CNN
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Magnus Carlsen has been a huge success against only one opponent. And even when he played against more people, the Norwegian showed that he could hold himself.
The five-time World Chess Champion was in the Magnus vs World competition. This allowed the public to test themselves against the greatest player of all time.
And after a 46-day competition, the biggest online chess game ever held, the contest, ended in a draw after 32 moves, according to Chess.com.
“Overall, the world played very sound chess,” Carlsen told Chess.com as the game approaches its end. “You may not be looking for the most enterprising option from the start, but just keep it in your regular chess vein. That’s not necessarily the best strategy, but this time it seemed to work.”
This format meant that it took 24 hours for each side to move. After Carlsen did the opening gambit, Team World voted for what he would do next.
The public was supported by a panel of five coaches, including WGM Dina Belenkaya, NM Dane Mattson, Im David “Divis” Martinez, Im David Pruess and GM Benjamin Bok.
The event shattered records of participation in online chess games and handed over 70,000 sets of previous records for “Vishy vs. The World” last year.
When “Magnus vs. World” began on April 4th, 100,000 signed up to that number over the course of the game, rising to 143,000. According to Chess.com, there was a cast of 508,000 votes and over 30,000 forum comments have been posted in the six-week competition.
“We are excited to see the incredible reception and enthusiasm from the community,” said Sam Copeland, community director at Chess.com.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for players of all levels to compete with the best chess players of all time to propose, discuss and discuss chess ideas. The coordination and collaboration between players has been impressive, and we are deeply grateful that Magnus has been involved in the match.”