IMAGE: This is the first-ever online freestyle game to feature a World champion. Photograph: Michał Walusza/FIDE
Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw by more than 143,000 people worldwide playing against him in a single, record-setting online game, on Monday.
Billed as ‘Magnus Carlsen Vs The World,’ the online match started on April 4 on Chess.com is the first-ever online freestyle game to feature a World champion.
The contest ended after Team World checked Carlsen’s king for the third time, trumping all predictions that Carlsen, who played with white, would emerge as an easy winner.
As per the rules, the Team World players voted before each move and each side had 24 hours to make their play.
Team World won on move 32 after checking Carlsen’s king three times in the corner of the board where it could not escape. The rule is called ‘threefold repetition’, meaning all of the pieces on the board are in the exact same position three times to prompt a draw.
Carlsen, 34, became the World’s top-ranked player in 2010 aged 19 and has won five World Championships. He achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882 in 2014 and has remained the undisputed World No 1 for more than a decade.
‘Overall,
the World has played very, very sound chess from the start. Maybe not going for most enterprising options, but kind of keeping it more in vein with normal chess — which isn’t always the best strategy, but it worked out well this time,’ Carlsen said on Friday.
Because it was a freestyle match, the bishops, knights, rooks, queen and king were randomly shuffled around the board while the pawns remained in their usual spots. Freestyle chess is popular because it allows players to be more creative and avoid memorization.
This was the third ‘Player Vs The World’ record-setting online game. In 1999, Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov played against more than 50,000 people on the Microsoft Network and won after four months.
Last year, Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand won the ‘Vs The World’ match against nearly 70,000 players on Chess.com.
In the Chess.com virtual chat this week, players appeared split on whether to force the draw — and claim the glory — or to keep playing against Carlsen, even if it ultimately meant a loss.
‘Don’t Draw! Let’s keep playing Magnus,’ one user said. ‘This is an opportunity that won’t come along again. I’d rather play the Master all the way to the end and see if we can battle it out another 20 or 30 moves! Let’s have some FUN!!!’
Thanks Magnus for such a great game. We made history,’ said another user.
