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International Chess Federation Starts Using Avalanche Blockchain
The FĂ©dĂ©ration Internationale de Chess (FIDE), the sport’s governing body, announced on Friday that it has partnered with Avalanche Blockchain (AVAX).
According to the press release, the partnership will increase «operational efficiency for players and federations and improve the integrity of the game» by, for example, publishing tournament data and player rankings, as well as tournament prize pools on the blockchain.
The merger also makes Ava Labs, the developers of the Avalanche blockchain and Core crypto wallet, sponsors of physical tournaments around the world, including the World Chess Championship and the Chess Olympiad.
«Chess is a unique sport, and this collaboration will allow us to unite our community and strengthen the ties between players, clubs, federations, and FIDE,» said FIDE Director General Emile Sutovsky.
FIDE’s integration with Web3 goes hand in hand with the chess world’s gradual transition to digital media. The Federation reported that more than 100 million people regularly play online chess and participate in more than 25 million virtual chess matches every day.
The cooperation between FIDE and AVAX is not the first time chess has been promoted in the context of cryptocurrency — Garry Kasparov released his first NFT collection earlier this year, and games such as MetaChess were popular throughout much of 2021.