At nine pm EST this night, Ethereum co-founder and figurehead Vitalik Buterin will face off towards chess streamer Nationwide Canadian Group participant Alexandra Botez in an fit tournament live-streamed on Twitch.
The development took place following a sequence of fits and conversations held by way of contributors of the Ethereum-focused Bankless podcast and publication. After Vitalik participated in a handful of fits, Botez threw down the gauntlet:
@VitalikButerin I’m a chess streamer and a large fan of your paintings I heard from some folks within the crypto house that you’re lovely excellent at chess! It will be an enormous honor to play if you happen to ever desire a destroy
— Alexandra Botez (@alexandravbotez) November 13, 2020
Lovers of the chess persona have warned Vitalik to be careful for her namesake “Botez Gambit” — a playful time period for when she unintentionally loses her queen. Jokes apart, the Canadian sports activities some severe accolades: she lately holds the name of Girl FIDE Grasp, and is a 5 time Canadian Nationwide Women Champion.
Now not all are counting out the 26 year-old Ethereum co-founder, on the other hand. Some have speculated that between thinking about Derek Parfit and fixing scalability, Vitalik could be hiding some authentic chess chops:
Watch Vitalik simply secretly have a 2500+ in him he is simply by no means troubled to play sufficient rated fits https://t.co/PD34qfzaWb
— Colin Goltra (@Goltra) November 18, 2020
Moreover, except serving to construct the sector’s greatest sensible contract platform, Vitalik could be maximum notable because the inventor of a chess variant. In 2019 he debuted “1.58 dimensional chess,” performed on a pyramidal aircraft.
And what would an Ethereum mindsport prizefight be with out on-chain prediction markets the place audience may wager at the end result? Gamified prediction marketplace Yieldwars is providing a marketplace for the fit, with winner-take-all choices for all sides, whilst Omen Prediction Markets is providing weighted payouts.
Thus far, the marketplace believes that Vitalik goes to have a coarse night time. Pitched as “King as opposed to Queen,” the Yieldwars marketplace lately has totaled simplest $500 in bets, with bettors healthily favoring Botez. Omen, in the meantime, has attracted over $650 in bets, as soon as once more closely skewing in opposition to the chess streamer.
One imaginable possibility for the overmatched founder? An abnormal opening. The Cointelegraph weekend editorial crew humbly suggests the Orangutan.