FIDE Grand Prix NFTs Exibited In Berlin’s Art Gallery
As soon as elite chess grandmasters fighting for the right to challenge the World Champion finish their games during the FIDE Grand Prix in Berlin, the positions on the boards (called FENs in chess-speak) are fed into a complicated AI-algorithm that turns the data from each game into a unique chess piece. An exhibition of the unique art generated from chess positions was held in Berlin’s Circle Culture Gallery in Prenzlauer Berg.
Each artwork was minted as NFT on Algorand blockchain and printed as a one-of-a-kind art print, creating the ultimate chess memorabilia: a visual representation of the game, authored by the two opponents with the help of AI, and produced as a unique collectors’ item.
The prints were exhibited in Berlin and offered to collectors along with the corresponding NFTs. They were sold out in seconds. The NFTs were minted on Algorand blockchain which has a strong connection to chess as it already keeps record of the official FIDE-recognized ratings. Algorand’s founder Silvio Micali’s pioneering work in cryptography gave the start to the modern anti-cheating protocols widely employed in chess.
An NFT (non-fungible token) is a digital asset that exists on a blockchain, a record of transactions kept on networked computers. The blockchain serves as a public ledger, allowing anyone to verify the NFT’s authenticity and who owns it.
The exhibition by World Chess, the organizer of the FIDE Grand Prix, and Algorand, was one of the rare art events that meld NFT, a digital object, with a real life setting. The project is in line with World Chess’ mission to make chess accessible to a wider audience, and employing AI to visualize a game and turn it into a unique art piece will launch a new line of collectors items for chess. World Chess will make this mechanism available to other chess organizers and enthusiasts.
