Magnus Carlsen will take part in a charity event on November 15th organised by the Real Madrid Foundation and chess24. The 12-hour event, hosted by GM Pepe Cuenca and IM David Martínez, will feature star guests, chess for all levels and a lot of fun. At a press conference on Wednesday 28th October, the World Chess Champion played a game against Real Madrid ambassador and former player and manager Santiago Solari.

Magnus Carlsen is a passionate football fan and a spectacularly good Fantasy Premier League player who finished 10th out of over 7 million players in last season's competition. His football team is Real Madrid, and as World Chess Champion he's twice got to kick off a game, even if the commentators haven't always known who he was! 

The presentation in advance of the charity event saw chess24's Pepe Cuenca and David Martínez (Divis) visit the auditorium of the Real Madrid Sports City, where they were welcomed by Argentinian football legend Santiago Solari. 

Pepe Cuenca served as the presenter and interpreter of the event before giving the floor to Santiago, who spoke about the connection between football and chess, "games of strategy, where you have to dominate space". He also mentioned that Real Madrid had a chess team where Grandmaster Arturo Pomar (1931-2016), Spain's first grandmaster, played. 

Then Divis took the floor to explain what the festival will be like on November 15th. It will take place on chess24 between the hours of 11:00 and 23:00 CET, with proceeds going to the Real Madrid Foundation’s social sports schools. The intention is to show how attractive chess can be to a wide audience.

Finally a game was played between Santiago Solari and Magnus Carlsen (blindfold), where it turned out Santiago was better at chess than he’d told our experts!

Solari was interviewed by Real Madrid TV and talked about things chess and football share, as well as giving his impressions of playing against Magnus. 

It was a fun day that served as an introduction to the big event on chess24 on November 15th, when everyone is welcome! 

See also:

• The Real Madrid Foundation