GM Aman Hambleton
Bio
Aman Hambleton is a Canadian grandmaster, commentator, lecturer, and streaming superstar. He is a beloved chess entertainer and celebrity with a unique sense of humor and has a large following. Hambleton is one of the main hosts of ChessBrah, one of the most popular Twitch and YouTube chess channels. He has been a member of the PRO Chess League team, the ChessBrahs, since 2017 and has represented Canada in two Chess Olympiads.
Early Career To Grandmaster
Hambleton started playing chess when he was only five years old. He earned his international master title and first GM norm in 2013 after gaining more than 200 rating points in just one year.
Here is a fantastic game where Hambleton dismantled the chess celebrity and aggressive grandmaster Simon Williams. Hambleton's game-ending tactic is spicy!
Years later, Hambleton played the Canadian team's reserve board in the 41st and 43rd Chess Olympiads.
In April 2017, Hambleton scored his second GM norm at the Reykjavik Open. At the time, he shared that he had made a bet with himself not to shave off his beard until he got his third norm and the GM title.
His hairy pledge would only end eight months later, allowing Hambleton's fans to witness the growth of a lengthy beard. Hambleton even shared a funny story involving his facial hair and GM Magnus Carlsen's father. During the 2017 Norway Chess, Hambleton's friend and ChessBrah co-host GM Eric Hansen shared a fake image on his Twitter profile. The picture depicted Hambleton and Carlsen, with a fake news-like headline reporting that a "hobo" had attacked Carlsen during the tournament.
BREAKING news from #iomchess! 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ONZUxwQuAZ
— Eric Hansen (@hansenchess) September 26, 2017
Alarmed with the picture and without knowing that the "homeless man" was actually Aman Hambleton, Carlsen's father called the world champion to ask if he was okay. Carlsen shared this story with Hambleton later after they met at a party.
Fully equipped with a respectable beard, Hambleton shared first place in the Canadian Open Chess Championship with GM Razvan Preotu in July 2017. He later earned his third GM norm in December 2017 at the Sunway Sitges Festival.
It's safe to say that this tournament will always leave me with great memories! I certainly hope to return under less stressful conditions so I can properly enjoy everything Sitges has to offer 🤠 https://t.co/cdR27rKPDQ
— Aman Hambleton (@amanhambleton) December 24, 2017
His hard work and dedication throughout 2017 translated into some impressive victories against strong grandmasters, like this one he pulled off against the famous author GM Victor Bologan. Hambleton played a quiet Botvinnik triangle line in the English, and reached a balanced endgame. All it took was one noticeable misstep from Bologan for the ChessBrah to take home the full point.
Hambleton finished 2017 strong—he had earned his GM title. Achieving his lifelong goal also allowed him to shave his famous beard, just in time for the New Year festivities.
ChessBrah Channels
Hambleton is one of the main hosts of the widely popular chess channel known as "ChessBrah," alongside Hansen. The ChessBrah YouTube and Twitch channels have a massive following—with roughly 150,000 followers on each platform (as of November 2020). You can find their Twitch channel at Twitch.tv/chessbrah. Hambleton regularly streams his bullet and blitz games, sub battles, Titled Tuesday performances, and other chess-related content. If you happen to subscribe to the ChessBrah channel, you may even find yourself appearing in one of their streams.
On their YouTube channel, the ChessBrahs highlight some of their best content from Twitch and other materials, like Hambleton's "Brahloween" blindfold match against WGM Qiyu "Nemo" Zhou:
Chess.com Content
Hambleton has created a lot of content for Chess.com over the years. He worked as a commentator in many tournaments like the 2016 Crazyhouse Championship and multiple Titled Tuesdays. His deep understanding of the game, paired with a great sense of humor, has made him stand out as a commentator and content creator.
Hambleton has also authored a few lessons for Chess.com, most notably teaching players about the London System and how to get better at bullet chess. He has also made appearances in different Chess.com videos, including the Chess.com vs. Chessbrah Team Battle, which you can watch below:
