Israeli breaks Guinness Record for simultaneous chess games
Published:
10.22.10, 08:08 / Israel News
Israeli chess grandmaster Alik Gershon broke the Guinness World Record for simultaneous chess games Friday morning. Gershon played for hours against 523 chess players from all over the world at Rabin Square, Tel Aviv. He beat 86% of the players and was successful in taking the championship title away from Iran.
The Jewish Agency initiated this event in celebration of 20 years of aliyah from Russia. (Shanni Gurkevitch)
CONGRATULATIONS TO GM GERSHON!
By Yoav Lemmer (AFP) – 6 hours ago
TEL AVIV — An Israeli chess grand-master took the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games from the Jewish state’s arch-foe Iran on Friday after a marathon 19-hour match against 523 players.
A Guinness representative confirmed the new record on Israeli army radio.
Alik Gershon, 30, won 86 percent of the games he played against amateurs in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square. He won 454, lost 11 and drew the other 58.
He needed to win at least 80 percent to seal the record, which previously stood at 500 simultaneous games.
As he played his final move on the very last chess board at around 5:30 am (0330 GMT), Gershon shook the player’s hand before raising his arms in victory as the first light of dawn broke over the square.
“It’s a very sweet feeling,” he said after having the record confirmed. “It’s something which we prepared for for a very long time; we couldn’t have failed. I am very, very happy that I made it.”
The tournament had started under the blazing midday sun on Thursday with Gershon shaking hands with every single player as he walked along rows of tables lined with chess boards.
Training for the event, which was sponsored by the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency and the Israeli Chess Federation, was purely physical and included a lot of jogging and swimming, the former Israeli champion said.
“There are a lot of kilometres to walk and you have to stay focused,” he told AFP on Thursday, noting that his Iranian rival, Morteza Mahjoob, walked 40 kilometres (25 miles) to secure his record.
Mahjoob set his record in August 2009 in a feat which took him 18 hours and with less than five seconds for each move.
“Hopefully all our wars against Iran will be on the chess board,” said a smiling Gershon. “For such wars, I am prepared.”
Source: http://www.google.com
Nice.
Who is it in Israeli press that makes this a competition against Iran. That’s totally insane.
We will destroy Iran, on the chess board!
Time to put on those walking shoes again, Susan!
Brad H.