JAKARTA - For the first time in chess history, grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was awarded the nonfungible token (NFT) trophy for winning the international chess tournament, the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour (MCCT). The tournament scored a number of trophies and NFT collectibles to capture the game's most defining moments indefinitely.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Carlsen shared his appreciation of the cryptocurrency ecosystem for supporting virtual chess tournaments. The chess champion cites MCCT's recent partnership with crypto exchange FTX which allows professional chess players to compete for a prize fund of 2,1825 Bitcoin (BTC) or $81,079 (Rp1,152 billion) in current value.

“NFT helps the chess community celebrate great moments and perhaps also rewards those who have invested so much time in developing the game. With Chess Champs, this is just getting started and I look forward to seeing it develop,” said Carlsen.

Chess Champs minted two identical editions of the Champion's Trophy NFT on the Ethereum blockchain, digitally signed by Carlsen after winning the tournament. The second NFT trophy was auctioned at 6.88 Ether (ETH), around US$24,700 (Rp351 million) at the time of purchase. According to a source, the bid for the NFT trophy rose to 11 Ether (US$27,093) after the deadline.

“It feels great to share the trophy with such passionate fans. It will be interesting to play with him and meet him in the Champions Chess Tour Finals next season,” Carlsen said as quoted by Cointelegraph

The collection also includes NFTs dedicated to various chess pieces (such as pawns and kings) on the blockchain.

As the NFT boom continues to bridge the gap between sports and digital entertainment, the NFT market offers a new platform for innovation.

Sorare, the marketplace for NFT trading cards, hit a valuation of $4.3 billion after raising $680 million in Series B funding led by Japanese fintech giant SoftBank. As Cointelegraph reports, the company plans to use these funds to "significantly accelerate the development of women's sports."

In addition, Sorare has also secured a partnership with the soccer league La Liga and plans to join a top football team to diversify its NFT-based portfolio offering into other fantasy sports.


The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)