The World vs Magnus Carlsen

There have been a few challenge matches in the past that test the solitary genius of one exceptional person against the wisdom of the masses. In these “World v. X” matches, “The World” always comes upon its move by voting: every individual who wishes to participate simply picks their favorite move. A computer tallies those picks, and selects the move receiving the most votes. The September 10th Raw Chess Challenge between teen prodigy and world #1 ranked player Magnus Carlsen and– you guessed it– “The World” features two dramatic differences.

First, the change that will make a very visible impact: the rate of play. Typically the way such a game has been conducted in the past is through a correspondence style of play with at least 1 day per move (for both the World and the challenger). The current match will be played with 1 minute of thinking time for GM Carlsen and 90 seconds for voting. This means the game will take hardly four hours– as opposed to four months. This fast-paced format is being made possible by technology designed by www.chess.com, and will have a serious impact on game play: principally I believe it places a lot of extra pressure on GM Carlsen. At that time control, the possibility of a serious oversight, which could cancel out all his other good play, grows. It also has a big impact on how members of the world team will play the game. In past matches, the long voting period gave people time to discuss their moves at length, and try to generate consensus before voting. With such a fast pace to the game, the ‘consensus’ will be reached by voting rather than by discussion. I think the intensity of operating all-out by one-self, with no safety mechanism to avoid blundering, means that this challenge will be much more difficult for the single player than similar matches in the past.

The next big difference is in the three top-class grandmasters who will be serving as advisors to the world team. In the most famous such match, the Kasparov one, the World team also had several strong players providing advice: Etienne Bacrot, Florin Felecan, Irina Krush, and Elisabeth Paehtz. These were four promising junior players, but the level of advisers for the present game is significantly higher: two up-and-coming players who are already #1 in their respective countries: GM Nakamura of the U.S.A., GM Vachier-Lagrave of France; and GM Judit Polgar, the long-time #2 Hungarian player. All three of these players have been over 2700 level putting them in the absolute top of the world’s players, and have competed against GM Carlsen in tournament play. Before each voting period begins, they will spend 60 seconds thinking about the position, and then their suggestions will be registered on the site; their impact on the game is a bit hard to quantify, but obviously ought to raise the level of the world’s play.

These differences make it harder to predict the result of the game; but probably there is a serious chance of a win, a draw, or a loss– which is what makes it a dramatic challenge after all. Participants in the match will have a chance to compare their chess play level not only with their opponent, GM Carlsen, but with the three super-Grandmaster advisors, Polgar, Vachier-Lagrave, and Nakamura, and with the wisdom of the masses, their fellow voters. Add to that a fast-paced nailbiter of a game; and the excellent commentary of GM Maurice Ashley, and this promises to be not only a terrific learning experience but one of the most exciting chess events to watch in recent history.