The YouTuber and Twitch streamer Charles White is one of the leading creators in the USA from the video game scene with his channel penguinz0. In a new video, he talks about his passion for a game that drives him to madness. Because the 30-year-old is obsessed with chess and it is leading him to misery. It’s just like with League of Legends, he says, only that in chess he can’t blame anyone else for his failures, only himself.
What problem does Charles White have with chess? In a video from March 9, 2025, White explains that he has finally quit chess, even though he loves the game so much. He is so obsessed with the game that all his thoughts revolve around it when he allows it into his life:
I didn’t quit chess because I no longer love the game. The opposite is true: I love it too much. I was obsessed. I lived and breathed chess. As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw the Sicilian. I couldn’t stop thinking about chess. […] At some point, I realized that it was bad for my soul.
The Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit sparked a new enthusiasm for the game of kings among younger generations:
At the moment of his greatest triumph, the downward spiral began
That was the pivotal moment: The YouTuber says: He managed to checkmate the Twitch streamer xQc in 6 moves in 2020 (via YouTube).
This experience gave him such a high that he could never reach it again. It was an “important moment” in his life, and he will someday tell his grandchildren about it.
He compares the moment he was able to checkmate xQc to the school athlete who reached his athletic peak at 18 when he led his school team to a tournament victory. A moment of triumph that could never be reached again.
YouTuber compares chess with LoL, only it’s worse
This is his problem: Although White has spent so many hours playing chess and spent time solving chess puzzles and thinking about chess, he could never seriously progress in the game and remained stuck at a highly mediocre ELO of 1,100. He is stuck in ELO hell.
In the same situation in League of Legends, he could always blame bad team members for his failures, but in chess, that is not possible.
Every time he dealt with his failures, he had to take a look in the mirror, and what he saw there he didn’t like at all. He lacks the talent and intelligence for chess, he realized.
He compares it again to LoL: Ultimately, you invest so much time in a game, and if you lose, it is incredibly annoying and frustrating. While a win doesn’t feel nearly good enough to make up for it.
He, at least, must stay away from the chessboard in the future, because just the idea of sitting down at a board again makes him tremble all over and he becomes restless. He can still watch a few games, but not too many – otherwise, the urge will become too strong.
A LoL player who discovered chess and took it seriously is none other than Tyler1, who at first glance does not seem like someone who has enough patience and calmness for a game of chess: Twitch: Tyler1 discovers chess and achieves his goal, but a grandmaster arrogantly mocks him and LoL
