Chess player and GGPoker brand ambassador Alex Botez has launched the Spin & Gold ELO Challenge, inviting chess content creators worldwide to compete for a $50,000 prize.
The month-long competition, set to begin in May on GGPoker's platform, aims to explore the crossover between chess and poker skills.
Participants will engage in GGPoker's Spin & Gold poker games, with each assigned an ELO rating to rank their relative skill levels. The individual with the highest ELO rank by 30 May will be declared the winner and awarded the $50,000 prize.
Spin & Gold is a quick format of poker with automatically increasing blinds. This ensures a maximum timeframe, resulting in short, sharp games.
Confirmed participants include Raffael Chess (Brazil), Dina Belenk (USA), Jan Gustafsson (Germany), Eric Hansen, Aman Hambleton (Chessbrahs – Canada), Jose Pepitoperu (Mexico) and Nemo Zhou (Chinese-Canadian).
Botez said: “One of the reasons I am so excited to join GGPoker is being able to share my newfound love of poker with my fellow chess players from across the globe. The traits and skills that make good chess players translate so well into poker that I am sure this will be an incredibly close and exciting competition. I suspect many chess names will move up the poker ranks over the next few years!”
The announcement follows GGPoker's recent initiatives to engage poker enthusiasts globally, including the Road to Vegas series, offering players opportunities to secure seats at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event.
Botez joined GGPoker as a brand ambassador last month.
