Understanding Anichess: A Comprehensive Overview

Key Insights

• Anichess is a reimagined version of chess that introduces spell mechanics into its game. Anichess focuses on creating a new experience and modernizing the current timeless chess game.
• Anichess is incubated by Animoca Brands and developed in partnership with Chess.com. Animoca Brands has a history of incubating projects, and Chess.com is currently the largest online chess platform.
• Anichess utilizes an onchain point system called M8, which utilizes Base to track and reward players for playing Anichess. M8 is focused on providing a rewarding game loop that emphasizes simplicity, rewarding regular players without needing to navigate complex tasks.
• Anichess has already onboarded many large partners in both the crypto and chess spaces. Notable names in the crypto space include YGG Guild, and in the chess space, they have partnered with Magnus Carlson.
• Anichess has raised $3.3 million in funding from notable partners, such as Fenbushi, Sfermion, and Amber Group.

Introduction

Chess remains one of the most widely played and culturally significant games in history. With over 605.0 million players globally and over $2.5 billion in market value, its recent resurgence, driven by digital platforms, live streaming, and global accessibility, has brought the game to new audiences. Yet despite this momentum, the digital chess experience has remained largely unchanged. It continues to be the same game, with the same rules and mechanics.

Anichess looks to modernize chess and reimagine the timeless game. By integrating spell-based mechanics, digital ownership, and player-driven governance, it reimagines chess as an interactive, evolving ecosystem. Anichess transforms the game as a new title that looks to advance chess adoption, giving seasoned players a twist to the game they love and empowering newer players by giving them an even playing field to enter the game and test their skills.

Background

Anichess was announced in June 2023 as a collaboration between Animoca Brands and Chess.com, with development led by Animoca Brands. Anichess looked to reimagine the chess game while also leveraging the recent success of Chess.com and the resurgence of Chess. With over 200 million players on Chess.com, Anichess looked to leverage that partnership to provide their players base with a new experience.

Since its inception, Anichess has raised $3.3 million across two funding rounds: a $1.5 million seed round in June 2023 and a $1.8 million strategic round in April 2024. Notable investors include Amber Group, Fenbushi Capital, Sfermion, and Asymmetry Capital.

Anichess’s early development centered on community activation and gameplay experimentation. In June 2023, it introduced Elixir Points via Zealy quests, allowing users to earn rewards for completing onboarding tasks. Shortly after, it launched its first interactive experience: a puzzle-based mini-game inspired by Chess.com’s puzzles. Successful participants earned Orbs of Power.

To iterate on its core mechanics, Anichess introduced a seasonal testing structure. Season One focused on single-player puzzle challenges. Season Two layered on a resource-burning mechanic, where players could destroy Orbs to generate “Ash” and compete on Anichess leaderboards. Season Three marked a shift toward live competitive play, introducing spell-based PvP combat across four game modes: quick match, ranked match, friend match, and AI training.

Alongside core gameplay, Anichess has expanded its presence through esports-style tournaments and marketing partnerships. Notable events include the $10,000 Bybit Blitz Cup and the Anichess x Chess.com Preseason Cup. On Mar. 13, 2025, five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen participated in a public exhibition match.

Technology

Anichess Platform

At its core, Anichess is a browser-based, free-to-play tactical strategy game that extends the rules of classical chess through ability-based enhancements known as spells. Designed to appeal to both seasoned players and newcomers, Anichess overlays a real-time decision layer atop traditional turn-based gameplay. Each match requires players to consider not only positional fundamentals but also an evolving set of magical modifiers governed by resource constraints.

Each spell is governed by a mana system, where mana is earned incrementally through piece movement. Most spells are subject to per-match usage limits and may include additional constraints such as cooldowns, directional restrictions, or targeting conditions.

Core Gameplay Modes

Anichess currently supports four primary game modes:

• Quick Match: Unranked casual play, offering both Lite and Classic formats. Players can choose from Bullet, Blitz, or Rapid time controls.
• Ranked Match: Competitive mode using a Glicko-2 based Rating system. Unlocked after completing five Quick Matches, this mode is tracked via seasonal leaderboards.
• Friend Match: Custom games between friends with adjustable rule sets.
• Train with Bot: PvE matches against AI opponents of varying difficulty.

The ranking system features a seven-tier progression model, updated in real time based on match outcomes. Time control variants and spell combinations further diversify the metagame, creating a wide range of competitive scenarios.

Spells and Customization

Anichess’ main differentiation from the classic game of chess is the implementation of spells. These spells introduce conditional mechanics that augment standard piece behavior. Spells function as temporary modifiers to move legality, piece behavior, or board state. Below is a selection of currently implemented spells:

• Bis-hop 2.0: Allows your bishop to leap over one piece in its path. This spell can be used to capture the first piece it encounters.
• House Recruit: Summons a pawn on any empty square between the 3rd and 6th ranks. This action counts as a move.
• Imposter: Swaps one of your pieces with an opponent’s piece of the same type, excluding pawns and kings. This action counts as a move.
• Juke: Move a Pawn, Knight, or Bishop vertically by one square. Steals one mana from your opponent.
• Parkour Mech: Permanently transforms any of your pieces (except the king and queen) into a knight. This action counts as a move.
• Pengu Dive: Teleports one of your pieces (excluding pawns) to an empty square within a 3×3 area around it. This action counts as a move.
• Pounce and Purr: Leap a piece to an adjacent empty square. Then stun one opponent piece within one square of the landing spot (excluding King) for one turn.
• Queen Time: Move a Knight, Bishop, or Rook like a Queen once (can capture anything except the king).
• Shift: Move a Pawn, Knight, or Rook horizontally by one square. Steals one mana from your opponent.
• Shot in the dark: Moves (or keeps in place) a piece invisibly for one turn, revealing its position on your next turn. Cannot be cast on the queen.
• Slip: Move a Pawn, Knight, or Bishop diagonally by one square. Steals one mana from your opponent.
• Tactical Necessity: Sacrifice one of your pieces to destroy an opponent’s piece of lower rank (excluding kings and pawns).

Each spell is cast through a UI prompt and executed within the existing turn timer. Game logic includes a pre-cast validator to confirm mana sufficiency and legality relative to board state.

Competitive and Social Features

Ranked play is structured around seasonal ladders, with point accrual driven by match performance and spell optimization. Leaderboards reset periodically and distribute a mix of onchain and offchain rewards, including:

• Exclusive spell variants
• Cosmetic skins for boards and pieces
• M8 points and (eventually) CHECK token rewards

Anichess has hosted notable tournaments, including the Bybit Blitz Cup and Anichess x Chess.com Preseason Cup, each offering prize pools of $10,000.

Inventory

In Anichess, Player-earned items and cosmetics are stored in a customizable inventory. This includes skins for pieces, boards, backgrounds, and spell visual effects. While some assets are purely cosmetic, others, such as spells, give you further abilities to use in the game.

M8

M8 is Anichess’s onchain engagement point system, designed to reward consistent participation across both casual and competitive game modes. Presently, the Anichess team has prioritized player experience and engagement tooling before they move forward with plans to incorporate more blockchain technology, but they have stated that M8 is tracked and built on the Base blockchain.

Players accrue M8 points by completing daily quests, playing matches, and participating in seasonal events. Unlike leaderboard-based rewards, which favor high-performing players, M8 is designed to reward time spent and consistency. Anichess’ M8 is focused on building a retention-oriented incentive system, ensuring that even casual or lower-ranked players can earn meaningful rewards through regular play.

Accumulated M8 can be exchanged for a variety of in-game rewards, including:

• Lootboxes containing cosmetics or spell shards.
• Board and piece skins.
• Access tickets to limited-time modes, such as the upcoming Anichess Gambit.

One of Anichess’s core ambitions is to unlock the over 200 million users from Chess.com and the greater Chess community to play their game. To achieve this, the team has pursued a multi-pronged adoption strategy that leverages both high-visibility media channels and competitive esports partnerships.

Social Media Strategy

Anichess has embraced short-form content as a primary onboarding funnel, particularly via TikTok, where its official account (@anichessgame) has garnered over 3 million impressions in the past month alone. Viral clips highlighting spell-based gameplay mechanics and reactions from well-known chess personalities have driven awareness and curiosity among casual players. Meanwhile, the project’s Instagram presence has featured strategic collaborations with mainstream figures and organizations, including Chess.com, Magnus Carlsen, Dina Belenkaya, Anish Giri, and Team Secret, further grounding Anichess in the cultural center of the chess world.

Esports Strategy

Anichess is also expanding its reach through competitive chess esports. In a recent development for the game, chess will debut as a category at the Esports World Cup 2025. Anish Giri, an Anichess ambassador and top-10 world grandmaster, has partnered with renowned gaming organization Team Secret to compete in the event, representing Anichess on one of the biggest stages in gaming and bringing the Anichess game to a non-crypto audience. The event has already received celebrity endorsements, including Cristiano Ronaldo, amplifying the visibility of chess as an esports category.

Genius Score

Genius Score is powered by Checkmate Ecosystem and acts as a reputation layer for Anichess. Based on a player’s “individual brilliance.” Genius Score aggregates user activity across social channels, onchain behavior, and gameplay metrics into a composite score. Its key components include:

• Trading Acumen: A player’s profit and loss (PnL) performance onchain, measured across popular DEXs, large market cap tokens, NFTs, and major marketplaces.
• Smart Money: A player’s total onchain holdings, reflecting your capital and strategic allocation across assets.
• Investment Foresight: How early an individual interacted with some of the most influential protocols and ecosystems, based on historical trades or protocol engagement.
• Social influence: The amount of social mindshare a player captures on social media.
• Chess mastery: Anichess level and how often someone plays.

The Genius Score serves as a benchmark reputation for Anichess and is meant as an overarching profile for the wider Anichess and Checkmate ecosystem.

Anichess Sandbox

The upcoming Anichess Sandbox will enable a user-generated content layer, allowing players to prototype spells, experiment with new game formats, and participate in the protocol’s evolution. The upcoming CHECK token, which serves as both a permission and incentive layer, will gate access to the Sandbox.

Sandbox participants will be able to:

• Design custom spells within defined parameters
• Simulate and experiment with different rules and custom game formats

Players will be able to access the Sandbox through a chat interface, prompting the Sandbox however they want.

Tokenomics

Anichess will operate using the CHECK token issued by the Checkmate Ecosystem. Although the token has not yet launched, documentation has outlined that it will grant holders the ability to participate in governance, support in-game economies, purchase in-game assets, stake, and access gated features, such as the Anichess Sandbox, a creation layer that allows users to prototype spells and custom game rules.

Launch Status and Airdrop Eligibility

As of Q2 2025, the CHECK token has not been launched. While details are still being finalized, there has been confirmation that players who participate in the seasons and continue to earn M8 points will become eligible for the CHECK token airdrop. Currently, no details have been provided on the total supply, emissions, or vesting terms of the CHECK token.

Ecosystem

While still in its early stages, Anichess has made progress in building out a robust ecosystem through strategic partnerships and targeted community engagement. Its collaboration with Yield Guild Games (YGG), one of the largest crypto gaming guilds, has accelerated grassroots participation across Southeast Asia. This partnership positions Anichess to scale adoption through guild-sponsored tournaments, player onboarding initiatives, and educational quests.

Checkmate Ecosystem

Anichess is deeply integrated with the Checkmate Ecosystem, which serves as the organizational and technical backbone for a broader multi-game ecosystem focused on strategic depth, intellectual engagement, and community ownership. While Anichess is the Foundation’s flagship title, it is envisioned as the first of many skill-based games that will share a unified infrastructure for identity, rewards, and governance.

Checkmate’s ecosystem is built around modular components designed to persist across games. Through shared initiatives like Genius Score and the upcoming CHECK token, these elements enable player performance, identity, and incentives to carry across multiple gaming environments, rather than remain siloed within individual titles.

Beyond gameplay, Checkmate seeks to empower players and creators alike through initiatives such as esports tournaments, content creation incentives, and user-generated design platforms like the Anichess Sandbox.

Checkmate Genesis

Anichess has also launched Checkmate Genesis, an original webcomic published on the Voyce.Me platform. Set in a dystopian future where chess determines political power and personal fate, the series blends strategy, mysticism, and storytelling to expand the Anichess mythos beyond the board.

With Checkmate Genesis, Anichess has strengthened its narrative depth and community engagement. The series includes real players in its storyline, notably Ronggo and his two-year-old son Reybara, both recognized as early Anichess supporters. With Checkmate Genesis, Anichess builds out the lore of its game while also connecting with its community.

Anichess Ethernals

On July 3, 2025, Anichess conducted a free mint for its genesis NFT collection, Anichess Ethernals. The free mint had a total supply of 960. Interest in the project has grown, with the collection reaching a floor price of 0.339 ETH and peaking at 0.49 ETH on July 8. The Ethernals drew strong interest from the Anichess community, generating 84.53 ETH in trading volume over the first 14 days.

Roadmap

Past Milestones

Anichess has followed a phased rollout strategy since mid-2023, gradually expanding from community engagement efforts to live gameplay and competitive infrastructure. Key milestones include:

2023

2024

• Season One: Introduction of single-player puzzles and Orb rewards
• Season Two: Introduction of the Ash resource burn mechanic and team-based leaderboard scoring
• Season Three: Launch of spell-based PvP gameplay with four distinct game modes (Quick Match, Ranked Match, Friend Match, Train with Bot)
• Strategic partnership formed with YGG
• Bybit Blitz Cup, a $10,000 competitive tournament

2025

• Preseason Cup in collaboration with Chess.com
• Public exhibition match featuring five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen
• Launch of M8, an onchain player engagement and reward system
• Announcement of Genius Score, the identity layer tracking onchain, social, and gameplay performance

Future Roadmap

While a detailed public roadmap has not been released, Anichess has outlined several key initiatives planned for 2025 and beyond.

The team’s primary focus is refining its spell-based PvP gameplay into a fully competitive experience. This will coincide with the launch of the C token, which will serve as the core utility and governance asset within the Anichess ecosystem. A key gameplay layer will be the Anichess Gambit, a competitive circuit that will allow top players to earn C tokens through performance-based rewards. A portion of tournament fees will be recycled back into the ecosystem, establishing a repurchase loop that reinforces token utility and economic sustainability.

To deepen player engagement and progression, Anichess also plans to integrate quests, achievements, and daily rewards systems that incentivize regular play. The team aims to reintegrate its original daily puzzle challenges, which proved popular during the early season, and offer a lightweight, high-retention format to complement PvP.

The upcoming Anichess Sandbox will further expand creative agency by enabling players to design and test custom spells and rule variants. Meanwhile, the spell library will continue to grow, unlocking new tactical depth and metagame diversity. A new NFT collection is also in development, with planned integrations into player identity, customization, and reward systems.

Finally, at the token launch, Staking v1 will go live, where users will be able to earn from staking their C tokens.

Closing Summary

Anichess blends timeless strategy with modern gameplay design, reimagining chess through spells, onchain identity, and community ownership. Backed by Animoca Brands and developed in partnership with Chess.com, the project has evolved from early puzzle-based experiments into a full-featured PvP strategy game with a clear roadmap toward competitive integrity and decentralized governance.

Through systems like M8, Genius Score, and the upcoming Anichess Sandbox, the protocol is building infrastructure for both casual players and high-level contributors. Its C token will serve as the connective tissue across game mechanics, governance, and user-generated content. While still early, Anichess is emerging as a model for how legacy games can evolve into open, player-owned ecosystems.

Let us know what you loved about the report, what may be missing, or share any other feedback by filling out this short form. All responses are subject to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

This report was commissioned by Anichess All content was produced independently by the author(s) and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Messari, Inc. or the organization that requested the report. The commissioning organization may have input on the content of the report, but Messari maintains editorial control over the final report to retain data accuracy and objectivity. Author(s) may hold cryptocurrencies named in this report. This report is meant for informational purposes only. It is not meant to serve as investment advice. You should conduct your own research and consult an independent financial, tax, or legal advisor before making any investment decisions. Past performance of any asset is not indicative of future results. Please see our Terms of Service for more information.

No part of this report may be (a) copied, photocopied, duplicated in any form by any means or (b) redistributed without the prior written consent of Messari®.