Magnus Carlsen makes cameo in BBC Two’s Chess Masters as drop in viewers slows

Magnus Carlsen, pictured last year, is noted for his memory skills. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1, made a cameo appearance via video in Monday’s third episode of BBC Two’s Chess Masters: The Endgame, setting a challenge to memorise a position from a “special” World Blitz game. Viewer numbers, ­supplied by Broadcast, again dropped, but more slowly, from 890,000 in the first episode to 710,000 last week and 655,000 this time.

Carlsen displayed the position after 29…Ka6 of his 2022 World Blitz game with ­Richard ­Rapport.