Carlsen beats The World - photos added

Magnus Carlsen beat The World, led by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura and Judit Polgar, in the G-Star RAW World Chess Challenge on Friday in New York. After reaching a positionally difficult position the World Team put up a stiff resistance but, in his aggressive but controlled style, Magnus emerged the winner in 44 moves and 2.5 hours. Update: photos added.

The G-Star RAW World Chess Challenge took place yesterday at the Penthouse of the Cooper Star Hotel in New York City, as part of G-Star’s global Fall/Winter advertising campaign. Carlsen played in a room with a physical chess set and a clock, and a butler entered the moves played by The World on the board.



The World team was led by three GMs: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from France, Hikaru Nakamura from the United States and Judit Polgar from Hungary. They played behind a computer and in the online application on the website, the moves they wanted to play were shown, after which registered viewers could vote.

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GM Maurice Ashley provided live commentary together with Garry Kasparov. More info here.



Unfortunately the game was decided already around move 12, due to some inaccurate moves from The World in the opening - a g3 King's Indian. Polgar used a nice analogy to explain the lack of consistency during the opening phase. "It was like cooking with too many chefs, who all wanted to use different spices."

Magnus Carlsen vs The World RAW World Chess Challenge, New York, 2010

Game viewer by ChessTempo
Just before the end of the game Liv Tyler arrived at the scene.





After getting taken many "beauty shots" by a big crowd of photographers, she joined commentator Maurice Ashley on stage for a moment. She told him she needs a good chess set, because at the moment she only has a Star Wars and Lord of the Rings set. "I'll trade the Star Wars set," said Ashley.

Tyler was especially impressed by the setting in which Magnus was playing, with skyscrapers in the background, only the word 'RAW' on his shirt and the chess set below the frame. "Magnus looks amazing," said Tyler.



She revealed that she likes to play chess every now and then. She also gave a nice description of the photo shoot with Magnus on the top floor of a building in Miami earlier this year. "He had never done a photo shoot before. It was very hot, like a hundred degrees, and we had to wear these thick winter coats. But Magnus was cool as a cucumber."

Ashley then asked her: "Did he teach you some moves there?" whereupon Tyler answered: "What kind of moves do you mean?" :-)

The website of the event already has a nice wrap-up video, looking back at the game and giving comments by the players, Ashley and Kasparov. Here's a good selection of photos. On September 14th Carlsen will take up another challenge. Then he will be part of a real fashion show, which will also be attended by Liv Tyler.

Photos thanks to Susan Polgar