World Champ Draws Match vs World!

In what was surely one of the most gruelling simuls of GM Viswanathan Anand's career, the World Champion played 20 boards at once with one of those boards belonging to... the World!

The 19 "in person" players' ratings ranged from 1800-2350+ USCF; however, his toughest opponent was represented by a computer screen - the glass veil separating the Champ from over 5000 chess lovers here at Chess.com! Previous Vote Chess Matches would suggest the World's average playing strength to be somewhere north of 2650+ FIDE. And in this instance, the combined power of many was enough to match the world's best!

Though the game ended in a slightly disappointing (to some of the spectators) repetition of moves, the actual "clock time" of the game was nearing 4 hours of play! It was clear Anand wanted to win - but in the end, the prospect of 22. h3 may have seemed too dim to justify an even longer struggle toward an uncertain end - especially in one of the very last active games of a demanding simul. 

By repeating with 22.Be2, Anand gave us the benefit of the doubt, and gracefully granted over 5,000 Voting Chess.com Members a draw:

The entirety of the match was covered live on Chess.com/TV by host IM Daniel Rensch, along with co-hosts GM Pentala Harikrishna and Jason Stoneking (aka "ThePoet"). IM David Pruess provided on-site interviews with simul participants, as well as assisted with the relaying of moves. A full video of the broadcast will be available in the archives within 48 hours!

A final thanks must once again go out to Metropolitan Chess, Inc as well as the many other sponsors who helped bring World Champion Viswanathan Anand to Los Angeles for this event!