Alexandra Botez

Botez in 2022

Alexandra Valeria Botez (born September 24, 1995) is an American-born Canadian chess player, poker player, online 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.

Quotes

• It doesn't matter what their social or economic background is — it's very cheap to play, and you can get good just by practicing. Kids from rural areas can play kids from private schools. It develops confidence and the ability to work with logic.
  • "Alexandra Botez: Stanford's first female Chess Club president". The Stanford Daily. 2014-10-31.

• It's crazy to me to have this kind of support and this kind of viewership online for chess. Chess has always been a passion of mine, but it was never something that was popular. It was never something I would have imagined would have grown to what it is today.
  • Abbruzzese, Jason; Rosenblatt, Kalhan (17 February 2020). "Fast-and-loose culture of esports is upending once staid world of chess". NBC News.
  • On the rise of chess streaming on Twitch.

• Sometimes it's the people who are your closest friends that think females are genetically worse at chess. I've often heard comments like, 'you're playing the girl, it's an easy win.' It gets in the back of your head when you've heard it for so long, and it messes with your sense of confidence. Maybe you start doubting yourself a little bit more, but you just try to keep fighting those thoughts.
  • "Meet the modern-day Beth Harmon, a chess influencer who started training when she was 6 years old". www.yahoo.com. 18 December 2020.
  • On experiencing sexism in competitive chess.

• The growth of chess has been so healthy on Twitch, and it's one of those games that is never going to die out. Chess has really survived the age of time. So I think it's gonna survive on Twitch as well.
  • Collins, Sean (January 21, 2021). "Texas' Botez sisters are at the forefront of an unlikely, and booming, partnership: Chess and esports". Dallas News.

• Women in chess is not something very common. It has taken very long to get to the point where we're starting to change the stereotype that women are not genetically inferior to men at playing chess.
  • Leibowitz, Jessica (2021-02-19). "This 25-year-old earns 6 figures playing chess on Twitch—here's how". CNBC.
  • On gender disparity in competitive chess.

• With my first Twitch stream, like 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.
  • Leibowitz, Jessica (2021-02-19). "This 25-year-old earns 6 figures playing chess on Twitch—here's how". CNBC.
  • On the challenges of being a woman streaming on Twitch.