'I don't think I'll try this game again': Can Magnus Carlsen, world No 1 chess player, beat a 'noob' with 30 Queens?

Few have dominated chess the way Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen has for more than a decade now. Not only is the 34-year-old the highest-rated player of all time, he has also occupied No 1 spot on the FIDE Standard ratings list continuously since 2011, a year after he moved to the top for the first time.

Carlsen is also a five-time Classical world champion, and the only reason he does not have more world titles in the format is because of his declining interest in the version of the game that has existed for more than a century.

So what happens when Carlsen faces off against a streamer who knows little about chess – and is in other words, a ’noob'?

One would normally expect the Norwegian to demolish such opponents in his sleep, to say the least. But what if said ’noob’ had special powers granted to him that allowed him to spawn up to 30 queens on the board and make move two pieces per turn?

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Such a scenario did play out recently during a friendly showdown between Carlsen and professional Call Of Duty player and streamer Kenny Williams, a.k.a. KuavoKenny during the Esports World Cup in Riyadh.

World No 1 faces off against a ’noob’ in a unique chess showdown

Carlsen and Williams played a series of five games, the former playing as white on each occasion. While Game 1 was a regular three-minute blitz showdown, the latter got special benefits in each of the remaining games.

The world No 1 needed to move just four pieces – the King’s pawn along with a rook, a knight and the queen – to clinch the opening game. He managed to virtually clear out Williams’ backline with his queen, and had his opponent’s king cornered for a checkmate when the latter ran out of time.

Game 2 allowed Williams to move two pieces per turn. And the first thing he did with this special power was losing his queen in the very first move! And despite capturing a lot more pieces this time, Williams once again ran out of time on the clock.

Game 3 had the most bizarre scenario imaginable in chess – Williams starting with 30 black queens, almost as if he had activated a cheat code of sorts like some would in CoD.

“I cannot defend it. Basically lost in one move,” Carlsen said after starting with an e4 opening, his pawn promptly captured by one of Williams’ 30 queens. The chess supremo, however, took the liberty to move two pieces in his opening move – moving his King’s pawn (e3) and knight (Ng1f3) which gave him a fighting chance in the impossible scenario.

Williams, meanwhile, was loving it. “I’m feeling great right now. I can see the frustration. I love it,” the 26-year-old said as he kept making one capture after another. And in the end, in a rare occurrence in the chess world, Carlsen did get checkmated on the board instead of resigning, though he did capture 14 of Williams’ queens and had a rook left on the board at the time of his defeat.

“I don’t think I’ll try this game again, cause it’s so miserable to play against so many queens,” Carlsen said after the game.

Game 4 had the normal layout on the board instead of 30 queens, but Carlsen started with just 30 seconds with no increment on the clock compared to three minutes for Williams. And Carlsen still managed to beat the CoD pro on the clock despite the sizeable handicap.

Carlsen highlights his brilliance in Game 5

As for the fifth and final game, Carlsen had 30 pawns on the board compared to the normal layout for his opponent. And for a moment, it seemed as if Williams would cruise to victory once he managed to breach the pawn structure towards Carlsen’s side of the board with his queen and began cleaning house.

To make matters worse for the Norwegian, he also managed to promote one of his pawns, and had two queens on the board.

Carlsen had introduced himself as the “best chess player in the world” before Game 1. And he lived up to those words in Game 5 more than any other.

Carlsen needed to promote one pawn to turn the tide in his favour, and he ended up promoting two. And with two queens on the board, it was only a matter of a few seconds before he checkmated Williams to win the series four games to one.

Watch the full battle between Magnus Carlsen and Kenny Williams here: