The Rules

Collect a Grandmaster print and the Hall admits you. Sign in with the email you used at checkout. Your seat follows the work, not the wallet. NFT verification joins shortly after launch.

The Hall stays open for seven days from the drop. Face either Grandmaster as many times as you like, one board at a time. Finish a game, or resign it, before opening another.

Five minutes on your clock, three seconds back with every move. The house answers in about a second and its clock never runs. No draw offers. Draws arrive only by the rules of chess: stalemate, repetition, insufficient material, the fifty-move rule. Resigning is honest and keeps your survival points.

Two house engines, both merciless, difficult in different ways. The Grandmaster is the attacker. She plays for the king, and the sacrifice arrives without warning. The Grandmaster II is the python. He gives nothing, takes no risks, and wins the endgame you did not know you had lost. Beating either is an event. That is the point.

Your score on The Court is the sum of your best ten games.

• A win over the house is 100 points, plus a speed bonus of up to 50. Mate in twenty moves earns the full bonus; slower wins earn less; past fifty-five moves the win stands alone.
• A draw with the house is 40 points. Against these two, a draw is an achievement.
• A loss to the house earns up to 12 points for how long you lasted. Every collector stands on The Court; no pile of losses ever outranks a win.
• Both Grandmasters pay the same. Choose your opponent by style, not price.

Ties break by fewer games played, then by who reached the score first. Play sharp, play early.

The Hall shows who is present, and any collector can be challenged: pick a name from the panel, or search for one. A challenge to someone away from the board waits for them for a day.

• Beating another collector is the richest result in the Hall: 250 points. Only your first win against each collector pays; rematches are for pride.
• A draw between collectors pays 30 to each.
• A loss costs you 40 points, and it is the only way to lose points in the Hall. Challenge with intent. Abandoning a game counts as a loss on time.

Every move you play is written down with its clock. After the window closes, the games are read: every position is replayed through the engine, and engine hands leave engine fingerprints. The final is played at a real board, on camera.

If your games do not survive the reading, your seat passes to the next name. The studio may disqualify any entry, and a disqualified account forfeits every result it touched.

She has seen ten thousand games. She knows which moves are yours.

When the tournament closes, № 1 on The Court takes a limited edition Chess in Slums chessboard. Earned, not sold. The collectors are the court.