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Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian Grandmaster (GM), who is the world number one, was held to a draw by more than 143,000 players in the largest online chess game ever held on Chess.com website. Billed as the Magnus vs. The World game, the players from all over the world managed to hold their own against one of the greatest chess players of all-time, and after 32 moves, the contest ended with a threefold repetition in the queen endgame.
Notably, as per the report published in Chess.com, there were 100,000 players, who started the largest online chess game ever against Magnus Carlsen, but at the end of it, the number soared to 143,000 after six weeks of action. It is understood that about 508,000 votes were casted in regard to the moves on the behalf of The World apart from forum comments in excess of 30,000 being posted in the online communities.
Overall, The World has played very, very sound chess: Magnus Carlsen
The format of the Magnus vs. The World game was Freestyle Chess (Chess960) wherein the back-rank pieces are at random, and it was quite a pulsating one from start to finish. During his interview to the Chess.com website, when the contest was reaching its end, Magnus Carlsen was appreciative of the players in The World for competing exceedingly well from start to finish, keeping him in check right throughout.
Former world champion was quoted as saying about the contest, “Overall, The World has played very, very sound chess. 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.” Meanwhile, the Magnus vs. The World game created a new participation record in the contest of its kind, beating the 70,000 mark set last year during the Vishy vs. The World game.
