CHESS NEWS BLOG: chessblog.com

USA's Top Daily Chess News Blog, Informative, Fun, and Positive

hosted by Chess Queen™ & 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk

 

Thursday, February 10, 2011

World chess record for biggest simul now by Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami

Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hi everyone,

Speaking of statistics and records, here's the latest: Iranian Grandmaster Ehsan Ghaem Maghami is the new Guinness record holder for most simultaneous chess games. He faced more than 600 players in over 25 hours of simul. Of the total 614 games, Maghami won 590, lost eight and drew 16, walking a total distance of 55 kilometres as he moved from opponent to opponent.

"I am so happy to break the record, but now I have to break my sleep record," AFP quoted Maghami saying. He said a physician, masseuse and a dietician were monitoring him. Ehsan Ghaem Maghami had a special nutrition program and took breaks of five to seven minutes at different intervals.

The race between Iran and Israel began in August 2010. Morteza Mahjoob (Iran) set the record in 500 games, after improving the Guiness achievement of GM Kiril Georgiev. This record was short lived, as the Israeli grandmaster, Alik Gershon, set a new one in October, playing 523 people over 19 hours, beating 454, losing 11 and drawing 58.

Previous record holder Mahjoob said, "Soon I will set a record. The title will remain Iranian since I will have a go at the record in the coming summer. I am determined and I will do it." Alik Gershon does not stand behind and claims, "With some extra efforts I can beat even 1000 players simultaneously."

Despite the harsh race, both sides have a common goal. After setting the record last year Gershon said, "Hopefully, all our wars against Iran will be on the chess board." The new record holder Ehsan Ghaem Maghami commented that the Israel-Iran race is not the main factor here and added, "Let's not talk politics... even if this record was held by another person, I would have gone all out to break it."
You can read a nice report on the record at www.chessdom.com.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com


Labels: , ,

1 Comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home