Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen is forced into a draw in a showdown against ‘the world’

Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, left, of SG Alpine Warriors plays against Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Chingari Gulf Titans during Global Chess League in Dubai United Arab Emirates, on July 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

BERLIN — Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was forced into a draw Monday by more than 143,000 people worldwide playing against him in a single, record-setting game.

Billed as “Magnus Carlsen vs. The World,” the online match began April 4 on Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website, and was the first-ever online freestyle game to feature a world champion.

The mega-match ended after Team World checked Carlsen’s king a third time, a stunning outcome after Chess.com had predicted Carlsen would win by a wide margin.

Members of Team World — anyone around the globe could sign up — voted on each move and each side had 24 hours to make their play. Carlsen played the white pieces.

The world forced the draw 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.

‘Very, very sound chess’

Carlsen, 34, became the world’s top-ranked player in 2010 at 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 in a statement Friday as Monday’s draw seemed imminent.

In a freestyle match, the bishops, knights, rooks, queen and king are randomly placed around the board at the start while the pawns are in their usual spots. Freestyle chess is popular because it allows players to be more creative and avoid memorization.

‘We made history’

This was the third “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 his “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 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.”

Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press