Andrea Cecilia Cristina Botez ( ; born April 6, 2002) is a Canadian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player, commentator, DJ and

internet personality An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

. She is mostly known as part of the BotezLive

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

channel with her sister

Alexandra Botez Alexandra Valeria Botez ( ; born 1995) is an American-born Canadian chess player, poker player, online streamer and YouTuber. In chess, she holds the FIDE title of FIDE titles#Woman FIDE Master (WFM), Woman FIDE Master (WFM) and has a peak Elo rat ...

. She is also credited as one of the creators who popularized chess on Twitch.

Early life and background

Botez's

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

parents moved from Romania to Canada after

, Andrea's older sister, was born in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. The family relocated to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, before moving to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States when Alexandra was in high school.

Chess career

Botez began playing chess at the age of six. She started playing in the

US Chess The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in The World Chess Federation (FIDE). USCF administers the official national rating sys ...

tournaments at the age of seven. In 2010, she won the U8 Girls Canadian Youth Chess Championship. In 2015, at the age of thirteen, she became the Women British Columbia Chess Champion. In the same year, Botez also won the

Susan Polgar Susan Polgar (born April 19, 1969, as Polgár Zsuzsanna and often known as Zsuzsa Polgár) is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster. Polgár was Women's World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999. On FIDE's Elo rating system list of July 1984, a ...

National Open. In 2016, at the SPFNO 2016: U14 Girls, Botez placed fourth in the tournament and 13th in the 2016 Susan Polgar Foundation Girls' Invitational. Botez attained her highest FIDE classical rating of 1906 in 2024 and her highest US Chess rating of 1933 in 2019. As of January 27, 2025, her rating is 1837 which ranks her 63,202nd in the world among all active players.

Content creation

Alongside her sister, Botez runs the

channel BotezLive, which, as of May 2022, has 1.1 million followers with more than 18.3 million views. She began assisting her sister in 2020 by playing chess and in other variety streams and the YouTube channel BotezLive, which, as of May 2022, has over 800k subscribers and 140 million views. She took a gap year to focus on streaming, before becoming a full-time streamer. She is credited, along with her older sister Alexandra Botez,

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraGothamChess Levy Rozman (born December 5, 1995), known online as GothamChess, is an American chess International Master, content creator, commentator, and author. Often referred to as "The Internet's Chess Teacher", he produces content on the online platfo ...

, and more, for popularizing chess on Twitch. On December 21, 2020, Andrea and Alexandra signed a contract with

Envy Gaming Envy Gaming, Inc was a collective esports and gaming company. It was originally founded in 2007 by Tosh "Stainville" Mcgruder and Skyler "Foreplayy" Johnson as a ''Call of Duty'' esports team known as Team EnVyUs. Envy Gaming, LLC was formed in ...

as content creators at the launch of the organization's creator network and ambassador program. They would later move to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where they would join other content creators such as JustaMinx and CodeMiko in the Envy Content House. On July 20, 2022, Andrea and Alexandra signed with

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...

. The agency will work with them on the development of original content, new IP ventures, and “strategic growth across platforms and talent”. In August 2022, it was announced that Andrea and Alexandra had joined

OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming is an American professional eSports, esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The organization currently operates a ''Call of Duty'' team in the Call of Duty League, OpTic Texas, and a Halo (franchise), ...

after Envy Gaming announced the retirement of their Envy brand. In 2023, Andrea and Alexandra were named to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'''

30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists published annually by ''Forbes'' magazine since 2011 consisting of 30 notable people under 30 years old in various industries. The American list consists of 600 people, with 30 selected in each of 20 sect ...

list in the games category. Later in April 2023, they appeared on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'''s list of the 20 Most Influential Creators in 2023. On July 13, 2024, she appeared in a

MrBeast James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), commonly known by his online alias MrBeast, is an American YouTuber, media personality, and businessman. His YouTube videos, where he often hosts elaborate challenges and philanthropic effor ...

video titled "

50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000 "50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000" is a YouTube video by American YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known on the platform as MrBeast. The video, described by Donaldson as his "biggest video ever," featured fifty YouTubers from around the world competin ...

Botez Abroad

Aside from their regular chess streams and other activities, the two sisters host a show on their Twitch channel called "Botez Abroad", a Twitch Original travel show where they travel to cities around the world and stream their in-person chess matches at various venues. The show has generated more than 20 million views and reached peak livestream viewership of 36,000 people.

PogChamps

In the second iteration of the online amateur chess tournament

PogChamps PogChamps is a series of online amateur chess tournaments hosted by Chess.com. Players in the tournament are internet personalities, primarily Twitch streamers. The first four PogChamps tournaments took place over the course of two weeks, whi ...

, Botez was part of the commentator team. In 2021, Botez took part again in the PogChamps 3 tournament, doubling as a coach for CodeMiko and as a commentator, and, once again, she joined the commentator team for PogChamps 4.

Boxing career

Creator Clash 2

In April 2023, Botez lost a boxing match against fellow YouTuber

Michelle Khare Michelle Asha Khare ( ; born August 10, 1992) is an American YouTuber, television host, actress, and former professional cyclist. She hosts her own YouTube show, ''Challenge Accepted'', and was the host of the children's competition program ''Ka ...

in Creator Clash 2, a charity boxing event held by YouTuber

iDubbbz Ian Kane Jomha ( Washburn; born ), known online as iDubbbz, is an American YouTube personality. The creator of the YouTube channels iDubbbzTV, iDubbbzTV2, and iDubbbzgames, he is best known for his comedy video series, including ''Content Cop ...

Mogul Chessboxing Championship

In December 2022, Botez competed against WGM (Woman Grandmaster) Dina Belenkaya in the Mogul Chessboxing Championship; hosted by

Ludwig Ahgren Ludwig Anders Ahgren (born July 6, 1995), sometimes known mononymously as Ludwig, is an American live streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, comedian, esports commentator and competitor. Ahgren is best known for his live streams on Twitch from 2018 ...

. Initially, Belenkaya was deemed the winner, but after a post-fight review, the organizer announced an updated result: "... otezshould have been awarded a

TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term. TKO may also refer to: Sports * TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant * TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company Music Ar ...

after the referee initiated the fourth standing count of the fight". The update resulted in both Belenkaya and Botez being winners.

Philanthropy

In 2020, Botez participated in the Zoomers Play Chess team match to help raise funds for children in need affected by the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic.

Personal life

In 2020, Botez and her sister Alexandra Botez lived in New York. In 2022, they moved and now reside in Los Angeles, California. In December 2023, Botez revealed during a livestream that she has been diagnosed with

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...

Boxing record

Exhibition

Chessboxing

, - style="background:#c5d2ea;" , 2022-12-11 , , Draw , , align=left, Dina Belenkaya, , Mogul Chessboxing Championship, ,

Galen Center The Galen Center is a multipurpose indoor arena and athletic facility owned and operated by the University of Southern California. Located at the southeast corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the Exposition Park area of Los Ang ...

, U.S. , , Win , , 7 , , , - , colspan=9 , ''Legend'':

Discography

Singles

Remixes

2025 *

Boris Brejcha Brejcha (; born November 26, 1981, in Ludwigshafen am Rhein) is a German DJ and record producer. He describes his music style as "''high-tech minimal''." His style has been compared with DJ Umek, and Solomun. Brejcha frequently wears a joker ...

– Kick It (Andrea Botez Remix) *

Kaskade Ryan Gary Raddon (born February 25, 1971), better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, music producer and remixer. ''DJ Times'' voted Kaskade as "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. ''DJ Magazine, DJ Mag'' named Kaskade fifty-fi ...

& Punctual – Heaven Knows (featuring Poppy Baskcomb) (Andrea Botez & biskuwi Remix)

Awards and nominations

Listicles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Botez, Andrea 2002 births Living people 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century Canadian sportswomen 21st-century Canadian chess players American chess players American female chess players American people of Romanian descent American Twitch (service) streamers American women boxers Boxers from Vancouver Canadian chess players Canadian female chess players Canadian people of Romanian descent Canadian people with disabilities Canadian techno musicians Canadian Twitch (service) streamers Canadian women boxers Chess players from Vancouver People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Streamer Award winners YouTube boxers YouTubers from Vancouver YouTubers with disabilities Monstercat artists