Anichess lets public stakers into its OG pool ahead of the move to Base

In Brief:

• Anichess (official site) said its OG staking pool is moving from Abstract to Base in early November. For the first time, players who weren’t original members can qualify.
• To qualify, a player must stake at least 10,000 $CHECK in the public pool by 00:00 UTC on Tuesday, Oct. 20, and keep it there for 14 days.
• The OG pool is the last major piece of the game still to leave Abstract. Igloo Inc. plans to take that chain offline on Dec. 15, 2026.

Anichess is opening its OG staking pool to new players as part of the pool’s move from Abstract to Base.

The team announced the change on X. Players who stake 10,000 or more $CHECK in the public pool by 00:00 UTC on Tuesday, Oct. 20, and leave it there for 14 days will be added when the OG pool moves, which the team put at the “top of November.”

“the OG pool is moving from Abstract to @base, and this time the door opens a crack for everyone,” the Anichess account posted.

What the OG pool offers

Until now, the pool, branded Queen of Time, has been limited to players from Seasons 1 through 4 and holders of Ethernal NFTs. Those players got a permanent 5x multiplier on Checkmate Reign emissions.

The latest announcement described the pool only as “OG pool = boosted M8, multiplied.” It didn’t say whether the 5x figure will carry over to Base or apply to new entrants.

The 14-day holding period runs to about Nov. 3 for anyone who stakes right at the cutoff. Anichess didn’t give an exact migration date beyond early November. It also didn’t say what happens to stakers who unstake before the 14 days are up.

The public pool, called the Timewish Fountain, is open to all players and is already live on Base.

Why staking matters

Staked $CHECK earns M8, the game’s non-transferable points. Players can also earn M8 by completing 15 Standard matches a week, with the amount depending on rating class.

Holding M8 gets players into the Checkmate Arena, a weekly draw that picks 50 players at random. Each winner gets at least 500 $CHECK. The more matches a player plays, the better their odds of being selected.

Leaving Abstract

The OG pool is moving because Abstract is shutting down. Igloo Inc., Pudgy Penguins (official site)’ parent company, plans to take the chain offline on Dec. 15, 2026. Funds still on Abstract after that date will become inaccessible.

Igloo funded Abstract for 18 months and lost tens of millions of dollars on it. The network had more than 400,000 users and over 325 million transactions.

“We could no longer justify taking from the Pudgy Penguins PENGU $0.007622 ▼ -4.8% business,” Igloo CEO Luca Netz said.

Anichess has been unwinding its Abstract setup for most of 2026. Players had until 23:59 UTC on Sept. 7 to opt in to moving their M8 to Base. The deadline to claim accumulated M8 from both staking pools was 23:59 UTC on Sept. 13.

The team has told players to move their stakes and bridge any $CHECK off Abstract, whether it’s staked or sitting idle, before the shutdown.

Back where it started

Anichess first launched on Base in April 2025. Staking moved to Abstract after the game adopted $CHECK as its native token on Nov. 13, 2025, after a phased rollout that started Nov. 12.

Under that setup, Abstract handled staking, claims and M8 accrual. Liquidity and trading stayed on Base through Aerodrome Finance. Tokens claimed at launch were automatically staked in the OG pool so holders started earning M8 right away.

$CHECK has a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens, and 59.38% is set aside for ecosystem growth and player rewards. The token went live for trading on Coinbase on April 2, 2026.

Anichess is a joint venture between Animoca Brands and Chess.com.

Once the OG pool moves, staking, claims, liquidity and trading will all be on one network again, after almost a year split across two. In its own notice to players, the team kept the explanation short: “Abstract is winding down. Anichess already lives on Base, so your games carry on exactly as they are.”