Nemo Zhou

Nemo Zhou (Qiyu Zhou) is a Canadian chess player, content creator, and live streamer who holds the titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and FIDE Master (FM). Born in Jingzhou, China, she grew up across three countries before settling in Canada, where she became the first Canadian woman to earn either the WGM or FM title.

Zhou was a competitive prodigy. She became Finland's national under-10 champion by age five, won the World Youth Chess Championship at 14, and claimed the Canadian Women's Championship at 16. Her peak FIDE rating exceeded 2,300. She stepped away from competitive chess at 17 to study economics and statistics at the University of Toronto, then launched her streaming career in 2020 under the handle akaNemsko.

Her timing was perfect. Zhou became the first chess player ever signed by an esports organization (Counter Logic Gaming, August 2020), and she has since grown her audience to over 2 million followers across Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. In October 2025, she signed with FlyQuest as a content creator. She also ventured into poker, winning the first Canadian Poker Tour Invitational in Las Vegas.

Zhou streams chess, poker, gaming, food content, and lifestyle vlogs. She splits her time between Toronto and Los Angeles. Her stated mission is simple: show people that chess can be fun.