Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw Monday by more than 143,000 players worldwide in a groundbreaking, record-setting online match.
Titled "Magnus Carlsen vs. The World," the game launched April 4 on Chess.com – the largest chess platform globally – and marked the first-ever online freestyle match featuring a reigning world champion.
The epic battle concluded when Team World delivered a third check to Carlsen’s king, defying Chess.com’s predictions of a decisive Carlsen victory.
This was the third record-breaking "vs. The World" online showdown, following Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov’s 1999 match against 50,000 players on the Microsoft Network, which Kasparov 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 age 19 and has won five world championships. He achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2,882 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 the 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 in a statement Friday, as Monday’s draw seemed imminent.
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.
Team World voted on each move, and each side had 24 hours to make their play. 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 could not escape. The rule, called threefold repetition, means all pieces on the board are in the exact same position three times, prompting a draw.
In the Chess.com virtual chat, 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 wrote. “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!!!”
Another added: “Thanks Magnus for such a great game. We made history.”
