GothamChess Plays Chess With Harry Kane And Michael Olise After Ballon d’Or Triumph

IM Levy Rozman, better known as GothamChess, had a memorable visit to Bayern Munich to play chess with soccer stars Harry Kane and Michael Olise. The meeting came just two days after Kane won the prestigious Ballon d'Or in London.

On Thursday, Bayern shared nine photos from the visit with their 46 million Instagram followers and 3.7 million on X, welcoming one of the biggest stars of chess:

♟️⚽️ Harry Kane, Michael Olise and @GothamChess show off their skills on the chessboard. Watch the full video: https://t.co/pYvRuByrkT https://t.co/3YLpwqYtOY

Rozman responded in the comments: "An honor and a pleasure! Thank you for the invitation! Video coming soon."

Fans did not have to wait long. On Thursday, Rozman released a video of his game with the superstar after the biggest individual honor of his football career: "The timing is just unbelievable," he said, referring to Kane's Ballon d'Or triumph. "Harry Kane is one of the best chess-playing athletes in the world."

In his video, Rozman also analyzed his game with Kane, which only ended when the striker lost on time on move 27. "He is an extremely good player. Honestly, I think it's very impressive that he can play with such a positional approach," he said.

"You played super-precise!" Rozman told Kane afterward. "If I didn't know how good you were, I would've said probably like 2000."

The visit capped a memorable few days for Kane, who won the 2026 men's Ballon d'Or at the London ceremony on October 26. The 33-year-old England captain became the first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001, finishing ahead of Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal. Kane received the award after scoring 73 goals for club and country during the 2025/26 season.

Kane x Olise x @GothamChess is a crazy link up https://t.co/s4xJEgaZbM

In a 2024 interview with GQ, Kane revealed that it was the Netflix hit series The Queen's Gambit that had sparked his chess interest.

"Since that came out, I've started to learn and I'm about 1200-rated on the 10-minute version on Chess.com. I think that's ok, it's fairly decent!" Kane said.

Kane's teammate Olise, who finished ninth in the Ballon d'Or voting and is ranked as the world's fourth most valued footballer by Transfermarkt, has also talked extensively about his chess interest ever since he appeared in a video with his friend and former Crystal Palace teammate Eberechi Eze, the Arsenal star who won PogChamps 6.

Olise has said his mother taught him the basics before he began developing his skills independently. In an interview with Highsnobiety earlier this year, the France international said this about his level, and described his next rating target: "Around 1400. It goes from 1300 to 1400. I'm trying to get to 1500. Chess is difficult."

I'm trying to get to 1500. Chess is difficult.
-Michael Olise

Rozman's visit coincided with his European tour, which began in Cologne on October 25 and included a Munich event on October 27. The tour continues with stops in Breda, Amsterdam, Zurich, and London, where it concludes on November 10.