Carlsen mates Bill Gates in 79 – seconds!

by ChessBase
1/25/2014 – Reuters reports that the world's best chess player took just nine moves to beat the world's second richest man. World Champion Magnus Carlsen got 30 seconds to Bill Gates's two minutes on the clock. Magnus baited the hook in a fashion one might expect at these time controls when taking the disparity in strength into account. Here is video and the moves of the game.
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Read the full Reuters story here

The program was recorded on Wednesday in London. You can watch it here:

It took the world's best chess player one minute and 19 seconds to beat the world's second richest man

[Event "London, Blitz - 2 min vs 30 sec"] [Site "?"] [Date "2014.01.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Gates, Bill"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B00"] [Annotator "Keitz,M"] [PlyCount "18"] [SourceDate "2014.01.24"] 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bd3 {This move isn't totally without merit, but its low frequency - with a total of zero grandmasters having played it - is not a shock.} Nf6 4. exd5 Qxd5 {Surprisingly, according to our database this position had been reached twice before - in 2006 and 2011.} 5. Nc3 Qh5 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Ne5 $6 {Of course, Let's Check heavily favours White after the bishop sacrifice. But the strain of a lightning pace for someone who probably doesn't play much took its toll.} 8. hxg4 Nfxg4 9. Nxe5 $4 {White lets mate slip in the pursuit of further material gains.} Qh2# 0-1

Although commentators were assessing the Microsoft founder as a pure beginner, it seems more reasonable to conclude that Gates is a decent class player that fumbled under strain. Carlsen, for his part, baited the hook in a fashion one might expect at these time controls when taking the disparity in strength into account.

"When you are not smart?" Fredrik Skavlan asked Bill Gates. "When I play chess against him," responded the Microsoft founder, nodding towards Carlsen. "Want to try?" asks Skavlan. "The outcome is a foregone conclusion, responded Gates.

Skavalan is one of Europe's largest talk shows, offering in-depth and earnest interviews with some of the world's most famous politicians, musicians, thinkers and stars. Airing primetime in Norway (NRK), Sweden (SVT) and Denmark (DR2), Skavlan has an almost unchallenged audience market share, with around three million viewers per show. It is hosted by Fredrik Skavlan, a Norwegian journalist known for his focused yet sympathetic style dealing with a wide range of topics. Some of Skavlan's guests include: Kofi Annan, Alicia Keys, Jon Bon Jovi, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Kevin Costner, Taylor Swift, Nicole Kidman, Bill Clinton, Jay-Z, Lionel Richie, Shakira, The Killers, Sir Ben Kingsley, Robyn, Tom Jones, Jada and Will Smith, Tony Blair, Yusuf Islam, Desmond Tutu and Richard Dawkins. Skavlan is recorded in front of a live studio audience mainly at Stockholm's SVT Studios, with some exceptions at the BBC and ITV Studios in London. The talk show is produced by Monkberry, a TV production company with offices in Oslo and Stockholm.

Michael von Keitz

Topics: Bill Gates, Magnus Carlsen
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