature slow chess, but a lot of the online tournaments these days feature speed chess, or even faster forms like 1-minute games. So there's been kind of a culture shift where speed chess, rapid chess, bullet chess, et cetera are becoming more accepted. I think that's cool. And hopefully, when things go back to normal, there will be two different thriving ecosystems - the online space and the in-person tournament world.

EVANS: So, I do write for a Scrabble site, and I realize we've been talking for 10 minutes and I've hardly mentioned Scrabble at all...

ERIC: Definitely! Yeah, no, I'm happy to talk Scrabble!

EVANS: Well, I've been watching a few of your streams, and I discovered that you've gotten a lot of engagement on your streams from people watching you play Scrabble on ISC. It's interesting! I didn't realize there'd be that kind of viewer interest in watching a chess streamer play Scrabble, but it's been really popular. I guess I want to start with: What got you interested in Scrabble? How did you discover the game?

ERIC: Unlike with chess, I don't think I can pinpoint the exact moment in time that I learned how to play. It was probably sometime in elementary school or middle school, maybe when I was around 10 or 11 years old. I think I won some kind of prize, like maybe at a birthday party or something - it was a portable Scrabble set. I started playing with my dad; I played with my mom too. At some point we got the Scrabble dictionary, and I became really fascinated with learning some of the more obscure words. And then I discovered the word lists, where you could learn all the two-letter words. When I was younger, I just loved making those parallel plays, where you'd form a bunch of two-letter words at once. Something about it was very satisfying.

But I didn't really have so many people to play with at that time. I didn't have too many friends that played. Maybe I occasionally played at school, but that was about it. Then at some point in middle school, I discovered the Internet Scrabble Club. I started playing there, and I've basically been playing on and off since middle school. And more recently, like since the beginning of 2020, I've been playing a lot more. It's a nice way to kind of take a break from chess and blow off some steam.

EVANS: Have you ever begun to seriously study beyond just the two-letter words? Ever think about getting deeper into it?

ERIC: I've definitely picked up a lot of things just by playing. I've binged a lot of YouTube content, too. I found a channel on YouTube with all the professionals' games, and I went through a period toward the beginning of this year where I was binging that content. It was really cool, being able to hear the commentary and hear the thought process of what goes into a play, and how you take into account all the probabilities.

Also at some point a few months ago, G.I. Joel [Sherman] reached out to me on ISC. He saw one of my YouTube videos, and he wanted to give me some general advice, and he was asking me if I've ever played a Scrabble competition (which I haven't, but I would someday like to). He directed me to Aerolith, which I started a little bit. I went through like, a one-week phase where I was learning the most common seven-letter words. I knocked out the first 100, maybe 150.

So I haven't done so much extended study, really. But I enjoy it.

EVANS: Hey, 150's a good start! You've got ELATION, TOENAIL, all that stuff down?

ERIC: Yeah, exactly.

EVANS: So, I don't know if you realize this, but you're actually one of the most successful Scrabble content creators in the world right now. Like, if you search "Scrabble" on YouTube right now, I believe something like 2 of the top 6 results are you.

ERIC: Yeah, I mean, I've realized that the demand for Scrabble content right now much outweighs the supply. At least on YouTube. I actually wasn't aware that my content showed up quite so high up in the search results if you just type in "Scrabble." There's a few videos up there - "How to Play Scrabble," "Scrabble Rules," and so on. There's a New Yorker video up there. But yeah, there's definitely a demand for more consistent content, similar to what of chess YouTubers are doing - daily content where they're just, you know, playing and explaining games. I know Will is just getting into things in that regard. I've watched Kenji [Matsumoto]'s Scrabble channel too.

I've actually been thinking about starting a second YouTube channel where it's all non-chess content. Maybe Scrabble could be a part of that.

EVANS: So you think that's the biggest thing that Scrabble needs right now - a greater quantity of content? Is that the first step for us, just putting out more stuff?

ERIC: Yeah. It definitely helps when there's at least a few content creators making consistent content. Then it will continually attract new players, and the game just becomes a lot more accessible. Especially when the stronger players are making content to teach newer players. It's nice when there's not only the entertainment value, but some educational value as well.

EVANS: So if anybody out there is looking to create more content, whether it's on Twitch, on YouTube, or what have you, what advice do you have for them to get started? What do they need to learn to get off the ground?

ERIC: I think the most important thing is not to worry too much about being perfect in the beginning. A lot of people just don't start because they want to make sure everything's perfect, but sometimes you just need to throw yourself in. Just start with the bare minimum - set up a Twitch channel so you can go live, and share your screen, and from there just try to make every stream, or every video, just a little bit better than the previous one.

It's important to have a learning mindset. There are a lot of skills that you'll develop over time - improving your video quality, your presentation, your interaction with the audience. This applies to both Twitch and YouTube. You'll learn over time to consistently create content and grow your audience.

I also think it's important to leverage the different platforms. So don't just do Twitch - like I said, I think a great combination is Twitch plus YouTube. A lot of people in the gaming space, not just chess but all types of games, they'll stream on Twitch and put the best content from Twitch on YouTube. You kill a couple birds with one stone in that regard.

And then another recommendation for the Scrabble community is to leverage the existing Scrabble platforms. Like, you can leverage ISC to promote content creators. Because that's where the core audience of Scrabble fans is - they're on ISC, or on the Scrabble Go app. If those platforms can promote Scrabble content creators, it will definitely do a lot to drive growth for the community of people watching Scrabble content.

EVANS: Good tip! I like it.

Thanks so much for taking the time today - I really appreciate it.

ERIC: My pleasure.