Sisters of Twitch Channel BotezLive Announce Bullet Chess Competition

Of all the categories viewers might have expected to blow up on Twitch, the classic board game Chess would likely have found itself at the bottom of the list, but when shows like Netflix's extremely popular The Queen's Gambit enters the public consciousness, strange things happen. As it turns out, Chess channels are exploding, and one such channel, BotezLive, is hosting a Twitch exclusive Bullet Chess invitational.

Bullet Chess is a variation of the classic board game in which each player has less than three minutes to make all of their moves. The clock is paused as the other player moves their pieces, but once the opponent's bishop makes its way to E3 or C4 the timer starts ticking once again. Even players who know all the best Chess opening moves can crumble under the time pressures of Bullet Chess, making it one of the most competitive versions of the sport.

The Botez Sisters are hosting their Bullet Chess Invitational on May 5 and several leading Twitch Chess streamers like Ludwig and KaceyTron will be participating. All invited Chess players will compete in round after round for an hour, after which a winner will be announced. There will be no eliminations during the competition as each player's score will be tallied up after the hour, at which point the winner will be crowned. Chess Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk has expressed confusion while watching esports competitions in the past, but Grischuk and other Chess champions should have no trouble at all understanding the Botez Invitational on Twitch as it involves nothing but good old fashioned Chess.

The Chess category on Twitch has grown by 730% since Q1 in 2020, so it makes sense that the Botez Sisters now stream exclusively on the gaming platform. That's not to say BotezLive hasn't brought its own cards to the table -- the channel constantly broadcasts with other popular streamers and has organically gained 800,000 subscribers based on the sisters' Chess skills and fun streaming personalities alone. The duo haven't played with Chess fans like Logic or Rainn Wilson quite yet, but they are serious contenders in the checkered world of Chess and are neck and neck to known heavyweights like 5uppp and MichelleKhare.

Both 5uppp and MichelleKhare will participate in the Botez Bullet Invitational along with other Chess Twitch streamers like QTCinderella and Moistcr1tical. In past matches the collective consciousness of Twitch chat users have beaten competing Chess masters to the punch when it comes to the right moves, so it will be interesting to see what happens during the Botez Invitational with the chat participating in full force.

Be it Chess or Mario Kart 8, certain niche topics have exploded on Twitch since the beginning of the pandemic. Mario Kart 8 exploded thanks to Twitch streamers like eliasn97, and the Chess category seems to be headed in a similar direction thanks to Twitch channels like the Botez sisters' BotezLive. The Botez Bullet Invitational takes place exclusively on Twitch on May 5th.