Chess Olympiad: Tech Mahindra's app lets game buffs track the board moves

What’s the move Magnus Carlsen is making right at this moment during his game at the Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram? What were the tactics R Praggnanandhaa deployed during his last game at the Olympiad? 

Chess buffs would be able to track these happenings, courtesy the new fan experiences launched by Tech Mahindra, the digital partner of International Chess Federation (FIDE) for the 44th Olympiad.

After making its mark as a tech partner in three FIFA World Cups, a racing track event and the Indian Premier League, among others, IT services major Tech Mahindra is now making moves in the world of chess. 

The company has launched the Fan Nxt.Now application by leveraging artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality to offer fans an interactive experience of the Olympiad. 

“Fan Next will bring a hyper-personalised data driven experience for fans. This will give FIDE a chance to engage with fans and also monetise it (chess),” said Jagdish Mitra, chief strategy officer and head of growth, Tech Mahindra. 

The initial version of the application was launched on Friday and will be available on both iOS and android. In the first phase, Fan Nxt will make available more information about the players and their moves.

The next move

The company indicated that the next version of the application, to be launched within six months, will give a metaverse experience to the users: a real-life kind of experience of playing against top players and interacting with the metaverse avatars of major players during the game, for instance. 

“The idea is to build a community that can continue beyond the tournament,” Mitra said. “AI is at the core of this. The application picks up the conversations and interests of the users and personalises it,” Mitra said. 

Tech Mahindra is also considering tapping the commerce potential of the application in the long run, depending on how FIDE decides to take it forward. 

“Commerce today is not limited to merchant opportunities. With the opportunity of metaverse, there are a whole lot of things that we can do around digital, artefacts and NFTs (non-fungible tokens),” Mitra said. 

The future of the application may even include games and fantasy leagues, depending on how FIDE plans to use it. FIDE had announced the tie-up with Tech Mahindra last year, with a focus on creating a phygital (physical and digital) global chess league. 

Prior to this, Tech Mahindra had technology tie-ups with FIFA for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, and looked into the digital platforms of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Indian Premier League and IPL teams like Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings.

Tech Mahindra had also partnered with Mahindra Racing, the only Indian team to compete in Formula E World Championship.