Alexandra Botez’s opening repertoire matches her personality on the board: she likes open, active, fighting chess. She’s a Woman FIDE Master, not a super-GM with 30 moves of memorized theory in a dozen lines — and honestly, that’s part of what makes her a great teacher. Her openings are the kind of practical, principled systems that reward understanding over rote memorization. Here’s the tour, with the honest caveats where they belong.
Repertoire snapshot
- As Black vs 1.d4: databases show she’s often reached for the King’s Indian Defense.
- As White: an open-game, 1.e4 player who likes attacking positions.
- In her content: she features and teaches accessible, beginner-friendly openings — from the Scandinavian to the Italian.
As Black: the King’s Indian Defense
Public game databases show that when facing 1.d4, Alexandra has frequently turned to the King’s Indian Defense (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6). It’s a classic hypermodern setup: Black lets White build a big pawn center, fianchettoes the bishop to g7, castles, and then strikes back — usually with the …e5 break — before launching a kingside attack.
It’s a fitting choice for her. The King’s Indian is one of the most double-edged, counter-attacking openings in chess, exactly the kind of sharp, dynamic battleground where an attacking player wants to be. When both sides race to attack on opposite wings, it’s a knife-fight — and that’s Alexandra’s comfort zone.
As White: 1.e4 and the open game
With the white pieces, Alexandra is an open-game player at heart: 1.e4, quick development, and a fight in the center. That road leads to classical territory like the Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4) — one of the oldest and most principled openings in chess, where both sides develop naturally toward the center and the game can catch fire quickly.
Openings like the Italian are ideal for her style and her teaching. They’re built on timeless principles — control the center, develop your pieces, castle, look for tactics — rather than dense theory. That makes them both fun to play and easy to explain, which is why classical open games show up so often in beginner-friendly chess content.
In her content: accessible openings for everyone
Here’s an important distinction. Alexandra isn’t just a player — she’s a teacher and broadcaster, and a lot of the openings associated with her are ones she features and recommends to newer players rather than her own tournament weapons. The Scandinavian Defense below is a great example of that kind of opening: with 1…d5 Black challenges the center on move one, and after a capture and recapture the game clarifies quickly. It’s direct, low-theory, and easy to learn — exactly what a beginner needs.
You’ll also see her handle the sharp Sicilian Defense — the most popular winning try against 1.e4 — because it produces the kind of unbalanced, tactical middlegames she enjoys. Across her content she ranges widely, but the through-line is always the same: openings that create real chess, not memorized draws.
Is the “Botez Gambit” a real opening?
Because Alexandra’s name is attached to a famous chess term, a lot of people search for the “Botez Gambit” expecting an actual opening. It isn’t one. The “Botez Gambit” is a meme for accidentally blundering your queen with no compensation — the punchline being that it’s the opposite of a real gambit, where you give up material on purpose for an advantage. So there’s no “Botez Gambit line” to learn in your repertoire. If you want real gambits, look at genuine ones like the King’s Gambit or the Danish — and read the origin of the meme on her facts page.
How to build a repertoire like hers
If you want to borrow from Alexandra’s approach, the lesson isn’t “cram theory.” It’s:
- Pick fighting openings you enjoy. The King’s Indian for a counter-attack, or 1.e4 for an open game.
- Learn ideas, not just moves. Understand why you fianchetto, when to break with …e5, where your pieces belong.
- Play for activity. Choose setups that keep your pieces busy and give you attacking chances — that’s where the fun (and the tactics) live.
That’s a repertoire built for improvement and enjoyment at the same time — which is the whole point.
A note on honesty
We’ve flagged where a claim is well-supported (databases show the King’s Indian) versus where it’s about the openings she teaches and features rather than her personal tournament repertoire. Opening repertoires for players outside the elite aren’t always fully documented, so we’ve been deliberately careful not to overstate. For her actual game record, her Chess.com page and public databases are the best primary sources.
Learn the openings she plays and teaches
Ready to try them? Start with the counter-attacking King’s Indian Defense, the beginner-friendly Scandinavian Defense, the classic Italian Game, or the sharp Sicilian Defense.
Keep exploring
Back to the Alexandra Botez profile · see her playing style · her best games · fun facts & the Botez Gambit · or browse all chess players.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, her FIDE profile, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.