NFT for the win: Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen chases a nonfungible trophy

Published at: Oct. 2, 2021

An international chess tournament, Meltwater Champions Chess Tour (MCCT), has announced it will mint nonfungible token (NFT) trophies and collectibles to preserve the game‘s most defining moments forever. 

The winner of the MCCT will be awarded an NFT trophy, marking mainstream crypto involvement from the international chess community. The tournament’s finals will see participation from grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and nine other professional chess players, including Wesley So.

According to an official statement, Chess Champs will mint two editions of the Champion’s Trophy NFT, allowing fans to obtain a replica of the trophy through an online auction. Moreover, the company will also release a series of NFT collectibles attributed to “the moves, the moments and the players” on the chess tour.

Carlsen’s interest in crypto can be traced back to a recent chess tournament hosted by crypto exchange FTX, where the world champion won 0.6 Bitcoin (BTC) along with a $60,000 cash prize.

In addition to awards, the chess community is exploring blockchain use cases to prevent cheating in online tournaments amid COVID-19 restrictions. Running parallel to the postponement of the 2020 Chess Candidates Tournament in Ekaterinburg, Russia, World Chess has previously explored the possibility of moving matches online via blockchain technology.

Related: Sports-themed NFTs spark gold rush as projects raise $930M in a week

As Cointelegraph reported in September, tokenized sport collectibles projects collectively raised almost $1 billion in funding in just one week.

Dapper Labs, a firm offering tokenized basketball collectibles through NBA Top Shot, announced a $250 million funding round in addition to revealing 30x growth in 2021.

Following suit, Sorare, an NFT trading card marketplace, raised $680 million in funding led by Japanese fintech giant SoftBank. With a revised valuation of $4.3 billion, Sorare plans to expand its portfolio of soccer player NFTs by increasing partnerships with football leagues and associations.

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