Carlsen and Nakamura dazzle Barcelona with blindfold chess present at ICE Gaming 2026

Press launch by FIDE

The world’s number-one and number-two chess gamers headlined ICE Barcelona with a uncommon exhibition match performed completely from reminiscence, joined by GothamChess for commentary, perception and fan interplay.

Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, two of the world’s most famed chess grandmasters, made a particular look on Tuesday at ICE Barcelona 2026, the International Casinos & Entertainment Expo. One of the world’s largest iGaming and gaming-tech commerce reveals, ICE attracts tens of hundreds of execs from the worldwide gaming and tech industries.

The spotlight of the occasion hosted by BETBY was a blindfold chess exhibition sport between Carlsen and Nakamura, a format through which each gamers compete with out seeing the board, relying purely on reminiscence and calculation. To one of the best public data, this was the primary publicly staged blindfold head-to-head between the world’s No. 1 and No. 2.

Playing for enjoyable in Barcelona, Carlsen was anticipated by many to play the Catalan Opening however the world’s No.1 as an alternative started with 1.Nf3. Nakamura responded with the stable Agincourt Defence for the 15-minute sport. The Norwegian tried to confuse his opponent with a double fianchetto setup, manoeuvring his knights aggressively and ultimately successful a central pawn. But Nakamura had “seen” far forward and, on the proper second, sacrificed a bishop to drive a perpetual test.

“The Internet’s chess teacher”, Levy Rozman, offered stay play-by-play commentary, explaining strikes and techniques to greater than 100 spectators and making the match accessible even to informal observers. Known on-line as GothamChess, Rozman is an American International Master, content material creator and commentator who produces every day chess content material throughout platforms. On YouTube alone, he lately surpassed seven million subscribers.

A fireplace chat with all three visitors coated matters akin to strategic pondering, psychological self-discipline and the evolution of chess as each a sport and a digital leisure medium. Spectators from all around the world got uncommon perception into the minds and approaches of elite chess gamers.

Reflecting on how chess has developed over the previous 5 – 6 years, Nakamura stated that whereas he had beforehand centered virtually solely on his enjoying profession, he started investing severely in content material creation in 2019, and because the pandemic, it has grow to be his essential skilled focus.

Carlsen famous that he has been recognised much more extensively in recent times, including that since early 2023, chess “just kept showing up in everybody’s algorithms”. He additionally identified that the pandemic modified the chess world: the main target has shifted away from purely classical codecs towards a extra numerous panorama through which velocity chess, fast and blitz occasions have grow to be way more well-liked.

In addition to the blindfold match and dialogue, the occasion featured interactive exhibition video games, giving spectators the prospect to play in opposition to Carlsen or Nakamura in brief, enjoyable matches. All three masters performed a number of blitz video games, a lot to the delight of the viewers.

All out there video games

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Video webcast

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