Magnus Carlsen forfeits after terrible blunder in $1.5m Chess tournament

Norwegian chess champion Magnus Carlsen forfeited his game against Ian Nepomniachtchi after he accidentally mis-clicked, explaining that in that scenario forfeiting the game was the fairest thing to do for his opponent.

At the age of 22 in 2013, Magnus Carlsen became the world’s second youngest world championship winner. He has since gone on to win various titles, and has certainly become a formidable opponent in the chess world. Along with his insane abilities, he has also provided some bizarre tournament moments for viewers on Twitch, in clips that have gone hugely viral.

Back in September, Magnus was late to a match with opponent Hikaru Nakamura, and when he finally showed up on screen he was hurriedly putting on his shirt, much to the frustration of his opponent and the hilarity of the internet, who loved the awkward entrance. This time round however, Magnus’s error wasn’t so funny, but more frustrating for him and his supporters, after the pitfalls of technology began to rear their ugly head. The commentators looked on in shock as Magnus dropped his Queen in the wrong place, mouths agape as they said “wait, did Magnus just mouse slip?” As they spent a few seconds speculating on how his opponent would respond, Magnus quickly cleared up the uncertainty by almost immediately forfeiting the game.

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When explaining his decision later on, Magnus explained “after I dropped the queen, maybe because he was in shock of what happened. I decided that one thing I don’t want to happen is him to think “should I offer a draw since it slipped and it went in position,” and so on. So I just resigned so he wouldn’t have to make any of those decisions.”

The blunder certainly left fans and announcers alike bewildered, but none more so than Magnus as the avoidable mistake might not have happened if it weren’t for technology. Though, his decision to forfeit the game meant he saved him and his opponent from some tricky decisions.