Magnus Carlsen is vastly successful against just one opponent. And even when he came up against many more, the Norwegian showed he can hold his own.
The five-time world chess champion was competing in the ‘Magnus vs. The World’ competition – an online chess match which allowed the public to test themselves against arguably the greatest player of all time.
And after 46 days competing, the contest – the largest online chess game ever held, according to Chess.com – ended in a draw after 32 moves when the public forced a threefold repetition in a queen endgame to earn a half-point for either side.
“Overall, the World has played very, very sound chess,” Carlsen told Chess.com as the game came to a close. “Kind of from the start, maybe not going for the most enterprising options, but keeping it in the vein of normal chess. It’s not always the best strategy, but it seemed like it worked fine this time.”
The format meant that each side had 24 hours to make a move. After Carlsen made his opening gambit, Team World voted on what it would do next.
The public was aided in its endeavor by a panel of five coaches, including WGM Dina Belenkaya, NM Dane Mattson, IM David “Divis” Martinez, IM David Pruess and GM Benjamin Bok.
The event shattered the records for participation in a online chess game, passing the previous record of 70,000 set for the ‘Vishy vs. The World’ last year.
When ‘Magnus vs. The World’ began on April 4, 100,000 had signed up with that number rising to 143,000 over the course of the game. According to Chess.com, there were 508,000 votes cast and more than 30,000 forum comments posted over the six weeks of competition.
“I’m thrilled to see the incredible reception and enthusiasm from the community,” Sam Copeland, Chess.com’s head of community, said afterwards.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for players of all levels to suggest, discuss, and debate their chess ideas in competition with the greatest chess player of all time. The coordination and collaboration among the players were impressive, and we are deeply grateful to Magnus for his participation in the match.”
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