Alexandra Botez fires back at Hans Niemann criticizing her for “degenerate” streams
Instagram/missbotezTop chess creator Alexandra Botez has responded to Grandmaster Hans Niemann by describing his comments as “clear drama bait”.
The discussion started when the American chess streamer reacted to the Botez sisters on a recent show, where they joked about how much responsibility they had with their audience.
Niemann then sarcastically criticized the Botez’s brand model, saying: “I think that as soon as you get a million subscribers, that’s when you should start promoting gambling, poker, making money off of that, I think that’s a very responsible thing to do with your brand.
“It’s promoting degeneracy and helping people get addicted to gambling. And I’m sure those young kids also sign up for poker accounts as well, and gamble all their savings away.”
He ended his critique with another sarcastic comment: “They’re so responsible, and I appreciate them not promoting degeneracy at all.”
Alex Botez responds to “drama bait” from Hans Niemann
In a quote tweet of Niemann’s comments, Alex said that several other large chess content creators had done similar things to what she and her sister had done, and that the criticisms weren’t fair.
She said: “Clear drama bait. Poker is the only form of gambling that can be considered a sport. I have never done any other gambling content and minors cannot legally play poker…
“Not to mention many chess players have streamed poker because of the strategic overlap (Hikaru, Levy, Magnus).”
Han Niemann was recently involved in bizarre allegations that he was using adult toys to cheat in professional competitions, though those allegations were later settled. He remains one of the higher profile chess players on the scene.
For more news and updates on what’s going on in the pro chess community, check out the top two players who Magnus Carlsen thinks can truly rival him.
