Albert ‘BoxBox’ Zheng shocked the landscape of Twitch chess after he managed to defeat Woman FIDE Master Alexandra Botez in a thrilling upset.
BoxBox had been playing several games against Botez during a May 25 stream and had time for just one more before he had to call it quits.
After being beaten time and time again, though improving with each passing battle, this final match was different, with the popular streamer gaining the upper hand early and snowballing that momentum.
For instance, BoxBox made a brilliant play by putting Botez in check with his knight, forcing her to either lose or queen or be checkmated by killing the knight with a pawn, opening up a safe passage for Zheng’s own queen to join the battle.
“Chat, he’s trying to mate me!” Botez exclaimed. “I can’t take, because he’s playing Queen H4! I have to give him my queen. BoxBox, what?”
In complete dismay, the chess star cried out, “somebody nerf BoxBox” as she begrudgingly gave up her most powerful piece.
From there, BoxBox was able to amplify his offense, having whittled Botez’s army down to just her king.
“Oh my God, my pawn promoting is the move that deals the final blow!” BoxBox proudly proclaimed as he played his game-winning move, securing the checkmate. “That’s so sick.”
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The ecstatic 1,300 ranked player couldn’t believe his achievement and put his hands to his head in amazement and even needed to take few seconds to bask in his victory.
Eventually, in the post-match, Botez joked that BoxBox had to have been watching fellow Twitch streamer and chess champion Hikaru Nakamura to “find a move this good.”
Hilariously, before the two could even chat more, BoxBox had to get going because he promised his brother he would play Pictionary with him, but would be down to play more in the future.
If Zheng is anywhere near as good at Pictionary as he is chess, then he may as well be Picasso, because being able to defeat Alexandra Botez is no small feat and something the streamer will likely remember for the rest of his life.
Only time will tell if the Twitch star can do it again when the two face off in what could be a hype rematch for the ages.