How many people does it take to defeat a chess grandmaster at their own game? Turns out, more than 143,000. Magnus Carlsen’s match against the world ended in a draw Monday.
The match — which featured Carlsen taking on players from Chess.com — lasted 46 days.
The contest was dubbed “Magnus Carlsen vs. The World,” and began April 4. It was a freestyle game of chess, meaning every piece except pawns are randomly positioned on the board. Carlsen played as the white pieces, and kicked the game off. Chess.com players could then vote on the next move. Both sides each had 24 hours to make a play.
In the end, Chess.com players put Carlsen’s king in check three times in the same position, forcing a draw. It was quite the upset for “the world.” Coming into the match, Carlsen was considered a heavy favorite to win.
Carlsen, 34, felt he played well early in the match, but his opponents took advantage of small mistakes, and didn’t give him an opportunity to get back into the game, per The Guardian.
“I felt that I was a little bit better, early in the opening, then maybe I didn’t play that precisely,” Carlsen said. “Honestly, since then, they haven’t given me a single chance.”
Playing Carlsen to a draw is quite the accomplishment, even if it took 143,000 to make it happen. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Champion and has held the No. 1 position in the International Chess Federation’s ranking since 2011.
The match marks the third time a chess grandmaster has played against “the world” online. Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov and Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand both won their previous events.
While Carlsen didn’t wind up with the victory, he did break a record. The 143,000 people who showed up to face Carlsen were the most ever to face a grandmaster in an online match. Carlsen more than doubled the record, as Anand faced 70,000 players in his match.
