Alexandra Botez

Botez was born to Romanian immigrant parents.^[11] Although she was born in Dallas, Texas, she was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[12] Botez's father introduced her to chess and started training her when she was six.^[12] She eventually became a member of the Romanian Community Centre chess club, Golden Knights, coached by Chess Master Valer Eugen Demian.^[13]

Chess

In 2004, Botez won her first Canadian children's national championship at age eight.^[12] She eventually played for the National Canadian Team in 2010 and won four more Canadian youth national titles.^[14] 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^{[further explanation needed]}.^[12] In 2013, Botez achieved the Woman FIDE Master title norm.^[15]

After attending high school in Oregon, Botez earned a full-ride chess scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas.^[16] However, deciding to prioritize academics, she chose to study international relations with a focus on China at Stanford University.^[12] During her sophomore year in 2014, Botez became the second female president of the Stanford University Chess Club after Cindy Tsai in 2005.^[16] She graduated in 2017.^[12]

In addition to her chess career, Botez served a brief stint 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]

As of April 2021,^[update] Botez has a FIDE Elo rating of 2020 in standard chess and 2059 in blitz, placing her in the top 10 of Canadian female players.^[1]

Streaming

In 2016, Botez started streaming chess content on Twitch during her junior year at Stanford University.^[17] Her channel quickly gained traction, and in 2020, she was joined by her younger sister, Andrea Botez.^[18] 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.^[19][20] 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.^[21]

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.^[12][22][23]

Other professional work

In 2017, Botez co-founded CrowdAmp, a social media company. As of May 2019, that company has ceased operations.^[24]

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.^[25] Within the past eighteen years, the Susan Polgar Foundation has assisted in offering more than $6 million in chess scholarships and prizes to students.^[25]

In December 2020, the Botez sisters signed with the Texas-based esports organization Envy Gaming.^[26] By partnering with the Botez sisters, Envy hopes to expand its ambassador network with diverse gaming content creators.^[26]

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.^[27]

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

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]