The big controversy in the game of Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja at the World Blitz 2019 

For everyone asking for an explanation/commentary on what had happened: Rule is: if you run out of time, and your opponent could've checkmate you in ANY possible way, you lose... however if your opponent couldn't checkmate you in any possible way (he doesn't have enough chess pieces to do so like a king and a knight) it's a draw. 1:00 - 1:24 Alireza was running out of time (look at the left side of the clock that represents his time) with around 5 seconds remaining after every move vs. 18 seconds for Carlsen.... Because he kept smashing the board and dropping pieces unnecessarily, he eventually lost a few precious seconds every turn until he ran out of time completely 1:24.... The first argument was, since Alireza ran out of time, is it a draw or a win for Carlsen? (Is there any possible way for Carlsen to checkmate Alireza and win the game). Edit: fun fact, I believe Alireza and Carlsen himself thought it was a draw 2:16 !!! To everyone's surprise, the referee calls the game a win for Carlsen! The computer simulator 4:27 showed that there is one possibility for Carlsen to checkmate Alireza (which in reality would almost never happen, why would Alireza promote a pawn into a knight and not a queen unless he was very very stupid?) But rules are rules, 1- Alireza ran out of time + 2- there was a possiblity for Carlsen to checkmate Alireza = Carlsen won the game Now, Alireza, already mad at himself thinking he drew the game that he was so close to actually winning and beating the mighty Carlsen, completely lost his mind (and a little bit of his dignity) when he heard he ended up losing the game!! First he argued how is a checkmate possible 1:32 .........Then, at 4:45 he asked the officials to show him the rules book to confirm that by the rules, he lost....after he saw that with his eyes at 5:29, this is when Alireza hit a new low and started lying that Magnus talked to him in Norwegian at the very end which distracted him and made him ran out of time....(it seems he didn't know the match was recorded on camera)... Alireza (desperate and truly pathetic at this point) proceeded with filing an official appeal 9:00 and it looks like it was instantly trashed by the committee ... And that was it..gg!

Me on every chess video: watch entire video and go straight to comments to find out what just happened

Magnus invents a chess move. "Auditory Hallucination Attack" where the opponent starts hearing foreign languages.

Me: watches 2 recommended chess videos RU-vid: this is your life now

It's blitz bro. You have two opponents, and one of them is the clock.

When your opponent is so powerful that you start hearing things...

May 1st I’ve been in quarantine for 54 days, I’ve started watching chess videos. I have no idea what’s going on ever and yet I still sit here watching two guys move blocks around for 13 mins straight.

Maybe he wouldn’t lose by time if he didn’t bulldoze the board three times.

Everyone's gangster until Alireza asks for the rule book and the Arbiter pulls out a 1500 year old scroll

Imagine getting close to Alireza and whispering "U mad bro?"

I understand this guy. When I lose online matches I also complain about the other player speaking aloud

”You can never win with only king and bishop” Magnus: Hold my water bottle

Ever since Matt Damon grew his beard, everyone finds it difficult to beat him in chess.

I thought that was really Sneaky the Way Magnus Cheated on this game. When Magnus shouted- 'LOOK, THERE'S ELVIS! and everybody turned out to look for Elvis and then when everybody was looking he took his Opponent's Queen- I thought that was very Sneaky of Magnus.

Carlsen concentrated so hard his thoughts entered Alireza's head.

When he mentioned the rulebook, i was expecting a big, old, dusty book.

Carlsen has created the incredibly ability to speak in his native tongue without moving his mouth. Truly incredible.

3:02 Vidit gujrathi spotted

Camera man: "let's follow this kid around and see if he throws some more temper tantrums"

i find it more distracting when the kid was throwing his pieces around knocking everything over.

he was the guy who flipped the figures all over the places but complaining about concentration issues- what a jokr

I love how cool headed Magnus is and even thinks it's a draw, what an honorable dude.

Carlsen so deep in his head he was talking Norwegian to him telepathically 😂

"Magnus started speaking in Norwegian and it disturbed him" magnus was indeed summoning Odin to open the gates of Valhalla because he was about to send a sacrifice 😂😂

let's be honest, alireza acted like a clown. but let's also be honest, we all were young clowns at some point, just haven't been recorded and watched by 5 million people

Magnus: Alireza: omg dude stop speaking norwegian

4:53 Giri telling the arbiter that Magnus also spoke Norwegian to him during his game XD

I was more disturbed by buddy knocking over all the pieces.

He was the kid who always reminded the teacher about the homework

Magnus is so smart that he knows where to put the piece so his oponents has a hard time moving pieces.

I broke out laughing so hard when the simulation showed the possible checkmate. You have got to be kidding me 😂

Carlsen curses for half a second The game continues The game continues The game continues The game continues The game continues Firouzja drops his pawn The game continues Firouzja tilting one pawn which now it stands on 4 squares at the same time The game continues Firouzja knocks down the king Firouzja loses on time Firouzja accuses Magnus of disturbing him...................................... ...........

After this, the kid went home and smashed all his Lego toys.

The sentence "Magnus started speaking in Norwegian and it disturbed him" is hilarious.

0:38 - he moved the king so hard it shook the camera.

Why is there a freaking jet engine in the background during the interview ? It’s louder than the mic ...

“The Chief Arbiter is summoned” *halo music starts playing*

This isn't even a debate, Magnus didn't say anything in the last seconds.

Hey he is just 17 here or even less... Let's not forget how we were ... I can understand his pain...how its feel...even while playing online if we lose winning positions then we know how it feels like...and here the man is "Carlsen"...what we accept from kid...and he was not polite but atleast was calm...

me on every chess video: "I have no idea what is happening but i'm still going to watch the whole thing because it's so enternaining..."

Alireza: I don like to loose by time when I am clearly winning. Rules: Tough isn't it?

They can be world class players, but that doesn't take out the fact that he's just a child in the process of learning to lose

His " could I speak to your manager" headass

We've all behaved in ways we regret when we were 16. The only difference with Alireza is that for him it happened very publicly and now he has been immortalised as having shaky hands (as if he's the only chess player who knocks pieces over in a time scramble), not knowing rules (even Magnus thought it's a draw because he only had a king and bishop and we're so used to that being an automatic draw), being histrionic and lying (as if none of us ever got upset and handled ourselves poorly).

I think the kid doesn't realize that he was being recorded the whole time.

1. People coughing 2. You can clearly hear clocks from other tables 3. You can also hear cameras too 4. Yes Magnus sweared but seeing all other stuff i doubt his concetration suddenly dissapeared 5. He spent more time knocking pieces around and distracting Magnus with it

This is how super villains are made

After (1) requesting the rule book and (2) filing a hand-written complaint, Alireza returned a third time to aSk To spEaK tO tHE MaNaGEr!!!

Magnus actually says: fair result is a draw That says a lot about his fairness

Magnus: About to win Alireza: But....but i was starting to hear the norwegian boss music

If your concentration can be shattered when you hear your opponent muttering something under his breath, chess is not for you.

The kid was flustered. We’ve all been flustered before. He just happened to be observed by millions of people. I’m sure he learned his lesson.

he lost the game because he spend a lot of time when he dropped his pieces several times

“hE waS tAlkIng” I’ve heard better excuses in a playground wtf

I heard he was speaking in Klingon saying :”your time is almost out. Stop dropping pieces” in between his breathing

Most of the young GMs/IMs (especially around 16- 21 years old) do really have a huge ego. Most of them would really not think about the way they say as long as it could gain something in their favor. Even if it's idiotic, they would try their best to win. It's hard to accept defeat in a match where you clearly (pieces speaking) ahead of your opponent but lose because of time. It was his fault tho, smashing pieces maybe because of panic.

He didn't even wanted to shake hands, such a bad loser..

I think he should file another complaint saying that magnus paid the pieces to keep falling intentionally

He was a good chess player untill he filed a false complaint...

Completely fair decision. Ali reza could have just made random moves instead of running out of time. It would eventually end in a draw by insufficient material.

So guy lost cause of time, then tries to complain that his opponent was talking and that distracted him which his opponent never said a word. He lost on time cause he kept fumbling his pieces and now he is being a sore loser.

Eveyrbody is focusing on the content ofc but I sincerely appreciate the amazing work the camera man has put! It's like a horror movie, recorded by hand camera. Keep up the good work:)

Alireza: "Show me the rule in the rulebook!" Arbiter: Shows rule. Alireza: Arbiter: Alireza: "He spoke Norwegian!" Appeals Committee: gtfo

Carlsen said something at 11:39 in the video and the game ends at 13:30 , meaning they played well over 2 mins after that and Alireza had 8secs at that point carlsen had about 3, so Alireza gained way more time over the period but lost it when he slammed pieces , which is why his appeal was dropped because he lied he had only 2 seconds and that made him lost the game. It one thing to feel angry or depressed that you screwed up your winning opportunity (we have all been there). He had the right to ask for a rule book which he did , but after even been proved wrong he went on to look for another excuse,if he’s qualified to be a super gm he’s qualified to know better. it’s another thing to accuse your opponents to try and get him penalized just to win, Magnus understood his frustrations afterwards but Alireza saying because magnus swore that distracted him?? Common there are noise of flash lights more distracting than that going on in the background. Note: In a game we aren’t robots , you’re allowed to sigh or make a frustrating remark about yourself as long as it’s not unruly or throwing bottles in the air during the game, and the video shows magnus didn’t say anything when he had 2 secs left

If you watch closely, he runs out of time because he keeps knocking pieces around. He took too long to pick his final move back up and ran out of time. As well, Magnus never says a word while it's happening.

He is such a young kid. He is just disappointed that he lost a chance to beat the world's best player. He will learn to be more graceful in defeat as he grows older. I wish him all the best.

Man saw the 2 girls at 4:02 and tried to look tough

0:22 my cousin told me if i knock down a piece acidentally it should be move out of the board, i just found out that it was a lie till this day

What I learned from this video was that Alireza's handwriting needs some work

I'll see you all in 10 years when RU-vid recommends this again.

Magnus knew he wouldn’t promote to a knight but also knew this little tournament trick.

bro shout out to the camera man! homeboy was all in there.

Magnus saying "You should've gone for the head" in Norwegian

Guy almost beats Carlsen and he doesn’t know the rules of chess. Fascinating.

I will say the rules were kinda broken, because Carlsen because there was ONE possibility of checkmate only if Alireza would promote pawn to knight which is not something he would feasibly do but the rules are rules But even Carlsen before everything started was like the fair result would be a draw, but he won because of one small thing But then Alireza just does the dumbest move he's played, not in chess but in life

You're a legend if you don't know chess but still enjoy watching this..

Anish Giri played a good cameo in this footage.

That was a pure rage appeal, not a single sound was made by Magnus in the final moments. Congrats to the triple champ!

11:38 i think Magnus said "Faen altså" which basiclly means "Damn it"

Anish Giri: could you show me my last victory? I believe it was a draw

4:49 thats the time Anish Giri tries to draw a game that even isn't his own game. Such a legend

One can mention the calmness and professionalism of the arbiter in a tense situation. Good job !

Some people in the comments are saying that Alireza lied to arbiters after he was shown the rulebook. Alireza did in fact not lie! At 11:39 Magnus was very upset and said something loudly, upon after moving, you can see Alireza shift in his chair, that focus intently on the position, he definitely broke his concentration there, and even if for a split second, that is huge. And you may say well he had 8 seconds left when that happened, well on his own next move right before he hits the clock at 11:43, before the 2 second increment his clock hit 4 seconds. So nothing about his statements made were in fact incorrect/false/lie. Should he have stopped the game and called an arbiter? Maybe. But it doesn't help your chess career to call the arbiter on the #1 chess player and most influential chess person in the world to bring up the fact that he may have uttered something? Probably not. It is also very hard to ask someone to do that in the heat of the chess battle in a time scramble/endgame to have that. Also, I bet people would have said that he called the arbiter to have extra time to solve the endgame quickly or some way to discredit the win. Now did he act childish in slamming the water bottle to the floor, getting angry at arbiters, questioning them? Sure. But he was 16 years old and I won't judge someone's character in a single moment of frustration. He didn't hit anyone, curse at anyone, or do anything that would lead anyone to say he "lost his dignity". People need to get off their high horses and realize the chess community, arbiters, everyone involved coddles Magnus because he is their golden child and one of the biggest helps in promoting chess to the world. Even till this day, all it takes is a single Magnus tweet of 30 words to change events policies.

Bad display of sportsmanship from Alireza.

No mater how he felt he could have shake Magus's hand.

Alireza was actually hearing boss music

It looks like he had eight seconds left when Magnus made that gesture or sound not two or three like he said. It's just a little kid being upset he lost when in reality it's only because he was being a clumsy donkey knocking over pieces

4:51 Anish Giri getting denied is the best cameo I've seen in 2020

Excellent coverage of this tournament. Setting new standards in chess reporting. Thank you.

Alireza Firouzja mistake summary: 0:21 knocks over piece, Incredibly distracting for Magnus! 0:45 Leaves a pawn in the middle of nowhere for 2 moves, Magnus gets OCD attack! 1:21 Makes his king commit suicide But the mistake was that he forgot to premove😂😂

Tell me I am wrong, Magnus is so intelligent that he knows he can push to find all the best moves, but instead he moved his bishop back and forth like a dozen times just to gain clock to put more pressure on Alireza seeing that he is nervous and fumbling the pieces which in turn is eating at his clock.

"He started speaking norwegian and distracted me because he was too sexy"

Alireza claimed that Carlsen was speaking Norwegian "loudly" which caused him to lose concentration. Did anyone see Carlsen speak "loudly"?....

Its blitz. people lose on time literally every other game. It doesnt mater if he was winning.

World champ will not participate in World Cup as he is tired of winning. Which is true. Also World Champ: couldn't resign a lost position out of humility. With time people get humble. Waiting for him to do so. I am also a fan of him.

Hats off to Chess Base India for every behind the scene detail! Edit: I make chess videos in Hindi feel free to check them out! 😇

This is no real controversy, the kid is just whining. Actually quite embarrassing...

Dude’s like: “find the rule where you can’t speak Norwegian when I have 2 seconds on the clock”

Actually, before his final move during which clock went to zero, Alireza had a winning position! Instead of Kg4, only winning move is g6! But instead, with 3 seconds on the clock, he moved his king, overturned it and lost on time :) Amazing

If he kept quiet he would have been known as the person that almost defeatet the champ, but since he threw a tantrum that is what people will remember...