Bill Gates Faced Off With Magnus Carlsen in a Chess Battle- Here’s What Happened Next

Published 01/27/2022, 12:34 PM EST

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Crossovers in movies are a very common sight, but how often do you see a crossover in real life? World No. 1, Magnus Carlsen playing chess against one of the richest men on the planet, could be the most amazing crossover ever for every chess fan in the world. 

It took Magnus less than 8 seconds to checkmate the former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates in a game played at a Norwegian-Swedish talk show, Skavlan. It was a Blitz game where the world chess champion got 30 seconds while the American billionaire, Bill Gates, had 2 minutes on the clock before the game began. 

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30 seconds was enough for Magnus

Gates started with the king’s pawn opening and got his knight and bishop out on move 2 and 3. Carlsen retaliated with both knights and a quick Queen development on the board. He then baited his light square bishop and all it took Carlsen to beat Gates was less than 12 seconds. On move 9, Carlsen checkmated the tech billionaire. 

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Even the time limits couldn’t make it a fair fight, but Carlsen admitted that for a quick win he had to compromise on his principle of not using a cheap trick to win. As for Gates, it all happened quickly, and he did little to avoid the defeat.

The talk show was hosted by the Norwegian journalist, Fredrik Skavlan, and Carlsen had been a part of the show a couple of times before. In the show, Gates talked about various philanthropy projects that he is part of and how it’s changing the world. 

PHOTO: ‘Bigger Than Human Size’- Lithuania University Made One of the Biggest Chess Sets Ever

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Chess is not Gates’ strong pursuit

We often link chess with intelligence, and we consider the people who are good at it to be smart. Undoubtedly, Bill Gates is one of the smartest people on earth, but with chess, he is like many other players who do not hold a chance against the world champion.

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If it would have been a software development competition, surely Gates would have won it. Though what is important is the fact that the audience was delighted to witness a game between two world-renowned entities. The talk show video was posted on the official Skavlan YouTube Channel 4 years ago and it has over 2 million views.

Most people love crossovers between the celebrities of different fields as they are entertaining and treat to watch. Which celebrity do you think would give Carlsen a tough fight on the chessboard?

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Written by:

Saurav Panwar

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Saurav Panwar is a US Sports writer at EssentiallySports. A postgraduate in Media and Communication Studies, he shares a profound love for creative direction and filmmaking. Saurav is also an avid reader and a literature devotee whose fandom spreads from classics to sci-fi, non-fiction, plays, comics, and much more.
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