March 31, 2022 Top 10 NA on the FPS Chess leaderboard. Got a clip going viral on TikTok-took out a queen and a rook in under 4 seconds. Twitch numbers climbing. Mom still thinks I’m just playing some chess game. Doesn’t get why I’m yelling at the monitor.
It’s strategy and reflexes. Split-second choices. It ain’t just games. It’s pressure. It’s the only place I feel like I matter.

May 5, 2022 Invited to a streamer bracket for FPS Chess. $500 prize pool. Won the whole thing. People were salty in chat, calling me a cheater. I wasn’t. I’m just better.
One of the casters said I had "CS-level movement in a meme game." That stuck with me. Started queuing up Counter-Strike on the side. Thought it’d be easy. It wasn’t.

June 20, 2022 Got picked up by a small Counter-Strike team outta Columbus. Told them I was a chess player at heart. They laughed, then I dropped 30 kills in a pug. Now they call me "the Grandmaster."
Still streaming FPS Chess, but CS feels like the next level. Same mental game, just less goofy. I’m learning angles, economy, comms. It’s like switching from streetball to the NBA.

August 3, 2022 CS2 beta hit. Been no-lifing it. Feels so clean compared to GO. Mechanics I built in FPS Chess are translating-timing, decision-making, even weird movement tricks. Who knew playing a meme game would prep me for pro-level Counter-Strike?
Mom’s still on me about getting a job. I told her this is my job. Showed her my Twitch payouts. She stopped asking.

September 30, 2022 Signed my first real esports contract. Counter-Strike, not Chess. But I’ll never forget where it started. Steam deck, junk monitor, busted headset. Akron basement. FPS Chess.
I still queue it up sometimes. Just to remember where I came from.

November 14, 2022 Bootcamp in Germany. Team’s stacked. I’m the new kid, but they respect me. They know my path wasn’t typical. Not from scrims or FPL. From a weird shooter-chess hybrid and a broke house in Ohio.
They call me “GOUBERK” on comms. It echoes different when you’re in Europe.

December 28, 2022 Back in Akron for the holidays. Gave my little cousin my old FPS Chess account. Told him to make his own legend.
2023’s coming. New year, same dream. No matter what game I’m in-I move like a king.

January 29, 2023 First big LAN of the year-DreamHack Atlanta. Not main stage, but close. IGL trusted me with second entry, and I delivered. Crowd wasn't huge, but I heard one guy yell "GOUBERK!" when I hit a spray transfer. That was real.
Been grinding 5-mans in CS2, but I still hop into FPS Chess when I need to reset my brain. It’s like going back to the dojo. Nothing humbles you like getting bodied by a pawn with a shotgun.

March 8, 2023 Team’s in a slump. Two Ls in a row. Coach says I’m overthinking, trying to play chess when it’s checkers. Funny thing is-he’s kinda right. I was trying to out-brain teams when I needed to just take space and frag.
Rewatching my old FPS Chess clips helped. Reminded me to trust instinct. The rhythm. Sometimes you don’t need to think-just move.

April 19, 2023 Breakthrough. Beat one of the top seeded teams in the league. I top-fragged. Coach gave me a nod after the match-not a word, just a nod. It meant more than a speech.
Started uploading a new FPS Chess series on YouTube. "Back to the Board." People are eating it up. Half meme, half serious strats. Showing how what I learned there still fuels how I play CS2.

June 2, 2023 ESL Challenger Valencia-flew out with the squad. Got a decent showing, but not podium. Still, I was proud. I made plays. Made memories. Someone brought a cardboard cutout of a pawn wearing a headset. Said it was for me.
Akron feels far away now. But I still wear it like armor.

July 15, 2023 Had to go back home. Mom’s health started slipping. Bills piling up. I told the team I needed time-no argument. I packed up my gear and flew straight back to Akron.
Now I’m back in that same basement, headset on, same desk from when I first queued up FPS Chess. Different version of me, but same grind. Taking care of family in the day, playing scrims at night. It’s rough. But I owe them this.
No stage right now. No crowd. Just me, the monitor, and a house that smells like old toast. But this is where GOUBERK was built. And this is where I’ll rebuild.

October 10, 2023 Rebuilding ain't easy. But it's real.
Started over from the bottom. No org, no contract, just solo queues and late-night streams. But something’s different now. I’m not chasing clout. I’m chasing clarity.
Put together a new grind team-guys from the community, old heads, young guns, couple weirdos from my Discord. We’re hungry. Not sponsored, not salaried, but we’re stacking wins. Scrims are fire. My DMs are lighting up again.
One of my old clips from 2022 resurfaced-me knight-blasting a bishop in FPS Chess with 2HP left. It’s got a million views again. That was the sign. GOUBERK's not done. Just reloading.

August 24, 2024 Nearly a full year of grinding in the shadows. A lot of close calls. A lot of nights where I questioned if I still had it. But last night, we qualified for the NA Challenger Circuit.
No org, still. But now people are watching. I got called "the indie demon" by a caster. I’ll take it.
We’ve been playing out of pocket, but our strats are crisp, and the chemistry's real. Even brought back an FPS Chess warmup routine-1v1 knight duels before matches. Gets the mind locked in.
This ain’t some comeback. This is the second act.

October 13, 2024 Two series wins. Now we’re officially in the regional playoffs.
Stream's growing again. People love the underdog story. We don’t got the best gear or the best coaches, but we got fight. I’ve been IGL’ing part-time too-putting chess brain to work. Reading rotations, baiting utility, calling mid-round audibles like I’m moving pieces on a board.
Mom’s doing better now. Still tight money-wise, but we’re making it. Akron feels like weight and wings all at once.
December 1, 2024
Fully switched gears. FPS Chess was my launchpad, but now it’s all Counter-Strike. Every second in-game counts. No more warm-ups with knight duels, just flashes, smokes, and crisp headshots. Grinding aim, map control, comms-immersed completely. The community’s calling me “the chess master turned frag machine.” Strategy from chess, execution from the streets of Akron.
My grind team’s growing. Not just kills-round wins, smart calls, clutch plays. No distractions. This is where I belong.

January 15, 2025
Scrims feel different now. The team’s chemistry is solid but we’ve hit some rough patches. Our IGL’s style clashes with mine sometimes-he’s aggressive, I’m methodical. Trying to find balance. It’s frustrating but growth hurts.
Off the server, I’m hitting the gym more, eating better. Realized mental stamina is tied to physical too. Less tilt, more focus.

March 3, 2025
First LAN back after the rebuild. Small event, local crowd, but nerves hit hard. Got an opening 3k on Dust2 that got the crowd buzzing. Felt alive. Team placed 5th but the fire’s lit. I’m back.
Post-match, a rival from an old team slid into DMs. Trash talk started. Nothing personal, just the game’s spice. I love it.

April 25, 2025
Struggled with burnout these last weeks. Scrims drag, practice feels like a grind. Took a day off, cleared my head. Came back with fresh eyes and dropped a 25-bomb in a face-it match. Sometimes you gotta step back to leap forward.

June 12, 2025
Big win at a regional qualifier. Our underdog squad took down two top-seeded teams. I pulled off a 1v3 clutch on Inferno that’s getting replayed on socials. The team’s clicking. Feels like destiny.
DID YOU REALLY THINK THIS WAS REAL, LMAO GET OFF MY DIH CUH.

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