After 225,000 Chess.com players cast 987,000 votes, posted 51,000 forum comments, and made 41 moves, IM Levy Rozman delivered checkmate as The World finally fell on Saturday during Thanksgiving weekend, bringing an end to Chess.com’s GothamChess vs. The World, the largest online chess game ever played.
“I just beat The World by playing the Caro-Kann Defence and by sacrificing the rook! If there was ever an accusation of scriptwriting, as if all of this could be some professional wrestling style stuff, now I would welcome it,” Rozman said in his video recap of the game.
I just beat the world by playing the Caro-Kann Defence and by sacrificing the rook!
—IM Levy “GothamChess” Rozman
I have defeated the world at chess. pic.twitter.com/BKgSY0UGa0
— GothamChess (@GothamChess) November 30, 2025
GothamChess, who said before the game that his goal was to “avoid embarrassment and put on a solid, respectable performance,” added: “I am super-proud of this game. I think e5 is one of the coolest moves that I have had the chance to play in a long time.”
You can watch GothamChess’ full analysis of the game in his recap below.
The community “Vote Chess” match began on September 30 and it did not take long before it became clear that it would make history as the largest-ever online chess game. Two days in, the game had already surpassed the previous record of 143,000 opponents set by GM Magnus Carlsen with Magnus vs. The World. Just 20 moves into the game, it reached 200,000.
The final total: 225,054 players, a new world record.
NM Sam Copeland, Chess.com’s Head of Community, is excited about the event: “Congrats to Levy on a fun win and a new record! GothamChess vs. The World was a special opportunity for so many who have learned from Levy to match wits against him as he employed his trademark Caro-Kann Defense and “The RoooOOOOoooOOok” sacrifice!”
Chess.com’s NM Dane Mattson, who provided analysis and insight for the community together with WIM Ayelen Martinez, said: “This record-breaking match will be a memorable experience for all involved. It was an honor to work with so many dedicated and passionate members of the community. The game didn’t go our way, but Gotham treated us with what he does best—making chess fun, entertaining, accessible, and instructive.”
The game didn’t go our way, but Gotham treated us with what he does best—making chess fun, entertaining, accessible, and instructive.
—NM Dane Mattson
Mattson has analyzed the game below:
Rozman unsurprisingly opted for his trademark Caro-Kann Defence, where he was able to steer the game into solid territory after the opening moves. Mattson said the community initially tried to avoid a theoretical slugfest and focused on “simple, reasonable development.”
After a series of trades left the position stable, enthusiasm for exchanging pieces took over. “Once we gained a taste for capturing, the team discussion was unable to dissuade the voting majority from capturing fever,” Mattson joked. “Apparently, the only cure, as Christopher Walken might say, is more capturing.”
Once we gained a taste for capturing, the team discussion was unable to dissuade the voting majority from capturing fever.
—NM Dane Mattson
The first major crossroads came on move 15, when Rozman played the provocative 15…Nb6, eyeing White’s c4-pawn. Coaches urged a quiet developing move, Qc2, but the community vote nearly committed the losing thrust 16.c5?. The team narrowly avoided disaster with 16.b3—but only temporarily.
On move 17, the floodgates opened: 17.c5? was finally voted through, a move Mattson described as “the same instructive positional error, on the same square,” as the famous mistake in Magnus vs. The World. Rozman’s knight jumped into d5, seizing the outpost and the momentum.
That was a setback, but The World was able to fight back when Mattson and Martinez rallied players behind the creative 18.h4!, breathing new life into the position. It was a move that won the vote by only 17 votes!
Things started to get messy when The World fell right into Rozman’s trap with 21.g4?, to which he responded with the brilliant 21…e5!.
Rozman’s rook sacrifice on h5 was only temporary as The World was forced to give up their queen a few moves later to avoid immediate checkmate.
After the dust had settled, The World had slipped into a lost endgame with Rozman’s queen against The World’s rook. More importantly, he could play for checkmate against the exposed king. After chasing the king around, the checkmate was inevitable on move 41.
“The sequence was very fun to calculate. Notice how in the last seven moves of the game, I hunted the king from g1 all the way across the board. This is like a lion chasing its prey,” Rozman said in his recap.
“Although we ultimately succumbed to incredible voting enthusiasm that wasn’t influenced by the team discussion, I am thankful for the positive interactions and memorable moments that invite us to reflect and grow both as individual chess players and as a community,” Mattson summed up.
This is the third time the world record for largest-ever online chess game has been broken on Chess.com. Before Carlsen, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand held the record after defeating nearly 70,000 players in Vishy vs. The World in 2024, an event organized as a tribute to GM Garry Kasparov‘s historic 1999 match against 50,000 players online.
