Nemo Zhou
{{Short description|Canadian chess player (born 2000)}}
{{good article}}
{{infobox person
| image = Qiyu Zhou at the 2014 World Youth Chess Championships in Durban, South Africa.jpg
| caption = Zhou at the 2014 World Youth Chess Championships in Durban, South Africa
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|2000|1|6}}
| birth_place = Jingzhou, China
| module2 = Chess career
{{Infobox chess player
| child = yes
|country = Finland (until 2011)
Canada (since 2011)
|title = Woman Grandmaster (2017)
FIDE Master (2016)
|womensworldchampion =
|rating = [https://ratings.fide.com/profile/505161 2172] (September 2024)
|peakrating = 2367 (September 2016)
|FideID = 505161
}}
| module3 = {{Infobox Twitch streamer
| embed = yes
| channel_name = akaNemsko
| years_active = 2020–present
| genre = Gaming
| games = {{flatlist|
}}
| associated_acts = {{flatlist|
}}
| followers = 346,000
}}
| module4 = {{Infobox YouTube personality|
| embed = yes
| channel_handle = akaNemsko
| subscribers = 349,000
| views = 148 million
| stats_update = 10 March 2025
| network =
| associated_acts =
}}
}}
Qiyu Zhou ({{lang-zh|周齐宇}}; born January 6, 2000), also known as Nemo Zhou and her online alias akaNemsko, is a Chinese-born Canadian and Finnish chess player who holds the titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and FIDE Master (FM), and is a live streamer on Twitch. She has been an under-14 girls' World Youth Champion, a Canadian women's national champion, and a Finnish women's national champion. Zhou has a peak FIDE rating of 2367 and a career-best ranking of No. 100 in the world among women. She is the first Canadian woman to earn the Woman Grandmaster or FIDE Master titles, and has represented Canada at the Women's Chess Olympiad since 2014.
Zhou began playing chess in France at age three before growing up primarily in Finland and Canada. She gained national fame in Finland by becoming the youngest-ever Finnish national chess champion, winning the under-10 open division at just five years old. While playing for Finland, she also finished runner-up in the under-8 girls' division of the World Youth Chess Championships in 2008 at age eight and won the women's division of the Finnish Chess Championship in 2010 at age 10. Zhou switched federations to Canada in 2011. She became a Canadian girls' national chess champion at the under-12 and under-14 levels in 2012 and 2013 respectively, before winning the women's national championship in 2016. Her biggest triumph as a junior was winning the under-14 girls' division of the World Youth Chess Championships in 2014. Zhou qualified for the Woman Grandmaster title in 2016 with norms at three consecutive tournaments, two of which were in Kecskemét, Hungary, where she had also gained 300 rating points from two tournaments a year earlier. Her best victory in a game by rating was against Toms Kantāns, an International Master (IM) rated 2496 at the time they played.
Zhou started a Twitch channel, called akaNemsko, in 2020, streaming chess in collaboration with other Chess.com streamers and also streaming other games as a variety streamer. In August 2020 she signed with Counter Logic Gaming, the first chess player to sign with an esports organization.
Early life and background
Nemo Zhou was born on January 6, 2000, to Changrong Yu and Jiehan Zhou in Jingzhou, China.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou, 15 Year Old High School Student From Ottawa, Is A World Youth Chess Champion! |url=https://www.algonquincollege.com/livelaughlearn/home-may-2015/live-may-2015/ |website=Algonquin College |access-date=12 February 2021}}{{cite web |title=WGM Title Application |url=https://ratings.fide.com/crt/main224972.pdf |website=FIDE |access-date=12 February 2021}}{{cite web |title=Nemo Qiyu Zhou |url=https://www.chess.com/players/nemo-qiyu-zhou |website=Chess.com |access-date=12 February 2021}} Her mother has a doctorate in English linguistics and her father has a doctorate in computer engineering. Zhou began playing chess at three years old while living in Antibes in France,{{cite web |last1=Liu |first1=Xianglin |title=世界青少年杯国际象棋冠军 周齐宇的成长轨迹 | trans-title = The growth trajectory of Zhou Qiyu, the World Youth Cup chess champion |url=http://games.sports.cn/chessorg/domesticnews/2014-10-09/2346263.html |website=Sports.cn |access-date=13 February 2021 | date= 9 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017000719/http://games.sports.cn/chessorg/domesticnews/2014-10-09/2346263.html |archive-date=17 October 2014 |language=Chinese}} where her father was working at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation. She first became interested in the game after seeing a chess set while walking down the street. She subsequently joined a chess club, where her proficiency at chess was recognized from her ability to defeat 10-year-old boys despite having just a month of experience of playing the game.{{cite web |last1=Zhou |first1=Qiyu |title=Humans of Chess: Qiyu Zhou |url=https://www.chessinstitute.ca/news/2020/01/17/humans-of-chess-qiyu-zhou/ |website=Chess Institute of Canada |date=17 January 2020 |access-date=12 February 2021 |archive-date=26 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226003247/https://www.chessinstitute.ca/news/2020/01/17/humans-of-chess-qiyu-zhou/ |url-status=dead }}
Zhou moved to Finland at the age of four when her father began working at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Oulu.{{cite web |title=WIM Qiyu Zhou nådde målet att vinna VM. Nu återstår en dröm – att få Nobelpriset | trans-title = WIM Qiyu Zhou reached the goal of winning the World Cup. Now a dream remains - to receive the Nobel Prize |url=http://stockholmchess.se/spelare/wim-qiyu-zhou-har-tva-drommar-att-vinna-schack-vm-och-fa-nobelpriset-i-fysik/?lang=en |website=Stockholm Chess Challenge |access-date=12 February 2021 |language=Swedish |date=7 April 2016}} In Oulu, she joined the Shakki-77 chess club and was coached by Jouni Tolonen. Within a year, she became the youngest Finnish national chess champion in history by winning the under-10 open section of the Finnish Youth Chess Championships at five years old.{{cite web |trans-title=Youth Championship tournament in Oulainen, June 9–12, 2005 | title = Nuorten SM- turnaus Oulaisissa 9. - 12.6.2005 |url=http://www.datakolmio.com/shakkilaakso/nsm2005.html |website=Shakkilaakso Ry |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603005910/http://www.datakolmio.com/shakkilaakso/nsm2005.html |archive-date=3 June 2008 |language=Finnish}} This achievement was widely celebrated in the media in Finland and led to her story being published in a national textbook for elementary school students. In addition to repeating as under-10 open champion for four years from 2007 through 2010,{{cite web |title=Nuorten SM-turnaukset 7.-10.6.2007 | trans-title = Finnish Youth Championships 7–10 June 2007 |url=http://www.kolumbus.fi/shakkiliitto/tul2007/nsm07t.htm |website=Kolumbus |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090524153104/http://www.kolumbus.fi/shakkiliitto/tul2007/nsm07t.htm |archive-date=24 May 2009 |language=Finnish}}{{cite web |title=Kilpailutuloksia | trans-title = Competition results |url=http://www.datakolmio.com/shakkilaakso/tuloksia.html |website=Shakkilaakso Ry |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120230322/http://www.datakolmio.com/shakkilaakso/tuloksia.html#nsm08 | archive-date = 20 November 2008 |language=Finnish}} Zhou won the Finnish Women's National Chess Championship in 2010 at the age of 10.{{cite web |title=Henkilökohtaiset SM-turnaukset | trans-title = Personal Championships |url=http://www.shakki.net/shakkipeli/historia/henkilokoht.html |website=Shakki Net |access-date=13 February 2021 |language=Finnish}}
As the Finnish under-10 national champion, Zhou qualified to play in the World Youth Chess Championship on several occasions. She competed in the under-10 girls' division in 2005, scoring {{abbr|4½/11|4½ points in 11 rounds}} at age five.{{cite web |title=World Youth Chess Championship 2005 G10 Belfort, France |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr9065.aspx?lan=1&art=1&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=13 February 2021}} After switching to the new under-8 girls' division for her next two World Youth Championships, Zhou won a silver medal at the 2008 event, which was held in Vũng Tàu, Vietnam.{{cite web |title = Oululainen Qiyu Zhou shakin MM-hopealle | trans-title = Oulu-based Qiyu Zhou for World Chess Silver |url=https://www.kaleva.fi/oululainen-qiyu-zhou-shakin-mm-hopealle/2202021 |website=Kaleva |access-date=13 February 2021 |language=Finnish |date=30 October 2008}} With Kalle Kiik as her team's coach at the competition, she scored 8½/11, second behind only Zhansaya Abdumalik who finished with 10/11.{{cite web |title=World Youth Chess Championships 2008 - Girls 08 |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr15981.aspx?lan=1&art=0&fedb=MAS&fed=IND&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=13 February 2021}} At Zhou's first World Youth Championship, she also had the opportunity to meet leading women's chess player Hou Yifan, who she has long considered to be her biggest chess role model. When Zhou was around 11 years old, she and her family relocated to Ottawa, prompting her to switch federations from Finland to Canada in 2011.{{cite web |title=Transfers in 2011 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml?year=2011 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}}
Chess career
=2011–15: Under-14 World Champion=
Zhou earned her first FIDE rating after the 2010 World Youth Championship, starting at 1710 in January 2011 at the age of ten.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Rating Progress Chart |url=https://ratings.fide.com/profile/505161/chart |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} Once in Canada, she had more opportunity to compete in tournaments with adults.{{cite AV media| title = life :3 | date = 20 January 2021 | publisher = akaNemsko | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMRfq5-cGTU | access-date = 13 February 2021}} With good performances at both the 2011 Montreal Open and the 2011 World Youth Championship that each resulted in her gaining 50 rating points,{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings November 2011 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2011-11-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}}{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings January 2012 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2012-01-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} she finished the year at a rating of 1782. Zhou continued to rise in rating over the next several years, first crossing 1900 in July 2013 a month after a good performance at the Gatineau Open.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings June 2013 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2013-06-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} She also became a Canadian youth national champion in back-to-back years, winning the girls' under-12 division in 2012 and the girls' under-14 division in 2013.{{Cite news|url=http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-girl-wins-international-chess-competition-1.2030286|title=Ottawa girl wins International chess competition|date=29 September 2014|website=CTV Ottawa News|access-date=26 January 2017}}
Zhou had a large rating jump of nearly 200 points in 2014. While rated 2029 in July, she scored 3½/4 at the Eastern Ontario Open against four opponents also between 2000 and 2100, earning a rating increase of 64 points.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings August 2014 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2014-08-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} Towards the end of 2014, Zhou produced her best result of the year by winning the gold medal in the girls' under-14 division at the World Youth Championships in Durban, South Africa. She scored 8½/11 to finish in equal first with Oliwia Kiołbasa, the only other undefeated player in the division. They were also tied on the first tiebreak criterion, having drawn against each other in the tenth round. As such, Zhou clinched the gold medal on the second tiebreak criterion, which was a Buchholz score.{{cite web |title=World Youth Chess Championships 2014 u14 Girls |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr144249.aspx?lan=1&art=4&turdet=YES&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=13 February 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Helmer |first1=Aedan |title=Ottawa chess master conquers world |url=https://www.ottawasun.com/2014/09/29/ottawa-chess-master-conquers-world |website=Ottawa Sun |access-date=13 February 2021 | date = 20 September 2014}}{{cite web |last1=Silver |first1=Albert |title=WYCC 2014: The winners and the stories |url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/wycc-2014-the-winners-and-the-stories |website=ChessBase |access-date=13 February 2021 | date = 1 October 2014}} Her highest rating during the year was 2157.
Zhou had multiple large rating jumps and drops in 2015. Following a rating drop of 90 points to close out 2014, Zhou immediately regained all of those rating points the following month at the Chess in Kecskemét New Year IM event in Hungary, where she scored 6/12 against opponents with an average rating of 2302.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings February 2015 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2015-02-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} After losing 99 points at the Reykjavik Open,{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings April 2015 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2015-04-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} she regained 75 points at two events in Canada in May.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings June 2015 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2015-06-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} In late May, Zhou won the girls' under-18 division at the North American Youth Chess Championships in Toluca, Mexico to earn the Woman International Master (WIM) title.{{cite web |title=North American Youth Chess Festival 2015 U18 Female |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr174612.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&turdet=yes&flag=30&wi=984 |website=Chess Results |access-date=13 February 2021}} After another large rating drop at the under-20 North American Female Championships, Zhou returned to Kecskemét for two more tournaments in August. She gained 300 points between both tournaments, including 174 at the latter.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings September 2015 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2015-09-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}}{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings August 2015 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2015-10-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} As a result, she rose to a rating of 2328, crossing both 2200 and 2300 for the first time.
=2016–present: WGM and FM titles=
During 2016, Zhou was awarded the FIDE Master (FM) title and also qualified for the Woman Grandmaster (WGM), the latter of which was not approved until the following year.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou |url=https://ratings.fide.com/profile/505161 |website=FIDE |access-date=13 February 2021}} She was the first Canadian woman to earn either of those titles.{{cite web |title=Canadian Chess Player of the Year |url=http://www.canadianchess.info/canadianchesshistory/CanadianChessPlayerYear.html |website=Canadian Chess |access-date=14 February 2021}} At the Stockholm Chess Challenge in March, she won her last-round game against Toms Kantāns, who was then an International Master (IM) rated 2496 and is the highest-rated player she has defeated.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings April 2016 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2016-04-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=14 February 2021}}{{cite web |title=Nemo Qiyu Zhou Chess Games |url=https://www.chess.com/games/search?p1=nemo-qiyu-zhou&sort=4 |website=Chess.com |access-date=16 February 2021}} Later in the year, Zhou earned all three norms for the WGM title in three successive tournaments beginning in July. The first and third events were both in Kecskemét where she had also done well the previous year. She scored 7½/10 in the Chess in Kecskemét July IM tournament and then 7/10 in the Chess in Kecskemét July GM tournament. In-between, she travelled to Novi Sad in Serbia and had her best performance among these three events, scoring 7/9 at the IM Riblje Ostrvo 3 tournament, a ½ point more than what was needed for the norm. With these three results, Zhou climbed to a career-best rating of 2367. She also became one of the top 100 women in the world by ranking and one of the top 10 girls for the first and only time in her career, ranking at exactly No. 100 among women and at exactly No. 10 among girls.{{efn|The girls ranking list consists of players under 21 years old.}}{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Top Lists Records |url=https://ratings.fide.com/profile/505161/top |website=FIDE |access-date=14 February 2021}} Zhou's last big result of the year was winning the Canadian Women's Championship by a point, a victory that qualified her to compete at the Women's World Chess Championship the following year.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou wins Canadian Women's Championship |url=https://chessdailynews.com/qiyu-zhou-wins-canadian-womens-championship/ | date = 30 September 2016 |website=Chess Daily News |access-date=14 February 2021}}
From 2017 onwards, Zhou began competing at fewer chess tournaments in part to focus on her studies at university.{{cite AV media| title = why I quit chess | date = 26 January 2021 | publisher = akaNemsko | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0MKIxVLWFk | access-date = 13 February 2021}} She entered the 2017 Women's World Chess Championship knockout event as the 54th seed among 64 competitors. She faced 11th seed Natalia Pogonina in the first round, and was eliminated in the two-game match 1½ to ½ after drawing the first game with black but losing the second game with white.{{cite web |title=FIDE Women's World Chess Championship 2017 Round 1 Game 1 |url=http://tehran2017.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=68 |website=FIDE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215133842/http://tehran2017.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=68 |archive-date=15 February 2017 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=FIDE Women's World Chess Championship 2017 Round 1 Game 2 |url=http://tehran2017.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=69 |website=FIDE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215133847/http://tehran2017.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=69 |archive-date=15 February 2017 |url-status=dead}} At the end of the year, Zhou was unable to defend her Canadian women's national championship, losing by a ½ point to Maili-Jade Ouellet.{{cite web |title=2017-18 Canadian Women's Zonal Chess Championship |url=https://ratings.fide.com/tournament_report.phtml?event16=175705 |website=FIDE |access-date=14 February 2021}} After more than a year hiatus from competitive chess during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhou returned to chess in May 2021 for the online Canadian World Cup qualifier tournament and won with a score of 7½/8 in a double round-robin format.{{cite web |last1=Crowther |first1=Mark |title=Online Canadian Qualifier 2021 |url=https://theweekinchess.com/html/twic1387.html |website=The Week in Chess |access-date=16 July 2021}} As the 82nd seed out of 103 players at the World Cup, she was eliminated in the first round by 47th seed Vaishali Rameshbabu, losing both games of their match.{{cite web |last1=McGourty |first1=Colin |title=FIDE World Cup 1.2: 80 players out, 28 tiebreaks |url=https://chess24.com/en/read/news/fide-world-cup-1-2-80-players-out-28-tiebreaks |website=chess24 |access-date=16 July 2021 | date = 14 July 2021}}
= Teaching =
Beyond playing chess, Zhou has written chess articles for ChessBase. Some of her articles feature her own statistical analysis of games. She has also released two instructional DVDs through ChessBase, one on tactics and the other on openings.{{cite web |last1=Shah |first1=Sagar |date=21 May 2020 |title=Your chess tutor with a double major in Economics and Statistics! |url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/your-chess-tutor-with-a-double-major-in-economics-and-statistics |access-date=14 February 2021 |website=ChessBase}}
Team competitions
=International events=
Zhou has represented Canada at international team competitions since 2014. She made her debut at the Women's Chess Olympiad in Tromsø in Norway, where she played on the fourth board behind Yuanling Yuan, Natalia Khoudgarian, and Alexandra Botez.{{cite web |title=41st Olympiad Tromso 2014 Women: Team composition for federation Canada |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr140381.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=CAN&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=14 February 2021}} She scored 6½/9 as Canada finished 41st out of 136 teams with a team score of 13 points ({{abbr|+6|6 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw}}–4=1).{{cite web |title=41st Olympiad Tromso 2014 Women: Final Ranking after 11 Rounds |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr140381.aspx?lan=1&art=0&rd=11&fed=CAN&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=14 February 2021}} Later in the year, Zhou also took part in the under-16 Chess Olympiad in Győr, Hungary. Playing on the reserve board, Zhou did not fare well, scoring 2½/6 and losing 52 rating points. Her team overall fared better, finishing in fifth place.{{cite web |title=World Youth U-16 Chess Olympiad 2014 |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr153962.aspx?lan=1&art=1&flag=30&wi=821 |website=Chess Results |access-date=18 October 2020}} At the 2016 Women's Chess Olympiad in Baku in Azerbaijan, Canada produced an identical score to rank 39th out of 139 teams.{{cite web |title=42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Women: Final Ranking after 11 Rounds |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr232876.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=14 February 2021}} Zhou played on the top board ahead of Yuan, Botez, and Lali Agbabishvili, but had a poor performance, scoring 4½/10 and losing 60 rating points.{{cite web |title=42nd Olympiad Baku 2016 Women: Team composition for federation Canada |url=http://chess-results.com/tnr232876.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=CAN&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=14 February 2021}} Zhou's best Women's Chess Olympiad performance came in 2018 in Batumi, Georgia. Canada again produced an identical score to rank 38th out of 150 teams.{{cite web |title=43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Women: Final Ranking after 11 Rounds |url=https://chess-results.com/tnr368909.aspx?lan=1&art=0&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=14 February 2021}} Zhou played on the second board behind Agnieszka Matras-Clement and ahead of Ouellet and Svitlana Demchenko, scoring 7/10 and gaining 20 rating points.{{cite web |title=43nd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Women: Team composition for federation Canada - Women |url=https://chess-results.com/tnr368909.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=CAN&flag=30 |website=Chess Results |access-date=14 February 2021}}
=Collegiate events=
Zhou has been a member of the University of Toronto chess team. She represented the team at the Ivy League Challenge that her university hosted in 2018 and 2019 at the Hart House Chess Club. Each tournament consisted of six teams, two from the University of Toronto and one each from four different universities in the United States. Zhou played on Team B in 2018 and Team A in 2019. She fared well at both tournaments, gaining rating points on both occasions.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings December 2018 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2018-12-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=14 February 2021}}{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou Standard Ratings December 2019 |url=https://ratings.fide.com/calculations.phtml?id_number=505161&period=2019-12-01&rating=0 |website=FIDE |access-date=14 February 2021}} Her team won the event in 2019 by winning all five of their matches, placing them one spot ahead of Princeton, who had won the previous year.{{cite web |last1=Zhou |first1=Qiyu |title=Princeton wins Ivy Chess Challenge |url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/princeton-wins-ivy-chess-challenge |website=ChessBase |access-date=18 February 2021 | date = 30 November 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Zhou |first1=Qiyu |title=Ivy League Chess Challenge redux |url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/2nd-ivy-league-chess-challenge |website=ChessBase |access-date=14 February 2021 | date = 16 November 2019}}
Playing style
{{AN chess|pos=secright}}
Zhou has played more games with 1.e4 (the King's Pawn Game) than 1.d4 (the Queen's Pawn Game) or other first moves.{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou with the white pieces |url=https://www.chessgames.com/perl/explorer?pid=130243&side=white |website=Chess Games |access-date=14 February 2021}} She prefers to continue 1.e4 with the Spanish Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5; also known as the Ruy Lopez). Zhou had originally started out playing the Scotch Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4), before switching primarily to the Spanish Opening. She likes the variety of different lines with the Spanish Opening, and does not play with much variety beyond this opening.{{cite AV media | date = 29 January 2021 | publisher = Saint Louis Chess Club | title = Get to Know WGM Nemo Zhou with GM Denes Boros | time = 10:25 | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KTu7KNRWHI | access-date = 13 February 2021}}
Streaming career
Zhou began streaming on the Twitch channel BotezLive with fellow Canadian chess players Alexandra and Andrea Botez in March 2020 before launching her own channel akaNemsko in June 2020.{{cite AV media| title = How I became a streamer | date = 23 January 2021 | publisher = akaNemsko | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMn8yiQWV_8 | access-date = 13 February 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Hum |first1=Peter |title=Young Canadian chess stars lead drive to popularize the royal game on Twitch |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/chess-streamers |website=Ottawa Citizen |access-date=16 February 2021 | date = 12 February 2020}} She also streams on Chess.com, and has continued to collaborate with the Botez sisters and other Chess.com streamers such as Hikaru Nakamura and Levy Rozman. She has also commentated on matches and coached participants in PogChamps, a series of tournaments run by Chess.com for popular non-chess streamers that began in 2020. Zhou accrued over 100,000 followers on Twitch within a year of her first streaming with the Botez sisters. The growth of her channel was part of a large increase in interest in online chess at the time related to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people around the world at home, the PogChamps tournaments introducing chess to a broader streaming audience, and the popularity of The Queen's Gambit miniseries.{{cite news |last1=Gollom |first1=Mark |title=Meet the young Canadians helping online chess become a pandemic pastime |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/online-chess-covid-popularity-esports-1.5773163 |website = CBC News |date=24 October 2020 | access-date = 13 February 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Nijhawan |first1=Vikram |title=Qiyu's Gambit: an interview with Trinity's own chess champion |url=https://trintimes.ca/arts/qiyus-gambit-an-interview-with-trinitys-own-chess-champion/ |website=Trinity Times |access-date=14 February 2021 | date = 15 January 2021}}
Zhou was the first chess streamer to sign a professional contract with a major esports organization, joining Counter Logic Gaming in August 2020. Many other leading chess streamers followed suit and signed with esports organizations later in the year, beginning with Nakamura about a week later. Zhou is a variety streamer, also playing games other than chess such as League of Legends.
Personal life
Zhou attended Colonel By Secondary School and was a member of the RA Centre Chess Club. Starting in 2017, she pursued a bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto with a double major in economics and statistics, and a minor in mathematics.{{cite web |last1=Sismondo |first1=Christine |title=Meet the 20-year-old Toronto woman who's become a star during the pandemic — playing chess on Twitch |url=https://www.thestar.com/life/2020/10/15/meet-the-20-year-old-toronto-woman-whos-become-a-star-during-the-pandemic-playing-chess-on-twitch.html |website=Toronto Star |access-date=14 February 2021 |date=15 October 2020}} She went on leave from the university in January 2021 to focus on streaming full-time.
Zhou competed in pole vaulting in high school and other sports{{cite web |title=Qiyu Zhou |url=https://www.uschesschamps.com/bio/qiyu-zhou |website=US Chess Champs |access-date=14 February 2021}} including basketball and badminton. She can speak English, Mandarin Chinese, Finnish and French.
Zhou was nicknamed Nemo by her parents since when she was three years old due to her interest in aquariums, and drawing the name from the 2003 Disney animated film Finding Nemo. A high school friend modified it to Nemsko. She has stated she prefers using Nemo over her given name. She created her online name akaNemsko, where "aka" is short for the standard "also known as".{{cite AV media| title = why I'm nemo | date = 20 January 2021 | publisher = akaNemsko | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0inyymS9fvg | access-date = 13 February 2021}}
Notable games
{{AN chess|pos=secleft}}
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|+Zhou vs. Kantāns, Stockholm 2016 |{{chess diagram | fen=r3kb1r/1bq2ppp/4pn2/nN1p4/4P3/P3BP2/1PP1B1PP/R2Q1R1K b kq - 0 13 | footer = Position after 11. f3 d5 12. Ndxb5 axb5 13. Nxb5}} |{{chess diagram | fen=4r1k1/5ppp/2bRq3/P1Q5/1P5b/2B1n3/1R4PP/7K b - - 7 35 | footer = Position after 33. Qc5 Bc6 34. Bc3 Ne3 35. Rd6}} |
- Qiyu Zhou (2247) – Toms Kantāns (2496), 2016 Stockholm Chess Challenge: Round 9; Sicilian defense, {{chessAN|1–0}}. Zhou analyzed the game with WIM Svetlana Agrest, a commentator for the event. Some of their discussion is included below.{{cite web |title=Stockholm Chess Challenge 2016: Round 9 |url=https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/stockholm-chess-challange-2016/9/1/4 |website=chess24 |access-date=17 February 2021}}{{cite AV media| title = Qiyu Zhou in Stockholm Chess Challenge 2016 | date = 16 March 2016 | publisher = chess24 | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjGq93LGfo4 | access-date = 13 February 2021}}
:: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 b5 8. a3 Bb7 9. O-O Nf6 10. Kh1 Na5 11. f3 d5 (Agrest: "You found an interesting sacrifice [exchanging a knight for two pawns]") 12. Ndxb5 axb5 13. Nxb5 Qd8 14. Bf4 Rc8 15. Na7 Be7 16. Bb5+ Nc6 17. Nxc8 Qxc8 18. exd5 Nxd5 19. Bd2 Bf6 20. c4 Nde7 21. Rb1 O-O 22. b4 Nd4 23. a4 e5 24. Qe1 Nef5 25. Bc3 Nxb5 26. cxb5 Bh4 27. Qc1 e4 28. fxe4 Bxe4 29. Rb2 Re8 30. a5 Bd3 31. Rd1 Bxb5 32. Bd2 Qe6 33. Qc5 Bc6 34. Bc3 Ne3 (Zhou: "[Kantāns] should not have gone Ne3... We were looking at just Ba8 [instead]") 35. Rd6 (Agrest: "After Rd6, it looks tough." Zhou: "I think [Kantāns] could have gone for this [Qc4]... There was an endgame here.") Rd8 (Zhou: "[Qc4] would have been better than [Rd8].") 36. Qd4 Bf6 37. Rxd8+ Be8 38. Rd6 Bxd4 39. Rxe6 fxe6 40. Bxd4 Nc4 41. Ra2 1–0 (Agrest: "It looks like you are queening in a couple of moves, so no problem.")
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |
| Ceremony
! Year ! Category ! Result ! {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}} |
|---|
| rowspan="1"| The Streamer Awards
| rowspan="1" | 2021 | Best Chess Streamer | {{nom}} | rowspan="1"|{{cite web |last1=Miceli |first1=Max |title=All nominees for QTCinderella's Streamer Awards |url=https://dotesports.com/streaming/news/all-nominees-for-qtcinderellas-streamer-awards |website=Dot Esports |publisher=GAMURS Group |date=22 February 2022}} |
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://qiyuzhou.wordpress.com/}}
- {{FIDE}}
- {{Chessgames.com player|130243}}
- {{Chess.com player|nemo-qiyu-zhou|Nemo Qiyu Zhou}}
- {{Twitch}}
- {{YouTube|custom=akaNemsko|title=Qiyu Zhou}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Nemo}}
Category:Canadian chess players
Category:Canadian female chess players
Category:21st-century Canadian chess players
Category:Canadian sportspeople of Chinese descent
Category:Canadian Twitch (service) streamers
Category:Chess Olympiad competitors
Category:Chess Woman Grandmasters
Category:Chinese chess players
Category:Chinese expatriates in Finland
Category:Chinese female chess players
Category:Naturalized citizens of Canada