BERLIN (AP) — Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen is playing a solitary match of chess In opposition to 140,000 participants globally, this massive event might challenge predictions by concluding with a tie in the coming days.
Dubbed "Magnus Carlsen vs. The World," this online competition started on April 4th on Chess.com, the globe's biggest chess platform. It marks the inaugural online freestyle event featuring a world champion.
Although Chess.com anticipated that Carlsen would emerge victorious with a significant lead, his team of World opponents might secure a tie if they manage to check Carlsen’s king thrice.
“Right now we’re heading towards a draw by perpetual check," Carlsen said in a statement on Friday. “I felt that I was a little bit better, early in the opening, then maybe I didn’t play that precisely. Honestly, since then, they haven’t given me a single chance. So now, I think, it’s just heading towards the draw.”
He added: “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.”
As a freestyle match, the bishops, knights, rooks, queen and king are randomly shuffled around the board while the pawns remain in their usual spots. Freestyle chess is popular because it allows players to be more creative and avoid memorization.
Team World votes on each move and each side has 24 hours to make their play. Carlsen is playing the white pieces.
“For most of the world, it is their first chance to say they’ve played a chess game against Magnus Carlsen,” Mike Klein, senior journalist with Chess.com, told The Associated Press. “I think ‘the world’ is going to be kind of tickled pink to be able to say, 'I was part of a draw against Magnus Carlsen .’”
Klein participated in, and lost, two blitz match games against Carlsen at a hotel bar when the Norwegian was idle during a break period of a world championship event.
"He defeated me both times with minimal effort, so I would have gladly settled for a tie in either game," Klein stated.
Celebrity status
A grandmaster at 13, Carlsen enjoys celebrity status that only a handful of other chess players possess.
In 2011, at age 34, he claimed the title of the world’s top-ranked chess player and has since secured victories in five World Championships. He reached the peak of his performance with a record-breaking chess rating of 2882 in 2014, maintaining his status as the uncontested world number one ever since. more than a decade .
Last year, he made headlines for quitting a tournament In New York, after declining to change out of the jeans he wore for the competition, he eventually accepted a $200 fine. Officials then decided to relax the dress code policy.
Carlsen sold the jeans at an auction for charity and contributed the winning $36,100 bid to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, a national youth-mentoring charity that operates through local branches in over 5,000 communities across the country.
Grandmaster vs. The World
This marks the third "versus The World" record-breaking online game.
In 1999, Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov competed against over 50,000 individuals via the Microsoft Network.
Several highly ranked players guided global efforts, yet Kasparov emerged victorious after four months and declared it "the most spectacular match ever played in chess."
At the time, Klein worked as a chess instructor at the summer camp.
"We would begin each class by examining Kasparov’s subsequent move, discussing it, and taking a few minutes every morning to determine our response," Klein stated.
Last year, Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand triumphed in his "versus the World" match on Chess.com, defeating approximately 70,000 participants.
The aim of the Carlsen match was to surpass Anand’s record of involving 70,000 players, ultimately managing to double this number.
Stefanie Dazio, The Canadian Press
