The International Chess Federation (FIDE) announced recently that it is partnering with the Avalanche blockchain to bring its competitions into Web3.
According to FIDE, the partnership will create operational efficiencies for players and federations and improve game integrity, such as publishing tournament data and player rankings on-chain, as well as AVAX-hosted tournament prize pools.
In addition, the partnership makes Core, a self-custody cryptocurrency wallet, and Ava Labs, the creators of the Avalanche blockchain, featured sponsors at physical chess competitions throughout the world, including the World Chess Championship and Chess Olympiad.
According to Emil Sutovsky, FIDE CEO, Chess is a unique sport and this cooperation will allow them to unify their community and strengthen the ties between players, clubs, federations, and FIDE.
FIDE’s Web3 integrations follow alongside the chess world’s gradual embrace of digital mediums. According to the organization, more than 25 million online chess games are played daily by more than 100 million regular players.
Although interest in Web3 and non-fungible tokens (NFT) has faded in the general public in recent months, federations like FIDE still believe that the market has the ability to advance their sport. The table tennis sport’s governing body started a comparable Web3 effort in August.
Additionally, the partnership between FIDE and AVAX is not the first time chess and crypto have been combined. Earlier this month, chess icon, Garry Kasparov released his first collection of NFTs, and play-to-earn chess games like MetaChess had been well-liked for most of the previous year.