Two-time U.S. Women's Champion WGM Jennifer Yu narrowly avoided a last-round disaster against Julia Schulman to win the 2024 Botez Chess Camp with a dominant 6/7, half a point ahead of WFM Alexandra Botez. Co-organizer Alexandra won her last four games to finish ahead of WGM Dina Belenkaya and WFM Anna Cramling, who shared third place a point back.
The Botez Chess Camp
The Botez Chess Camp was a FIDE-rated classical chess tournament with a difference, as eight female chess players not only played the event but lived together for a week in a mansion in Malibu, California.
There was $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second, and $2,500 for third, and a line-up that combined popular streamers, chess professionals, and players such as Linda Diaz, who was a junior chess champion before focusing on her musical career. The players could have some fun before the serious action began.
Chess camp starts today, everybody is getting along 🙂 pic.twitter.com/qKp3IYgTMy
— Alexandra Botez (@alexandrabotez) July 24, 2024
What's not to like, you would think, although off-the-board chess drama wasn't entirely absent.
Having to remember all the rules: dress a certain way so people don’t comment about you, make chess content that is 100% serious, don’t talk about chess unless you’re a gm, always act as a representative for every woman in chess, don’t make jokes, is frankly exhausting and a lot… https://t.co/d99CQCpFw9
— Julesgambit (@julesgambit) July 26, 2024
The atmosphere was good, however. Fans were glued to the long games online, and the players appreciated the event. Andrea Botez, who had more reason than anyone to feel bad about how the tournament went, commented:
Although this was definitely the worst result of a tournament in my entire life I have to say I think the friendship and being with the girls genuinely made up for the trip. I think we all learned from each other in so many ways outside of the chess that none of you guys really get to see, so I’m really hoping you guys will get to see behind the scenes.
The content will follow, but for now, let's get to the chess.
Botez Chess Camp Final Results
Jennifer Yu Dominates
Still just 22, Yu is a two-time U.S. Women's Champion (2019 and 2022) with a peak rating of 2379, making her the clear favorite to win the event. She lived up to that billing since, after a shaky first game where she made a 93-move draw against WGM Nemo Zhou, she went on a five-game winning streak.
That included powerful wins over key rivals Alexandra Botez and Cramling, but perhaps the crucial encounter came in round five against Belenkaya. The popular streamer was the second-highest-rated player in the field, with a 2364 peak rating, and had matched Yu's 3.5/4 start.
The game could easily have gone either way since, deep in the ending, White had the advantage on the board and, even more convincingly, on the clock, with Yu down to under two minutes to her opponent's nine on move 51. In the end, however, she took over and scored a crucial win.
Yu reigned supreme in the event, also winning the impromptu blitz tournament on the rest day with a perfect score. Going into the last round, she only needed a draw to secure first place, and since she was playing the lowest seed in the tournament, that seemed all but a foregone conclusion.
Schulman, better known as JulesGambit, is not to be underestimated, however. Before making a career as a dancer, she learned chess at the age of five and played competitively, winning events in her native California. She had no FIDE rating a year ago so it's unlikely her current 1818 Elo represents her true potential.
That goes some way to explaining how she played a brilliant pawn sacrifice and had Yu on the ropes before stumbling into a draw by repetition at the very end.
— Julesgambit (@julesgambit) August 1, 2024Finished the last game of the tournament with a draw against 2x US Champion Jen Yu. I accidentally blundered the 3 fold repetition trying to gain increment in time pressure but other than that I think it was a great game!
A huge thanks to the sponsor @chesscom and the Botez’s… pic.twitter.com/cuQ05mNbcI
The victory was richly deserved for Yu, who was still thinking of the last game when she said in her winner's speech:
Right now, I think I need to get better! That’s the bad thing today, but honestly, it was props to Jules for giving me such a hard time in the last game. That was genuinely the most concerned I’ve been the entire tournament—I literally lost my mind at the end. When I played a really bad move, I was like, oh my God, this is it, I’m going to get roasted so hard! But I’ve just had the best time here, hanging out with everybody and kind of getting back into chess because I’ve been kind of on-and-off competing, but this makes me really want to compete more and also do content and other stuff for fun. This is just such a fun event in general, and I loved it.
This makes me really want to compete more and also do content and other stuff for fun.
—Jennifer Yu
You can watch a full stream of the last day, including the prize-giving, below.
The top prize was $10,000, but there was also quite a trophy!
everyone else sucks but yu 🐣 pic.twitter.com/WKmrpcbvsw
— Jennifer Yu (@imjenyu) August 1, 2024
One player, however, had made sure the tournament went right down to the wire.
Alexandra Botez Is The Grim Reaper
"Low expectations is the key to happiness," Alexandra told her coach GM Jon Ludvig Hammer after the tournament was over, saying her goal had been to not lose all her games. The expectations stayed relatively low as she lost a tough game to Yu in round two, but then she caught fire.
Good morning @DinaBelenkaya
— Alexandra Botez (@alexandrabotez) July 31, 2024pic.twitter.com/Il2ZuZkvcB
One of her victims was the higher-rated Cramling, who called their first classical meeting her only bad game of the tournament.
Our first ever classical match!! Live now pic.twitter.com/hMluHAswM0
— Alexandra Botez (@alexandrabotez) July 29, 2024
The final-round game against Belenkaya seemed like a battle for second place, though as we've seen, it very nearly turned into a battle for a playoff against Yu for the title.
It was every bit as exciting as we could have hoped for, with Belenkaya taking some risks in the opening but getting a spectacular chance to force a draw and share second place. Instead, that slipped by, and ultimately, one mistake saw Botez win in style.
"Russian school of chess? More like Russian I schooled at chess!" joked Alexandra, referring to Dina's chess school, before adding the somewhat more diplomatic: "I feel sad that Dina is sad. I feel happy that I won. That’s reasonable, right?"
That win meant Alexandra had taken second place, picked up $5,000, and earned 46 rating points. Better luck next time!?
Congrats to @imjenyu for winning chess camp!! Also… feeling pretty happy with 2nd place
— Alexandra Botez (@alexandrabotez) August 1, 2024
Anna Cramling Catches Dina Belenkaya In Third Place
It so happened that the first round was perhaps the most important in the battle for third place. Belenkaya, in a slightly better position, blundered to allow a game-winning tactic, and Cramling pounced.
27.Qxe4! was the cruncher and it should have been game over, but in mutual time-trouble Anna allowed Belenkaya to win a piece back after 35.Rg4??.
Cramling fought back in that game, however, and with her mother GM Pia Cramling streaming she never lost faith in her chess. Anna also made video recaps, including of her win over Schulman in the very next round.
The key game for Anna's tournament turned out to be her win with Black over 156-point-higher-rated Nemo in round six. It was a thriller of a game since Anna was low on time in a roughly equal endgame and admitted she was close to taking the draw. She thought she'd be angry with herself later if she did, however, and although she said it was "extremely scary to play with only a minute on the clock" she went for a winning attempt.
The idea was powerful, and it was Nemo who ended up playing on seconds when chaos struck—trying to make her 52nd move, Nemo moved the bishop, but instead of going to its intended target of g4 (or f5!?) it went off course to g5, while Nemo tried to hit the clock but sent it flying off the narrow table instead.
Order was eventually restored, with 52...Bg4 on the board and Anna given an extra 30 seconds, and she found the only winning move, 52...d4!.
A final—very shaky!—win over Diaz, and Anna could celebrate a fine tournament, saying at the end, ahead of a trip to Portugal: "I’m feeling really confident and excited to play against random people in an open chess tournament."
She gained 21 rating points and shared third ($1,250). Although Nemo lost 29 points, she wasn't feeling bitter about a tough tournament.
we all got participation medals, thanks for hosting chess camp @alexandrabotez
— Nemo (@akaNemsko) August 1, 2024
"I'm A Loser Not A Quitter" — Andrea Botez
With a wide rating range, the event was always going to be tough for the lower-rated players, but everyone had something to celebrate. Schulman, as we've already seen, almost beat the player of the tournament in the final round and scored two points while picking up 11 rating points.
Diaz is a full-time musician and hadn't played classical chess in years, and said her goal was to "maybe win a game." She did, with a little help from Andrea Botez's suicidal 15.0-0??.
15...Nxd4! was simply winning a piece since if you capture back, the other knight falls.
Diaz was also better near the end against Cramling in the final found before allowing a game-changing tactic.
Andrea was also the player Schulman beat, and she had a tough event. Midway through, after a string of losses, she expressed something every chess player has felt at some point: "I just don’t think my brain can play chess anymore, it feels like it’s just wired the wrong way and just chess isn’t my thing anymore."
When she later didn't turn up for her penultimate round game, it seemed as though she might have quit, but it turned out she had a medical issue.
didn’t ragequit the tournament, I just spent the last 12 hours in the ER 🤣 finishing the tournament playing vs @akaNemsko tomorrow 💪 pic.twitter.com/7leErVZ5bt
— Andrea Botez (@itsandreabotez) July 30, 2024
— Andrea Botez (@itsandreabotez) July 30, 2024STRAIGHT OUT OF THE HOSPITAL, READY TO CHALLENGE THE 2X US WOMENS CHAMP! 💪
I’m a loser not a quitter. Watch our game live now on Twitch 🫡 pic.twitter.com/YpoWivY6ET
You could only admire the fighting spirit, even if the game against Yu ended in a 16-move Botez Gambit. There was some light at the end of the tunnel, however, since Andrea finally got on the scoreboard with a draw in the final round vs. Nemo—she'd actually been winning the game.
At the closing ceremony, she said, "I’m still very, very thankful that we had this event because I think every girl here has such an inspiring story, which you again don’t get to see, but I hope you guys can see it soon!"
Behind-the-scenes content will be appearing on the players' channels and Chess.com YouTube, but that's all for now from the Botez Chess Camp!
The Botez Chess Camp was an eight-player single round-robin tournament that took place in Malibu, California and ran July 24-31. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves, then 30 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one. The first prize was $10,000, with $5,000 for second place and $2,500 for third.
