Nemo on Professional Chess, Content Creation & Dropping Out Of School | Ep: 45

Nemo Qiyu Zhou (also known online as AkaNemsko) is a gamer, esports star and content creator with an impressive following. After learning chess at the age of 3, she found incredible success in the game, earning herself title after title. A women’s Chess grandmaster, Nemo gave up professional chess to focus on her life, and although you can still find her streaming chess, other games including poker, round out her interests now.

In an interview recorded in November 2022, Kara and Nemo get into some of the crossovers they see between broadcasting and content creation, including the anxiety that can come with both. Nemo speaks candidly about the toll that kind of pressure can take on a person, especially at such a young age.

Nemo and Kara go on to discuss the ‘sliding doors’ moment where she stepped away from her studies and how futile it can be to focus on past choices, even the wins. As someone who has achieved so much, so young, her focus now is to continue building a sense of ‘home’ – wherever that might take her.

Don’t forget to check out our previous episodes with Ryan Laplante, Jaman Burton, Adam Pliska, Mori Eskandani, Barny Boatman, Nadya Magnus and many more of poker’s most fascinating personalities.