Berlin – BERLIN (AP)—Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was forced to a draw Monday by more than 143,000 people around the world playing against him in a record-breaking single game.
Analyzed as “Magnus Carlsen vs. the World,” the online match began on April 4 on Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website, and was the first online freestyle game to feature a world champion.
The mega match ended after Team World checked Carlsen’s King for the third time, a surprising result after Chess.com predicted Carlsen would win by a wide margin.
This was the third online “vs. the World” game. In 1999, Russian Grandmaster Garry Kasparov played against over 50,000 people on the Microsoft Network and won after four months.
Last year, Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand won his “Vs. The World” match against nearly 70,000 players on Chess.com.
Carlsen, 34, became the world’s top-ranked player in 2010 at the age of 19 and has won five world championships. He achieved a highest chess rating of 2882 in 2014 and has remained the undisputed world number one for over a decade.
“Overall, ‘The World’ has played very, very solid chess from the start. Perhaps not going for the most enterprising options, but keeping it more in line with normal chess is not always the best strategy, but it worked well this time,” Carlsen said in a statement Friday as Monday’s draw appeared imminent.
Because it was a freestyle game, the bishops, knights, rooks, queen, and king were randomly dragged around the board while the pawns remained on their usual spots. Freestyle chess is popular because it allows players to be more creative and avoid memorization.
Team World voted on every move, and each side had 24 hours to make its move. Carlsen played the white pieces.
The world won on move 32 after checking Carlsen’s king three times in the corner of the board where it couldn’t escape. The rule is called “triple repetition,” meaning all pieces on the board are in the same position three times to trigger a draw.
In the Chess.com chat room, players appeared divided over whether to force the draw and claim glory, or continue playing against Carlsen, even if it ultimately meant a loss.
“Don’t draw! Let’s keep playing Magnus,” wrote one user. “This is an opportunity that won’t come again. I’d rather play the master to the end and see if we can fight another 20 or 30 moves!”
Another added: “Thank you Magnus for such a great game. We made history.”
