Guess the Elo didn't just appear out of nowhere. It took a village of dedicated, highly entertaining chess creators to turn the idea of evaluating amateur games into one of the biggest trends on YouTube. While almost every major chess channel has experimented with the format at some point, a few specific creators are responsible for shaping the meta, establishing the tropes, and making the format what it is today.
Levy Rozman (GothamChess)
You can't talk about Guess the Elo without talking about GothamChess. Levy is essentially the godfather of the modern GTE format. He took what used to be a casual streaming activity and turned it into a highly produced, wildly popular YouTube series.
Levy's approach works perfectly because he leans into the theatrical elements of the game. He treats bizarre opening mistakes like personal insults and reacts to massive blunders with genuine, visceral shock. Beyond the entertainment value, Levy actually breaks down the psychology of why lower-rated players make the mistakes they do. He codified the "tells" of different Elo ranges—like how 600s love to hang pieces, while 1200s will calculate a beautiful five-move tactic only to blunder mate in one. His series set the standard that everyone else followed.
Hikaru Nakamura (GMHikaru)
If Levy brought GTE to the masses, Hikaru brought the high-level grandmaster perspective to the format. As one of the best blitz players in the world, Hikaru's brain operates at a speed that most casual players can't even comprehend. Watching him try to understand the logic of a 400 Elo game is inherently funny.
Hikaru often speedruns through the games, making snap judgments based purely on pattern recognition. What's fascinating about his GTE videos is watching how often his intuition is spot on, even when he can't fully explain why a position "feels" like an 800-rated game rather than a 1000-rated game. He also frequently gets tripped up by "smurfs"—strong players pretending to be weak—which always leads to great reactions.
Eric Rosen
IM Eric Rosen offers a completely different flavor of Guess the Elo. Known for his incredibly calm demeanor and polite commentary, Rosen's approach to the format is much softer but just as engaging. Instead of yelling when a player blunders their queen, Rosen usually lets out a quiet "Oh my" and then politely tries to find a justification for the terrible move.
His videos are a great change of pace. He's very analytical and tries to put himself in the mind of the player, walking the audience through exactly what the beginner might have been thinking when they completely ignored a hanging bishop.
The Chessbrahs
Eric Hansen and Aman Hambleton brought the hype house energy to GTE. Their Guess the Elo content is loud, fast-paced, and highly chaotic. They often do it together, which turns the format into a collaborative (or argumentative) process. Watching two very strong players debate whether a specific pawn push signifies a 700 or a 900 rating is pure entertainment.
The Community Continues the Legacy
While these massive creators laid the groundwork, the trend has now trickled down to almost everyone in the chess space. BotezLive, Daniel Naroditsky, and even absolute beginners have documented their attempts at guessing ratings. It's a testament to how universally appealing the format is. It doesn't matter if you're a super GM or you just learned how the horsey moves—guessing ratings is always a good time.