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Actor Woody Harrelson was in London for the start of the World Chess Championship between Grand Masters Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Harrelson thought he would have eased the tension of the 12-game match with a little joke at the first-round ceremony – the chess version of a first pitch or puck, by and large. Instead, it left almost everyone puzzled.
Caruana was playing the white pieces, so he had the first move. When Harrelson moved the queen counter – 1.d4 for those who scored at home – he overthrew the Caruana king, which is too dramatic a sign of surrender. The gag did not land with the dry crowd. Harrelson moved the wrong man, everyone clenched his hand awkwardly, then he went back to the board to fix his mistake.
Harrelson said tipping the king was intentional, but it ruined everything. Caruana wanted to open with the king's pawn (1.e4). The challenger consulted an official, who reset the board, because even the failures could not be so stifled by such a meaningless blunder. This had no effect on the game itself, which ended in a draw after seven hours. Over the next two weeks, Woody will not be able to mess with 11 other competitions.
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