Africa, land of the brave and strong, land of the mighty men/women of valor, land of the past and future, a land filled with so much opportunities for development and evolution, a land being offered an opportunity to grow in the chess industry.
The organisation of chess tournaments in Africa has evolved over time, from venues under the trees, to venues in 5* hotels; from prizes less than $200 to prizes over $40,000; from using no chess clocks to using the latest digital chess clocks, etc. We have come a long way to becoming who we are today, a continent ever evolving.
Chess tournament organizers may be thinking: How can we attract spectators to our tournaments? How can we make chess exciting for fans and also create fan zones at chess competitions? With idChess, these questions are being put to rest, owing to the innovative solution that has been provided for tournament organizers. Organizers can now broadcast tournaments all over the world with just the use of mobile phones.
What is idChess?
idChess is an innovative solution for digitizing and broadcasting chess games that are played over the board. The tournament version of idChess allows organizers to broadcast games live on the Internet. It also allows organizers to display tournament games on TV panels or screens, and saves the games in PGN format after the round ends. The tournament version consists of a web admin panel, phones connected to the panel with the idChess mobile application (Android, iOS), can then be used to project the games.
Thanks to computer vision technologies in the application, chess games are recognized through a camera in a smartphone. The device is fixed in a holder, the camera automatically recognizes the chessboard, while the moves of both players are then displayed on the screen. At the end, games are saved and become available in the idChess application.
What idChess Allows a Tournament Organizer to do?
A special idChess administration panel is created for tournament organizers. Setting up idChess before a tournament does not take much time. The web version of the idChess admin panel allows you to manage tournament broadcasts:
1. Import information about rounds and tournaments from chess-results.com. 2. Create and manage tournament broadcasts. 3. Manage connected smartphones. 4. Edit games while broadcasting. 5. Save and download games in PGN format
What is Needed to use idChess?
There are only three things you need to use idChess.
1. Mobile phone with an installed app 2. App subscription 3. Smartphone holder – any sturdy holder will do. It’s important that it’s strong and does not allow for smartphone shaking above the board.
The idChess app is suitable for inexpensive smartphone models. Technical requirements for a smartphone and holder for the operation of idChess:
• The minimum recommended smartphone system requirements are iOS 11 (or later) or Android 7 (or later), with a working main camera and a matrix resolution of at least 10 megapixels; • 2 GB of RAM and more; • using devices with 64-bit processor architecture is recommend; • devices released not earlier than 4 years ago are recommended
idChess is Already in Africa!
In January 2023, the Zimbabwe World Cup Qualifiers 2023 took place. Games were broadcast
using the idChess platform. Chess events in Ghana were also digitized last year. Furthermore, in October 2022, Elichess October Open Championships and Ghana National Youth Chess Championships
were broadcast.
Want to Join These Organizers?
There is a special offer for organizers who read Africa Chess Media!
Write a request to [email protected] to get free access to the administration panel and a trial subscription to arrange a tournament. The idChess team always keeps in touch. With this, the team can conduct a demonstration and teach you how to use idChess successfully.
1 comment
This is great invocation