TL;DR: for "lolz".
Actually, it's not that long and a light-hearted read. It is nice to see a bit of humor inserted into what is only a game.
Actually, it's not that long and a light-hearted read. It is nice to see a bit of humor inserted into what is only a game.
None of the players had anything to win as both qualified already. So in order to hide their preparation they both played a wacky opening and straight into 3 fold repetition draw. And both had a bit of laugh about it.
The idea is to try and provoke games happening, even if the players come to the table wanting a draw (someone can still botch their opening!). Ultimately though, if GMs want a draw, they'll get it.
This is somewhat pedantic, but 3-fold repetition is not automatically a draw (at least not according to FIDE rules). A 3-fold repetition allows either player to claim a draw, but it doesn't allow an arbiter to declare a draw if neither player claims it. Only a 5-fold repetition allows someone other than the players to declare a draw.
They were both laughing like hell when they were playing and they both had nothing to lose.
Hikaru had been playing that move a lot recently for content in his media channels, Magnus being the cool guy that he is, played that move against him for lulz.
In the end, they both had fun, the viewers had fun and new funny article and videos were created about this game.
People: it's just for fun, not everything needs to be a classical serious thing all the time.
Just sit back and take some hits from the good ol bongcloud.