WFM Alexandra Botez
Bio
Alexandra Botez is an American-Canadian woman FIDE master, commentator, and streaming superstar. She's the creator of BotezLive, one of the most popular chess channels on Twitch and YouTube.
Botez was also the first female president of the Stanford College Chess Club and appeared on CBS due to her massive success as a chess entertainer. An aggressive player, Botez is currently one of the top-10 female players in Canada.
Chess Career
Botez started playing chess when she was six years old. As a teenager, She won five national championships in Canada and in the United States.
Botez also participated in three Chess Olympiads from 2012 to 2016. One of the games from the 2016 Olympiad displays her dynamic and aggressive style of play. Botez was slowly building up an advantage, putting her pieces on active squares and advancing with her kingside pawns. Her opponent slipped on move 20, and Botez pounced with a winning tactical shot.
Botez reached her peak FIDE rating of 2092 in 2016 and currently holds the woman FIDE master title.
BotezLive Channels
Botez is the creator of one of the biggest chess channels on Twitch and YouTube, BotezLive. On Twitch, Botez and her younger sister, Andrea Botez, regularly play chess and other games, practice with chess puzzles, chat with their followers, and show off their dancing skills.
The duo's charisma and energy have earned them almost 700,000 followers on the streaming platform (March 2021). Their online success has even caught mainstream media's attention, with CBS writing an article about Alexandra Botez's accomplishments.
BotezLive's success is not restricted to Twitch. On YouTube, Botez has amassed 292,000 subscribers with close to 46 million views as of March 2021. On it, the always entertaining Botez shares selected content from her Twitch channel.
She has refreshed the chess world with her enthusiasm and good humor. Her unique presentation skills make even the driest aspects of chess come to life. Here's a YouTube video of Botez reading a book on pawn structures during one of her streams:
In December 2020, the Botez sisters signed a contract with Texas-based esports organization Envy Gaming and inaugurated the organization's creator network and ambassador program. According to chief content officer at Envy Gaming Andrew Peterman, “the Botez sisters are the most entertaining creators in chess right now, and they’ve played a major role in popularizing the game on Twitch.”
Welcome the Botez sisters, @alexandravbotez and @itsandreabotez!#TeamEnvy pic.twitter.com/6lOk1MgFex
— Envy (@Envy) December 21, 2020
Chess.com Content
Botez is a regular content creator for Chess.com. She has appeared on multiple videos where she analyzes chess games of important events. She has also helped with the coverage of various tournaments, like the Pro Chess League and PogChamps.
Botez has also participated in many Chess.com events, like multiple Titled Tuesdays and Femme Batale, a team chess match organized by Chess.com to raise funds to fight COVID-19 in 2020.
