After crumpling to a mess on the floor under the table, Chen brazenly stuck his paddle up while still sitting on the deck.
His opponent, with the entire court to aim for, sent his smash straight into Chen's proud paddle at the perfect angle and speed for the ping pong ball to rebound off perfectly onto the other side of the table almost out of reach of the stunned aggressor.
His opponent's sliding reach for the dipping ball then dropped onto the side edge of Chen's half of the table — snatching the point away from Chen.
It's now become the scene for heated debate from table tennis commentators, who have pointed out that Chen would have had the point stripped from him because the viral video shows him clutching the surface of the table with his free hand.
Table tennis rules forbid players from touching the playing surface or net configuration with any part of their hands before making a return.
However, the umpire, spectators and even players on a nearby court were quick to dismiss the small technicality in the face of pure magic.
It's something we'll never see again.
"There was no doubt luck," Chen said, according to Norway's NRK.
"It's once in a lifetime and I'm unable to do that again.
"I'm 99 per cent sure.
While, reports from around the globe have claimed Chen actually won the point, he confirmed to NRK that his opponent was awarded the point.
Still, after more than one million views, there are no losers here.
"I really did not think anything," he said.
"I lay under the table and thought the ball was lost. So I just did something I thought was fun. Amazingly, he hit my racket.
"I heard a lot of applause, and then I realised it was happening. It was insane."
For the record, Chen recovered to take the match three sets to love. But he's won so much more than a local amateur table tennis match.
