Alexandra Botez has turned her mastery of chess into a full-time content business.

Having learned the game from her father at the age of 6, Alexandra went on to win her first national tournament by age 8, according to CNBC. She kept up her interest in chess through college, where she began streaming games on Twitch. It wasn’t long before her channel took off, and Alexandra started to earn money, mostly from subscribers and direct donations. 

After graduating from Stanford University in 2017, Alexandra worked for a startup. Although it wound up failing, Alexandra was already making enough money from her Twitch chess content to make it a viable career.

Her startup employer failed, but @alexandravbotez succeeded as a #contententrepreneur, streaming chess games on #Twitch. #contentbusiness Click To Tweet

Today, Alexandra is a master ranked 27,631st among the World Chess Federation’s over 100K active players. She and her sister Andrea, who became her streaming partner in 2020, have over 867K followers on their Twitch channel, BotezLive. 

According to CNBC, the sisters earn income from numerous sources, including sponsors, viewers, ad revenue, and a salary from the global esports company Team Envy, which recently signed the duo.

Chess-playing @Twitch streamers, BotezLive, recently signed a deal with @TeamEnvyLive. #contententrepreneurs Click To Tweet

Why we’re a Stan: Alexandra earns an income from her streaming comparable to the top chess professionals, a remarkable achievement for a player not ranked in the top 20K. It is a greater accomplishment still when considering the adversity facing women in the world of chess, where male grandmasters outnumber female grandmasters 50 to one. She also cleverly created a business with multiple revenue streams, so she isn’t reliant on Twitch subscribers.

About the author

Leo Bonacci writes, proofreads, and edits for The Tilt. A student of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, he’s a fan of classical mythology as well as the English language. Leo’s interest in storytelling extends to his great enjoyment of movies and film, from low-budget schlockfests to cinematic masterpieces.