By Jon Paul Hoornstra for Newsweek

By his own admission, the decibel level in the arena did not register with Magnus Carlsen as he clinched the inaugural chess championship at the Esports World Cup on Aug. 1.

“I had my earphones on,” Carlsen said, smiling, in a video interview with Newsweek Sports this week, “but from what I’ve heard from others, it was definitely a good atmosphere.”

Here’s what did register: the crowd was divided in an unusual way for a chess competition. Carlsen could see the fans of his own team, Team Liquid, rise and fall with his every move. When Alireza Firouzja of Team Falcons, Carlsen’s opponent for the championship, countered with a strong move, the partisan crowd reacted in unison.

In a way, chess was a natural fit among the other events at the second-ever Esports World Cup (EWC), which concludes this weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Chess is a global game, with a global fanbase, that has been played electronically for years.

In more visceral ways, the introduction of chess in the EWC’s second year represented a clash of cultures: a high-tech stage with neon lights against darkened backgrounds, a live audience featuring thousands of young fans serenading young grandmasters, with a pace befitting a more action-packed video game.

All of this is by design, said EWC Foundation CEO Ralf Reichert. The format consisted of 1- to 2-hour long matches over four days — a sharp contrast from the typical 1970s grandmaster battles held in Soviet-era Moscow, where matches lasted weeks and were held in staid 1,200-seat venues. The hurried pace encouraged mistakes from the top professionals.

“We’ve taken an evergreen game and set it up as a fast, quick-paced broadcast,” Reichert said.

As the Esports industry turned to Carlsen to help break through its cultural bubble, classical chess fans were served a preview of their future — at least in the opinion of the world’s highest-rated player.

“I felt that chess was becoming a sport in a way that it hasn’t before,” Carlsen said of the EWC format. “It was fast-paced. Great production. Very knowledgeable and enthusiastic crowds. I personally have loved the idea of exactly that: crowds being able to be expressive, be loud, and also being a part of something a little bigger, with the Esports World Cup.”

Carlsen took home a cool $250,000, part of the EWC’s massive $70 million prize pool. Firouzja won $190,000 as the runner-up. Hikaru Nakamura, whom Carlsen defeated in the semifinals, won $145,000.

Those are big paydays in the chess world, sufficiently large to attract the game’s brightest stars for four days of the seven-week-long competition. A talented field was an important prerequisite for Carlsen, who said he began discussions with EWC stakeholders late last year.

If the EWC showed the Norwegian star — and the chess community more broadly — the kind of talent and audience its viewer-friendly format can attract, it’s equally noteworthy what Carlsen’s star power accomplished for the EWC.

Steve Arhancet, the CEO of Team Liquid, grew up playing chess. He knew Magnus Carlsen’s name before Carlsen knew his. In recruiting Carlsen to his organization, then watching him win the championship, “I kind of had to pinch myself a little,” Arhancet told Newsweek Sports.

Carlsen, 34, isn’t a gamer by his own admission. More than a hired gun, however, he integrated seamlessly into Team Liquid’s roster for the tournament.

“He showed enough interest to watch Team Liquid play in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang,” Arhancet said. “He sat in the front row to watch a game he doesn’t play.”

Team Liquid entered the weekend trailing Team Falcons, 4900 to 4200. The chess competition effectively served as one step in the march toward the larger purpose of the EWC: crowning a team champion.

Professional gaming as a spectator sport isn’t for everyone. Neither is chess. But perhaps combining them can help the stars of each industry broaden their appeal beyond their own subcultures.

Even still, Carlsen believes it’s fair to expect pushback from the classical chess community.

“Chess players and fans are generally, not really positive toward change a lot of the time,” he said. “But I think there were a lot of people who were skeptical who have already come around, and I think that’s just going to continue in the future because sports are entertainment after all. We want to play serious tournaments but we also want to combine that with being good entertainment.”