BotezLive (Botez sisters)
One of the biggest chess entertainment brands - free to follow.
Focus
Social / casual
Rating band
400–1600
What it is
The joint channel of sisters Alexandra (WFM) and Andrea Botez, among the largest chess channels on Twitch and YouTube. The content is chess-adjacent entertainment, variety, and events, with an official Discord. Free to follow; monetized through subs, sponsorships, and merch, with no paid community tier.
Review
BotezLive is a chess brand more than a chess community - one of the biggest funnels bringing mainstream viewers into the game. For a newcomer, that's genuinely valuable: it makes chess feel social and fun rather than intimidating, and the energy is welcoming.
What it is not is a place to get better. There's no curriculum, the community layer is a Discord of unclear size, and the content skews toward variety and events. Treat it as entertainment, and do the actual learning elsewhere - tactics and play on Chess.com, or a structured community if improvement is the point.
What works
- Enormous, mainstream reach that pulls newcomers into chess.
- Free and high-energy - low-commitment entertainment.
- Strong female-creator visibility in a sport that needs it.
What doesn't
- Entertainment and variety first - weak as an improvement or study community.
- A Discord exists, but its size and activity aren't transparently published.
- Minimal instructional structure for players who actually want to get better.
Other communities
- Chess Dojo
Structured adult improvement with a live community.
- Bacrot Academy (Alpha Échecs)
GM Étienne Bacrot's structured training program for serious improvers.
- La Communauté de Julien Song
IM Julien Song's French-speaking community on Chess.com, Lichess and YouTube.
- Blitzstream - Kevin Bordi's Community
France's longest-running chess streaming community, built around NM Kevin Bordi.