Background and career
Alexandre Borba Chiqueta (São Paulo, December 2, 1983), known as Gaules, is a Brazilian Counter-Strike streamer, YouTuber, philanthropist, and former professional player.
He started his professional career at g3nerationX (g3x) in 2001 when the team went to the World Cyber Games final. In 2007, the team migrated to Made in Brazil, initially with Gaules as the leader, and later as team manager. That year they won DreamHack Winter 2007, an achievement that "helped shape the role of the coach in esports in Brazil". In 2008, during his degree in Marketing, he left his esports career to work at Samsung, being responsible for the IT sector and obtaining partnerships. Around 2010, he decided to leave the company and return to esports, creating several projects such as the Brazilian National Game Team and the Brazil Gaming League. However, Gaules began to pull away from the companies, and "found himself with nothing"; being diagnosed with depression, and attempting suicide in December 2017. Then, he began to "transform the situation"; asking old friends at g3x for help and starting to do live streams on Twitch to afford his rent and medication. As of 2018, Gaules became recognized as a streamer. ESPN stated he was "the biggest Brazilian Twitch phenomenon" of the year. In 2020, he won the eSports Brazil Awards for best streamer and personality of the year. In the same year, he was the second most-watched streamer in the world on Twitch and recognized as a standout in esports by TechTudo and Globo Esporte. He also got attention for his philanthropic work, which included participation in projects against COVID-19 and for environmental protection.
At the age of 17, in the early 2000s, Gaules used to frequent the gaming center Monkey Tatuapé. According to him, his dream was to join the Counter-Strike team there; he asked daily to be part of it, but his proposal was always rejected. Gaules wanted to join the team because: "I couldn't afford to pay [for the hours], and the players' sponsorship was to play for free while there were no clients. Also, because I wanted to be on the best team in the LAN gaming center I frequented." He believed that he was fit to join the team, because, according to him, "I studied the game. I watched the best in the gaming center play because I didn't have money to pay for the time spent there. I was going to the championship because I wanted to be in that environment every day to get my shot." Tired of Gaules' insistence in asking to join the team, Monkey Tatuapé decided to put him as the leader of a junior team. Although this left Gaules discouraged, he realized that there were two ways to face the situation: "either as a bad thing or as an opportunity to join the main team. I set up the team with other very young players and we started training against them." In 2001, he had the opportunity to travel with the main team to Rio de Janeiro and compete in the first selection of the Cyberathlete Professional League in Brazil. One of the players on the team was playing badly, and Gaules, who was called to replace him, recalls: "I didn't even change equipment or anything, I just sat at the computer and we turned the match around. Then I never left the team again." However, Gaules was only on the first team for a short period of time. The LAN center franchise decided to make a selection, picking the top players to form one lineup, and Gaules was left out. Thus, he decided to create his team, g3nerationX (abbreviated as g3x), on July 27, 2001, with Igor "VIP" Melro, Rodrigo "crash" Rodrigues, Mee, and Feijaum, who also frequented the gaming center. The team's first championship was at the inauguration of another Monkey's, the Monkey's Santa Cruz, where the local team would also play. G3x defeated the Santa Cruz team, and Gaules recalls: "Everyone kept asking where we had come from. All the spotlight was on the team and we got a lot of visibility [by winning from them]." After the victory, Gaules, VIP, and crash remained in g3x, but Mee and Feijaum left, giving way to Rafael "BlooD" Frid, Raphael "cogu" Camargo, and Carlos Henrique "Kiko" Segal. With this line-up, g3x took its first international flight and won the Brazilian leg of the World Cyber Games (WCG). They managed a spot in the world final of the tournament, in Seoul, South Korea. With Guilherme "Carva" Carvalhaes substituting Kiko, g3x managed to place 7–8th in the championship. After that, g3x had a "hegemonic" period, according to ESPN. Gaules reports that the team went from the end of 2001 until 2003 "without losing a match". In this period, there was a breakup, and Kiko and cogu went to other teams. Between 2004 and 2006, g3x won championships such as the LatinCup (2004), World Cyber Games Brazil (2005), and CPL World Season 2006: Brazil. In 2006, the team's partnership with Intel ended, which made their situation difficult.
In 2007, with the approaching of the esports league Championship Gaming Series (CGS), Gaules talked to Paulo "pvell" Velloso about the possibility of a partnership with the MIBR team, which, until then, was a rival.
"He invited our team to join the MIBR [since the main MIBR lineup would participate in CGS and no longer play 1.6 tournaments]. It was a legitimate invitation, giving me the backing to take care of, manage, and decide who comes and goes. I met with the g3x players, explained the situation and we voted." At the time, the team was formed by Gaules, Thiago "btt" Monteiro, Norberto "Lance" Lage, Lincoln "fnx" Lau, and Wellington "ton" Caruso. According to Gaules, most members decided to go to MIBR because of the structure. He started playing and managing the team. Later, "pvell" sought out Gaules to remind him that Bruno "bit" Lima, the only remnant of the team that went to CGS, deserved a spot among MIBR's starters. However, there were only five spots for six players, so Gaules chose to give up his spot. He said: "I suggested that I become the coach, and "pvell" liked the idea very much [...] My dream was to play, but I was the leader and I couldn't abandon anyone. It was with this that we created one of the strongest teams, if not the strongest, that we have ever had." In November 2007, Lance and Olavo "chucky" Napoleon switched places, and Gaules returned to play alongside his former g3x teammates. The MIBR team went to DreamHack Winter 2007, and despite having a guaranteed spot in the tournament, Gaules opted to play the BYOC (bring your computer) tryout:
"If we didn't have the ability to win BYOC, we wouldn't be ready to be world champions. We got into the BYOC final against Spirit of Amiga (SoA), which was a great team, and we came out behind. There I kept asking myself why I had decided to play BYOC. We were playing with rented computers and monitors and putting five people in a space that could fit four. Ton had to use the keyboard on his lap on some maps." Despite these complications, MIBR beat SoA, and went on to participate in the main competition. The team was undefeated and, according to Gaules, the achievement "helped shape the role of the coach in esports in Brazil [...] I felt like I was part of the team, I just didn't have a mouse and keyboard in my hand. Everyone was talking about how we won with six players."
