Alexandra Botez

Alexandra Botez (born September 24, 1995) is an American-born Canadian chess player and commentator, Twitch live streamer, and YouTuber. As a player, she holds the title of Woman FIDE Master. Botez and her younger sister Andrea host the BotezLive Twitch and YouTube channels, where they specialize in chess content.

Alexandra Botez
Botez in 2010
CountryCanada
Born (1995-09-24) September 24, 1995
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
TitleWoman FIDE Master (2013)
FIDE rating2020 (January 2021)
Peak rating2092 (September 2016)

Early life and background

Botez was born in Dallas, Texas, to Romanian parents who fled Romania.[1] She was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. Botez began playing chess at the age of 6 at the Romanian Community Center chess club Golden Knights, with Chess Master Valer Eugen Demian as her coach.[2]

Chess career

She played for the National Canadian Team and became the Canadian National Girls Champion five times. She has played in multiple Chess Olympiads.[3] Botez won the U.S. Girls Nationals at the age of 15. She represented the state of Oregon twice in the SPF Girls’ Invitational.[4] Qualifying for the North American Girls Under-18 Championship, Botez achieved the Woman FIDE Master title norm.[5]

After attending high school in Oregon, Botez earned a full chess scholarship for the University of Texas Dallas, but instead decided to study International Relations with a focus on China at Stanford.[6] She graduated in 2017.[4]

There Botez became the second female president of the Stanford University Chess Club, after Cindy Tsai in 2005.[6][7]

Botez has helped to cover the 2018 and 2019 PRO Chess League Finals with IM Daniel Rensch, IM Anna Rudolf, and GM Robert Hess.[8]

Botez has used the self-mocking expression "Botez Gambit" when she accidentally loses a queen.[9]

As of September 2020, Botez has a FIDE Elo rating of 2020 in standard chess and 2059 in blitz,[10] placing her in the Top 10 of Canadian Women players.[11]

In April 2020 Botez joined the Board of Directors of the Susan Polgar Foundation.[4][12]

Streaming career
BotezLive
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2016–present
GenreGaming
GamesChess
Followers609,000[13]
YouTube information
Channel
Subscribers249,000
Total views37.4 million[14]
Follower and view counts updated as of 1 February 2021.

In 2017, Botez co-founded CrowdAmp, a social media company that, according to its literature, used machine learning to reach multiple followers in a personalized manner.[15] As of May 2019 the company has ceased operations.[16]

In 2016, she started, together with her sister Andrea Botez, a Twitch channel by the name BotezLive,[17][18] where they frequently collaborate with other streamers on the platform, such as GM Hikaru Nakamura and WGM Qiyu Zhou. Both sisters signed with the Texas-based Esports organization Envy Gaming in December 2020.[19][20]

Botez has been compared to the fictional Beth Harmon, protagonist of The Queen's Gambit, in popular culture, and is considered to be a chess influencer.[21][22]

References
  1. Fleming, Kirsten (2020-12-05). "Alexandra Botez is taking the chess world by storm—live on Twitch". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
  2. Spitaleri, Ellen (October 9, 2012). "CHS senior Alexandra Botez is queen of the board". Clackamas Review . Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  3. Eisenbrand, Katherine. "Alexandra Botez". Pulse. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  4. Polgar, Susan (April 19, 2020). "Alexandra Botez joins Susan Polgar Foundation Board of Directors". Chess Daily News. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  5. Cohen, David (January 15, 2020). "Canadian Chess Player of the Year". Canadian Chess Info. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  6. "Alexandra Botez: Stanford's first female Chess Club president". The Stanford Daily. 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
  7. Fleming, Kirsten (2020-12-05). "Alexandra Botez is taking the chess world by storm—live on Twitch". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
  8. Pete (April 6, 2018). "5 Reasons To Watch The PRO Chess League Live Finals This Weekend". Chess.com. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  9. Abbruzzese, Jason; Rosenblatt, Kalhan (February 17, 2020). "Fast-and-loose culture of esports is upending once staid world of chess". NBC News. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  10. "Botez, Alexandra : FIDE Chess Profile". FIDE. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  11. "FIDE Country Top chess players". ratings.fide.com. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
  12. Polgar, Susan (2020-04-19). "Alexandra Botez joins Susan Polgar Foundation Board of Directors". Twitter.
  13. "BotezLive aka alexandrabotez". Twitchstats. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  14. "BotezLive". Socialblade. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  15. Batalion, Aaron (July 26, 2017). "How to Turn Your Fans into SuperFans". Medium. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  16. "Twitch". Twitch. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  17. Abbruzzese, Jason; Rosenblatt, Kalhan (February 17, 2020). "Fast-and-loose culture of esports is upending once staid world of chess". NBC News. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  18. "BotezLive". Twitch. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  19. Chess.com (News). "Botez Sisters Sign With Esports Organization Team Envy". Chess.com. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  20. Collins, Sean (January 21, 2021). "Texas' Botez sisters are at the forefront of an unlikely, and booming, partnership: Chess and esports". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  21. Hill, Angela (January 11, 2021). "'Queen's Gambit' fueling a Bay Area chess renaissance". The Mercury News. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  22. Hadden, Joey (December 18, 2020). "Meet the modern-day Beth Harmon, a chess influencer who started training when she was 6 years old". Insider. Insider Inc. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
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