Announcing Treasure Chess: A Chess NFT Marketplace
Update: Treasure Chess has been discontinued by Chess.com. When we launched this product, we saw a lot of interest in NFTs and received many requests from enthusiasts in our community to offer them. In hindsight, we understand that NFTs are problematic for multiple reasons, and this product does not align with our core vision for chess.
Chess.com is partnering with treasure.chess.com to offer an experimental NFT marketplace where players, creators, and collectors can create, trade, buy, and sell NFTs made from their Chess.com games.
NFTs are a widely popular, and controversial, topic that is a growing part of the digital culture. Mainstream celebrities such as Kevin Hart, Shawn Mendes, Tony Hawk, and Serena Williams have all released NFTS, and in the past year, we've seen a growing number of chess tours and personalities releasing NFTs.
Here are a few things that we want to note:
- This is an opt-in program. No one will be able to sell an NFT with your username and avatar if you don't opt in to participate.
- Chess.com makes no money on this. Most of the proceeds go to the "creator fund," with a small fraction going toward paying costs associated with the system.
- Treasure Chess NFTs have a unique royalty structure to support creators, who get royalties on all subsequent sales of their Treasures in perpetuity.
- Our core mission is to build features to make your chess experience richer. We have recently launched Leagues, Insights, Game Review, and Classroom, with amazing new things yet to come. To keep our focus on that, we've partnered with another company called FourthWave to handle the tech around Treasure Chess.
- While some NFTs raise environmental concerns, this isn't a problem for Treasure Chess. The collectibles in our marketplace use less energy than sending an email.
- Treasure Chess is an experiment done for creators, our community, and people who like to collect. No one should be pressured to participate.
Now, let's dive into Treasure Chess.
What Is Treasure Chess?
Treasure Chess is a place for chess and crypto fans to turn their games into unique "Treasures" to collect, share, trade, and sell. You can mint any of the games you played on Chess.com into a Treasure, which will then exist as an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) on the Polygon Network.
The Treasure Chess Marketplace allows anyone to buy, sell, trade, and gift those Treasures.
What Do Treasures Look Like?
Treasures exist in the form of a game card containing a GIF reproduction of the game. It also features relevant information like usernames, ratings, game results, and achievements.
What Are Achievements?
Achievements etch the game's most remarkable characteristics into your Treasure forever. Each Treasure displays the top three features the Minter of the game achieved during the game. Achievements are assigned points based on how difficult they are to accomplish.
The levels of Treasures are Good, Great, Ultra, and Mythic.
Losing a game to a friend you play all the time might result in a Good Treasure, while checkmating your favorite streamer with en passant might earn you a Mythic Treasure. With over 40 achievements (and more to come), you've got plenty of opportunities to grow a diverse and unique collection of treasures.
Who Can Create Treasures?
Anyone playing on Chess.com can opt-in to Treasure Chess to join the fun and create Treasures. Games can be minted twice, once by each player. To start you off, the first three Treasures you mint are free.
Keep in mind that if you don't opt into Treasure Chess, others won't be able to list Treasures of games you played for sale. And if you'd like to completely opt-out of the Treasure Chess system, (including the ability for your opponents to mint your games) you can contact our support team, and they'll take care of it for you.
How Do I Mint My First Treasure?
To start minting your games:
- Search through your game history using filters on your profile page.
- Select a game, pick your Treasure's name, and click Mint.
Once you mint your Treasure, you can't edit it or change its name.
Once the minting process is over, you'll be able to see your Treasure's rarity and achievements. Now you can gift it to someone else, trade it, or list it on the Treasure Chess Marketplace.
Listing And Gifting Your Treasure
To list your Treasures in the marketplace:
- Click on the Treasure you want to list to open up the Listing Menu.
- Set the price for your Treasure and click List.
On the listing page, you can also gift your Treasure to another Chess.com member and see the Sale History and other historical information about the Treasure.
Buying Treasures
Anyone can buy Treasures using the marketplace. Treasures that are for sale will display a price tag underneath the game.
Click on the Treasure you're interested in buying to open its profile page. From there, you can click Buy and confirm your payment to purchase the Treasure.
How Do Fees And Royalties Work?
Treasure Chess utilizes a system that benefits players, creators, and the community.
When a creator first sells their Treasure, 100% of the money goes to them. After that, 95% of the proceeds of any subsequent sale go to creators and sellers. If you sell a Treasure, you get 90% of what you sold it for. The original player of the game receives 5% royalties on every sale of their Treasure. The remaining 5% covers costs associated with maintaining the system.
Chess.com makes no money on this, with any leftover going to the "creator fund."
Every Treasure costs $5 to mint, but you can mint your first three Treasures for free.
Using Treasures Outside Of The Treasure Chess Marketplace
Your Treasures don't exist only in Treasure Chess. They also live on a decentralized network. Treasures use the ERC-721 token standard, which means you can approve other apps to move your tokens. You can also view them in other apps that support NFTs like Cargo Build, OpenSea, and many others.
You can find the public address of your account on your profile when you log in at Treasure.chess.com/profile.
Do You Still Have Questions?
If you still have questions about Treasure Chess and how it works, check out our support page detailing everything about it.
