Wikipedia

Alexandra Botez

Alexandra Valeria Botez (/ˈboʊtɛz/ BOH-tez; born 24 September 1995)[5] is an American-Canadian chess player and commentator, poker player, Twitch streamer, and YouTuber. In chess, she holds the FIDE title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM) and has a peak FIDE rating of 2092. She is a five-time Canadian girls' national champion and one-time U.S. girls' national champion. Botez has represented Canada at three Women's Chess Olympiads in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Alexandra and her younger sister Andrea Botez host the BotezLive Twitch and YouTube channels, which each have over 1 million followers and are one of the largest chess channels on each platform.

Alexandra Botez
Botez in 2022
Full nameAlexandra Valeria Botez
CountryCanada
Born24 September 1995 (1995-09-24) (age 28)[1]
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
TitleWoman FIDE Master (2013)
FIDE rating1986 (March 2024)
Peak rating2092 (April 2016)
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2016–present
GenreGaming
GamesChess
Followers1.3 million[2]
YouTube information
Channel
Subscribers1.46 million[3]
Total views589.2 million[4][3]
Last updated: April 5, 2024

Botez began playing chess in Canada at age six and won her first girls' national championship at age eight. She later moved back to the United States where she was born and won U.S. Girls Nationals at age 15. Botez began streaming chess content online in 2016 while she was a student at Stanford University. Her sister Andrea appeared on occasion and later joined full-time to run the channels together in 2020. Already one of the most prominent Twitch chess channels with over 50,000 followers before 2020, the BotezLive channel grew tenfold in size in a span of about a year as part of the 2020 chess boom associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the PogChamps internet celebrity chess tournaments, and Queen's Gambit series on Netflix. The Botez sisters regularly collaborate with other top chess streamers, such as Anna Cramling and akaNemsko. They also have collaborated with top chess players such as longtime World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and regularly collaborate with high-profile streamers outside of the chess community, stemming from their involvement in PogChamps. Botez and her sister were formerly members of Envy Gaming and later OpTic Gaming after the organizations merged.

Botez is coached by Jon Ludvig Hammer, a former second to Magnus Carlsen. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Susan Polgar Foundation, which aims to promote chess to children in the United States, especially girls. Following her success as a chess streamer, Botez also began playing poker professionally. She has participated in the World Series of Poker as well as celebrity tournaments with other prominent streamers such as xQc and professional poker players such as Phil Hellmuth. Botez became an ambassador for GGPoker in 2024.

Early life and background

Botez was born to Romanian immigrant parents.[6] Although she was born in Dallas, Texas, she was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia.[7] Botez's father introduced her to chess and started training her when she was six.[7] She eventually became a member of the Romanian Community Centre chess club, Golden Knights, coached by Chess Master Valer Eugen Demian.[8]

Career

Chess

Botez won her first Canadian girls' national championship in 2004 at age eight.[7] She played for the Canadian national team in 2010 and later won four more Canadian youth national titles.[9] After moving back to the United States, Botez won the U.S. Girls Nationals at age fifteen and twice represented the state of Oregon in the SPF Girls' Invitational established by Susan Polgar and her foundation.[7] She participated in the World Youth Chess Championships four times, finishing as high as 31st place in 2009 in the girls' under-14 section while still unrated.[10] In 2013, Botez earned the Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title by finishing in joint first place at the North American girls' U-16 national championship together with the winner Megan Lee.[11]

While in high school in Oregon, Botez earned a full-ride chess scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas by winning the 2011 Kasparov Chess Foundation All-Girls National Championship.[12] She ultimately declined the scholarship to attend Stanford University, prioritizing academics over chess. At Stanford, she studied international relations with a focus on China.[7] During her sophomore year in 2014, Botez became the second female president of the Stanford University Chess Club, after Cindy Tsai in 2005.[12] She graduated in 2017.[7]

Botez achieved her peak FIDE rating of 2092 in 2016 at age 20. She has regularly been ranked among the top ten Canadian female chess players.[1] Botez has represented Canada at three Women's Chess Olympiads, playing on Board 4 in 2012, and Board 3 in 2014 and 2016.[13][14][15] Her best performance at the Olympiad came in 2014, and Canada's best result with her on the team was 39th place in 2016. During 2014 and 2016, Botez played on the same team as fellow future prominent chess streamer Qiyu Zhou, also known as Nemo or akaNemsko.[14][15]

At the 2024 Reykjavik Open, Botez defeated Jan Karsten, an International Master (IM) with a rating of 2323, which was the best win of her career by rating.[16] Less than two months later in Orosei, Botez won the Sardinia World Chess Festival B-section for players rated under-2000 with a score of 8½/9, one-and-a-half points ahead of the field.[17]

Streaming

In 2016, Botez started streaming chess content on Twitch during her junior year at Stanford University.[18] Her channel quickly gained traction, and in 2020, she was joined by her younger sister, Andrea Botez.[19] Together, they host the BotezLive Twitch and YouTube channels, which have garnered more than 2,700,000 followers combined.[1] The sisters frequently collaborate with other chess streamers on the platform, such as GM Hikaru Nakamura and WGM Qiyu Zhou.[20][21] While they mainly stream chess content on their Twitch channel, they are almost exclusively streaming in the "Just Chatting" category, refusing to use the "Chess" category of the platform. This is also something GM Hikaru Nakamura has talked about as being "damaging to the chess community" in the past.[22]

Botez's streaming popularity has helped her become one of the most recognizable faces on the Chess.com platform.[1] In response to her prominence as a female chess player, the mainstream media often compares Botez to the fictional Beth Harmon, the protagonist of The Queen's Gambit.[7][23][24]

Botez has served as a chess commentator. She covered the 2018 and 2019 PRO Chess League Finals, the most popular team chess championship, along with IM Daniel Rensch, IM Anna Rudolf, and GM Robert Hess.[1]

Other professional work

In 2017, Botez co-founded CrowdAmp, a social media company. As of May 2019, that company has ceased operations.[25]

In April 2020, Botez was elected to the board of directors of the Susan Polgar Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that advocates for breaking gender barriers in chess.[26] Within the past eighteen years, the Susan Polgar Foundation has assisted in offering more than $6 million in chess scholarships and prizes to students.[26]

In December 2020, the Botez sisters signed with the Texas-based esports organization Envy Gaming.[27] By partnering with the Botez sisters, Envy hopes to expand its ambassador network with diverse gaming content creators.[27]

Botez made $456,900 on a poker live stream on May 1, 2022, presented by the Hustler Live Casino, which featured fellow streamers along with poker pros.[28]

Playing style and notable games

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Position after White's check on move 21. After exchanging her rook for her opponent's knight on c5, Botez launches a series of checks which forces the win of her opponent's queen on move 24.

Botez often plays chess with an aggressive, adaptive style of play.[1] In the 2016 Chess Olympiad held in Norway, she showcased her attacking style against opponent Anzel Solomons.[1] During this match, Botez, playing as White, offers to exchange her rook for Solomons' knight on move 20. Solomons agrees to this exchange. However, this proves to be a tactical error, which turns the game in Botez's favor. Seizing the opportunity, Botez sacrifices her bishop on move 21, ultimately allowing her to check with her queen on move 22 and check with her knight on move 23, thereby winning Solomons' queen on move 24. Having built a solid advantage, Botez advances her kingside pawns until Solomons resigns the game.[1]

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.b3 e5 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Nb5 Bb8 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.h3 Ne4 13.Bb2 Qf6 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.Bxe5 Qxe5 16.Rc1 Bd7 17.f4 Qe7 18.Nc7 Nc5 19.Nxd5 Qd6 20.Rxc5 Qxc5 21.Bxh7+ Kxh7 22.Qh5+ Kg8 23.Nf6+ gxf6 24.Qxc5 Bc6 25.Qf5 Kg7 26.Qg4+ Kh7 27.Qf5+ Kg7 28.e4 Rad8 29.Rf3 Rd1+ 30.Kh2 Rfd8 31.Rg3+ Kf8 32.Qc5+ Ke8 33.Rg8+ Kd7 34.Rxd8+ Kxd8 35.h4 Kc7 36.h5 Rd8 37.Qe7+ Rd7 38.Qxf6 Kc8 39.Qf5 1–0

Botez's most-played opening is the King's Indian Defense, in which Black allows White to advance their pawns to the center of the board in the first two moves.[1]

The "Botez Gambit", a tongue-in-cheek term, occurs when a player blunders their queen. It originated with viewers of Botez's streams,[29] but Botez has herself used it self-mockingly.[30]

Views on sexism in chess

Botez has talked about her encounters with sexism in her chess career.[18][31][32] Regarding her stream, Botez has stated that until she brought in moderators, she was disturbed by the fact that "60% of it was just people trying to flirt with me and chat, or people just commenting on my appearance the entire time... They didn't care about the game play at all."[33] Competitive chess has always been dominated by men, with male grandmasters outnumbering female grandmasters 50-to-one.[18] Botez says, "It has taken very long to get to the point where we're starting to change the stereotype [to show] that women are not genetically inferior to men at playing chess."[18]

Botez watched the Netflix show The Queen's Gambit and claimed the show understates the misogyny of that era through the female protagonist.[31] She said the show glossed over many realities, especially considering the decade it is set in: "If the show had been historically accurate, Beth wouldn't have been able to compete in any world championship events".[31] Botez cited the case of female grandmaster Susan Polgar,[31] who said that in 1986 she was prevented from competing in a zonal tournament, a qualifying event for the World Chess Championship, because of her gender.[34] Nevertheless, Botez was complimentary of protagonist Beth Harmon as a nuanced and inspirational figure for upcoming women in chess.[35]

Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2022 The Streamer Awards Best Chess Streamer Won [36]
2023 Nominated [37]
Forbes 30 Under 30 Games Included [38]
2024 The Streamer Awards Best Chess Streamer Nominated [39]
Best Shared Channel Nominated

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Alexandra Botez | Chess Celebrities". Chess.com. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  2. ^ "BotezLive". Twitch Stats. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  3. ^ a b "About BotezLive". YouTube.
  4. ^ "BotezLive". YouTube. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  5. ^ "Botez, Alexandra". FIDE. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  6. ^ Bakar, Faima (2020-12-20). "Chess influencer's online popularity soars after Queen's Gambit success". Metro. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g "Meet the modern-day Beth Harmon, a chess influencer who started training when she was 6 years old". www.yahoo.com. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  8. ^ "About Us | 64 Fun Solutions". www.64funsolutions.ca. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  9. ^ "The chess games of Alexandra Botez". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  10. ^ "WYCC 2009 (G14)". chess-results. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Canadian Chess – Player of the Year". Canadianchess.info. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  12. ^ a b "Alexandra Botez: Stanford's first female Chess Club president". The Stanford Daily. 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  13. ^ "40th Chess Olympiad 2012 Women". chess-results. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  14. ^ a b "41st Chess Olympiad 2014 Women". chess-results. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  15. ^ a b "42nd Chess Olympiad 2016 Women". chess-results. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Alexandra Botez". Chess Tempo. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  17. ^ "Results & Standings - Group B". Chess.com. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  18. ^ a b c d Leibowitz, Jessica (2021-02-19). "This 25-year-old earns 6 figures playing chess on Twitch—here's how". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  19. ^ Collins, Sean (2021-01-21). "Texas' Botez sisters are at the forefront of an unlikely, and booming, partnership: Chess and esports". Dallas News. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  20. ^ "How Chess.com built a streaming empire". Protocol — The people, power and politics of tech. 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  21. ^ Mark, Gollom (24 October 2020). "Meet the Young Canadians Helping Online Chess Become a Pandemic Pastime". CBC. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Chess GM Hikaru slams Alexandra Botez for miscategorizing Twitch streams". Dexerto. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  23. ^ "Chess Influencer Alexandra Botez Is The Real Life Beth Harmon From The Queen's Gambit". Marketing Mind. 2020-12-26. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  24. ^ "The Queen's Gambit: The real life women chess stars". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  25. ^ "Crowdamp". Lightspeed Venture Partners. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  26. ^ a b Polgar, Susan (2020-04-19). "Alexandra Botez joins Susan Polgar Foundation Board of Directors". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2020-04-30.
  27. ^ a b "Envy Gaming Signs Chess Streamers Alexandra and Andrea Botez, Launch Content Creator Network – The Esports Observer". 2020-12-21. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  28. ^ Sofen, Jon (2 May 2022). "Alexandra Botez, MrBeast Smash HCL Game; Alan Keating Drops $1.1 Million". PokerNews.com. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
  29. ^ "Botez Gambit – Chess Terms". Chess.com.
  30. ^ Abbruzzese, Jason; Rosenblatt, Kalhan (17 February 2020). "Speed and trash talk: Inside the 'new chess culture' and its online revival". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  31. ^ a b c d Hadden, Joey. "A female chess influencer says the sport is even more sexist than its portrayal in Netflix's 'The Queen's Gambit'". Insider. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  32. ^ Bakar, Faima (2020-12-20). "Chess influencer's online popularity soars after Queen's Gambit success". Metro. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  33. ^ Leibowitz, Jessica (2021-02-19). "This 25-year-old earns 6 figures playing chess on Twitch—here's how". cnbc.com.
  34. ^ Polgar, Susan (23 July 2011). "Polgar: My Top 10 Most Memorable Moments in Chess (Part 1)". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021.
  35. ^ Real Chess Master Reviews Netflix's new Limited Series "The Queen's Gambit", retrieved 2021-05-25
  36. ^ Miceli, Max (22 February 2022). "All nominees for QTCinderella's Streamer Awards". Dot Esports. GAMURS Group.
  37. ^ Polhamus, Blaine (20 February 2023). "All 2023 Streamer Awards nominees". Dot Esports. Gamurs.
  38. ^ "Forbes 30 Under 30 2023: Games". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  39. ^ Michael, Cale; Taifalos, Nicholas (18 February 2024). "Streamer Awards 2024: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Retrieved 18 February 2024.

External links

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