World No 1 Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw in an online “vote-chess” match by 1.4 lakh people who took him on in a freestyle chess game played on Chess.com. The game had started on April 4, and ended on Monday after a perpetual check on Magnus Carlsen’s king. By the time the end came, both sides had five pawns and the queen and king left standing with other pieces having been eliminated.
In case you’re wondering how Magnus Carlsen took on 1.4 lakh people — 1,43,496 players to be precise — at the same time, here’s how: Carlsen’s opponents played by voting on the app. The move which got the most votes was then played. Each side had 24 hours to make a move. Magnus Carlsen was playing with white pieces.
How Magnus Carlsen vs held to draw by The World
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Chess.com had predicted that Magnus Carlsen would win by a wide margin. In a post publicizing the game, Chess.com had the following answer to the question, Will Magnus Carlsen beat the entire world?: “Yes, almost definitely. And by a wide margin. He is, after all, the best player in the world. Magnus vs. The World is less about winning and more about seizing the rare opportunity to participate in something bigger and be a part of chess history. It’s also about the fun of telling your friends that you’ve played against Carlsen himself.”
It appears that the 1,43,496 players will be able to tell their friends a little more than that: they will be able to brag about the time they held one of the greatest players in the history of the sport to a draw.
“I felt that I was a little bit better early in the opening. But honestly, since then, they haven’t given me a single chance,” Carlsen had told Chess.com a couple of days back. “I would say overall The World has played very, very sound chess.”
The world is SO CLOSE to drawing against @MagnusCarlsen 😲 pic.twitter.com/FqhqKSN7WQ
— Chess.com (@chesscom) May 17, 2025
The online vote-chess game was modelled on the lines of two previous games: In 1999, chess legend Garry Kasparov played against over 50,000 people on the Microsoft Network and ground out victory after four months. Then, earlier this year, Chess.com organised a similar game, called Viswanathan Anand vs The World. Here the five-time world champions from India faced off against nearly 70,000 players on Chess.com.
