Chess Vibes

     

Chess Vibes
YouTuber Information
Handle	@ChessVibesOfficial
Style	Gaming, Educational, and Commentary
Date joined	September 16, 2020
Other media	Breaking 1500 chess.com Merch
Videos	1.4K+
Schedule	Unscheduled
Status	Active
Associates	Michael Penn • Eric Rosen • ChessCoach Andras • Clay Walker
Personal information
Full name	Nelson Lopez
Nationality	American
Location	United States
Most viewed video
First video

Chess Adventures
YouTuber Information
Handle	@ChessAdventuresOfficial
Style	Puzzles
Date joined	June 19, 2023
Videos	15
Schedule	Unscheduled
Status	Inactive
Most viewed video
First video

“	As always, stay sharp, play smart, and take care	”
―Nelson's outro

Nelson Lopez (born: February 5, 1988 (1988-02-05)), also known by his online YouTube alias as Chess Vibes, is an American YouTuber who makes chess videos and is a chess National Master. His videos mostly cover about chess principles, tricks and tips, chess puzzles, chess openings, chess rating climb, and commentary about master chess games. He also often livestreams himself playing chess and explains his thinking process.

History

He started playing chess with his dad when he was 4, and he played his first chess tournament when he was 9.

He uploaded his first YouTube video in September 18, 2020, and he continued uploading chess videos since then.

He released his chess course website called "Breaking 1500" in July 15, 2024.

Series

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Please be patient, as it is being refined.

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Chess Puzzle Stories

"Chess Puzzle Stories" is a chess series of Nelson that centers around the 3 chess players and fishermen "Bobby Fischerman" (with 2800 chess elo), "Average Joe" (with 1400 chess elo), and "Peter Patzer" (with 700 chess elo). They're currently stuck on an island called "Puzzle Island" after unintentionally arrived there when trying to escape another abandoned island, and they're trying to escape this island. The island is only meant for people who are exceptionally good at chess, and people on the island often give chess puzzles to the 3 fishermen and require them to solve the puzzles correctly, which the fishermen most of the times solve them right and therefore further progress on escaping the island. While the people in the island request the fishermen to solve the puzzles, Nelson also asks the viewers to give the puzzles a try and then show the puzzles' solution to the viewers.

The series started in March 27, 2023 It then got moved to the second channel in June 24, 2023, but got moved back to the main channel in February 22, 2024 after Nelson realized that most people no longer watch the series. The series is currently not active with the latest episode (the 46th episode) released in February 21, 2025.

Episode 1

The series started with the 3 fishermen stuck on a deserted island. After looking around, they see a villager. They run toward the villager and ask him if he helped them get out of the island, in which he answers that he had an extra boat but it only carried 1 person at a time. The fishermen ask who the villager was gonna give it to and the villager replies that he would give it to whoever could solve his chess puzzle. In the end, only Bobby Fischer solves the puzzle correctly and is able to get of the island, leaving the 2 other fishermen behind.

Episode 2

However, a giant sea monster appears and is about to shallow Bobby Fischer, but Bobby says "Wait!" and ask the sea monster to save himself by giving him a chess puzzle to solve. The sea monster agrees and gives him 2 chess puzzles, which he was able to solve both and save himself from the sea monster.

Episode 3

But a giant whale appears and shallows Bobby Fisher. Inside the whale's mouth, Bobby is able to hear the 2 fishermen voice. Bobby is stocked and asks them how did they get here and the 2 fishermen reply that after Bobby left the island, they were able to find some more boats, so they followed Bobby but then swallowed by the whale. The whale says to the fishermen that if they solve its chess puzzle then it will take them to the nearest island and then split them out. The fishermen do solve the puzzle and the whale splits them out to an island just like the whale said, which is actually Puzzle Island.

Episode 4

The fishermen are on Puzzle Island. They then see a pirate who introduces the island and then says that he had a map of the island and would give it to the fishermen if they paid him gold. The fishermen say that they don't have any gold. The pirate thinks for a while and then says that he had a chess puzzle for the fishermen and if they could solve it correctly, they would get the map; otherwise, they had to transport his treasure across the island. The fishermen agree and they correctly solve the puzzle and get the map. They look at the map and are amazed by the size and the complexity of the island. And when they are about ask the pirate where they should go next, the pirate disappears without a trace.

Episode 5

The fishermen wonder where they should go next, then an old man on a horse meet them. The fishermen ask him where is he going, which he replies that he's going south to the Crystal Caves. The fishermen then ask him to take them there and then the old man says that depends. He says that his horse is a special horse that only allows people to ride if they solve his chess puzzle first. The fishermen says "Fair enough!" and the old man presents the puzzle, which they correctly solve and therefore get taken to the Crystal Caves.

Episode 6

The old man and the horse stop halfway at the path to the cave and bid the fishermen farewell. The old man points to the direction the fishermen need to go, and so they walk to that direction until they meet an old wooden rope bridge. They decide to walk across the bridge even though they (and Nelson) think that it didn't look to be sturdy. Then, a bandit appears at the end of the bridge when the fishermen are only just halfway across. The bandit tells the fishermen to stop and threatens to cut the rope bridge. The bandit doesn't think that the fishermen belong to Puzzle Island (as it's only meant for exceptionally good chess players) and therefore presents a chess puzzle for the fishermen to solve. Like other times, the fishermen solve the puzzle correctly. The bandit is impressed and allows the fishermen to continue going towards the Crystal Caves.

Episode 7

Eventually, the fishermen arrive at the entrance of the cave. They enter and explore the cave, only to meet a cave troll not long after that. The troll says "Stop right here! You don't get to take a step further unless you can beat me in a game!". The fishermen asks what the game is and the troll gives them the rules for the game: The fishermen have to give the troll a chess puzzle, the fishermen and the troll play from that position, but the troll can choose if he wants to play with the White side or with the Black side. The fishermen don't think the challenge is fair but they still accept it and have to come up with a chess puzzle that would trick the troll to pick the wrong side. After a while, they come up with a chess puzzle and present it to the troll. The troll looks at the position for a long time and decides to play with the Black pieces. But in the end, the fishermen manage to beat the troll at the chess puzzle. The troll however does not upset because he thinks that the puzzle was brilliant. The troll therefore allows the fishermen to continue exploring the cave.

Channel milestones

Subscriber milestones

Note: The following dates are according to Social Blade. Dates may vary by one or two days due to differences in time zones.

• 1,000 subscribers: somewhere before March 15, 2021
• 50,000 subscribers: somewhere before September 14, 2021
• 200,000 subscribers: December 5-12, 2022
• 300,000 subscribers: March 20-27, 2023
• 400,000 subscribers: September 29, 2023
• 500,000 subscribers: June 16, 2024
• 600,000 subscribers: April 3, 2025

Trivia

• He has a wife, her name is Kristin.
• He likes listening to Christian music, and Owl City is one of his favorite musician.
• His job is or was a software developer.
• His channel is named "Chess Vibes" because it was one of the names he and his wife came up with when they talked about what to name the channel, and they thought it sounded really cool.