Christian Pulisic Has an Odd Pick for His Favorite Chess Piece: ‘Something That I Think Is Really Cool’

American soccer star Christian Pulisic, who plays for Premier League club Chelsea, isn’t just good at soccer. In fact, it seems that Pulisic is quite adept at the game of chess, too.

The 23-year-old star, who also received the nickname ‘Captain America’, battled a ten-year-old version of Magnus Carlsen. Pulisic did it to contribute to the Play Magnus Charity Challenge and as it turns out, he wasn’t bad at all!

Moreover, he even seemed to be right on the edge of victory, before it slipped away from his hands.

Christian Pulisic reveals his favorite chess piece after battling ten-year-old Magnus Carlsen

Christian Pulisic really brought his A-game when he went up against the virtual version of Magnus Carlsen. After all, you don’t win the Man of the Match title without impressing the world.

In fact, Christian lasted all of twenty-five moves against the app. However, towards the end, he only had two minutes left, which led to his defeat.

Then, Pulisic revealed that he does indeed have a favorite chess piece on the board. Christian, who is a brand ambassador for apparel giant Puma, revealed that he has an image of a bishop on the back of his Puma boots.

“I do have a bishop on the back of my boots,” Christian Pulisic said. “It’s just something that I think is really cool,” he continued. Then, he also expressed how having a bishop on the back of his boots feels good to him.

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Of course, there has to be a reason for Pulisic to be so infatuated with the bishop. However, if there is, it certainly eludes the soccer player. “I don’t think there’s a specific reason,” he explained.

“I don’t know why- the look of it, or the way it moves, I just like the bishop,” Pulisic expressed.

Three-time British champion amazed by Pulisic’s chess

David Howell, who is a three-time British chess champion, praised Christian Pulisic’s effort. Howell was commentating on the charity match and was delighted to see Pulisic fight as well as he did.

He praised Pulisic for “stopping every single threat that Magnus is creating”. While Carlsen’s app version kept pushing pawns on Christian, the soccer player kept blocking them.

“I think this is one of the best games we?ve seen from anyone challenging Play Magnus, Magnus aged 10,” Howell raved on. Moreover, he also stated that had there been five minutes left on the clock, he would have banked on Christian.

Howell even admitted that Pulisic put up a better performance than he did!

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