BERLIN (AP) 鈥 Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen is playing a single game of chess against 140,000 people worldwide in a mega-match that could overturn expectations by ending in a draw in the next few days.
Billed as “Magnus Carlsen vs. The World,” the online match began April 4 on , the world’s largest chess website, and is the first-ever online freestyle game to feature a world champion.
While had predicted Carlsen would win by a wide margin, his Team World opposition could force a draw if it checks Carlsen’s king three times.
鈥淩ight now we鈥檙e heading towards a draw by perpetual check," Carlsen said in a statement on Friday. 鈥淚 felt that I was a little bit better, early in the opening, then maybe I didn鈥檛 play that precisely. Honestly, since then, they haven鈥檛 given me a single chance. So now, I think, it鈥檚 just heading towards the draw.鈥
He added: 鈥淥verall, 鈥榯he world鈥 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 鈥 which isn鈥檛 always the best strategy, but it worked out well this time.鈥
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 , 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 .’”
Klein has played, and lost, to Carlsen twice in blitz matches in a hotel bar when the Norwegian was bored during some downtime in a world championship.
鈥淗e beat me twice without much effort, so I would have happily signed up for a draw in any of those games,鈥 Klein said.
Celebrity status
A grandmaster at 13, that few other chess players have.
The 34-year-old became the world鈥檚 top-ranked player in 2011 and has won five World Championships. He achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882 in 2014 and has remained the undisputed world number one for .
Last year, he garnered headlines for in New York after refusing to change out of the jeans he wore to the competition. He later accepted a $200 fine and officials agreed to loosen the dress code.
Carlsen and donated the winning $36,100 bid to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, a national youth-mentoring charity that carries out its mission through local chapters across 5,000 communities nationwide.
Grandmaster vs. The World
This is the third 鈥渧s. The World鈥 record-setting online game.
In 1999, played against more than 50,000 people on the Microsoft Network.
A few top-ranked players helped steer the world's moves, but Kasparov won after four months and hailed it as 鈥渢he greatest game in the history of chess.鈥
Klein was a summer camp chess teacher at the time.
鈥淲e would start class each day by checking out Kasparov鈥檚 next move and talking about it and spending a few minutes each morning deciding what we鈥檇 reply," Klein said.
Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand won his “vs. The World” match last year against nearly 70,000 players on .
The goal of the Carlsen match was to break Anand鈥檚 70,000-player mark, and ended up doubling it.
