top 10 chesss records
1. Best match player
William Steinitz played 27 chess matches from 1862 to 1896, and won 25 of the 27. He won 160 games, lost 70, and drew 57
2. Longest game (moves)
The longest tournament chess game (in terms of moves) is 269 moves (Nikolic-Arsovic, Belgrade 1989). The game ended in a draw after over 20 hours of play. 10 games have been 200 moves or over in tournament play.
3. Longest game (time)
The game Stepak-Mashian, Israel 1980 was 193 moves and lasted 24 hours and 30 minutes.
4. Shortest game (moves)
The quickest mate possible in chess is known as Fool's mate (1.g4 e5 2.f3?? Qh4#)
5. Longest world champion
Emanuel Lasker was world chess champion for 26 years and 337 days
6. Biggest winning streak (consecutive wins)
Mikhail Tal played 95 consecutive tournament games without a loss (46 wins and 49 draws) in 1973-1974.
7. Most games played simultaneously
Grandmaster Susan Polgar player 326 opponents simultaneously at a shopping mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida on July, 2005. She won 309, drew 14, and lost 3. Her winning percentage was 96.93%.
8. Oldest chess player
Jane Lady Carew (1797-1901) was a chess player who lived to 104.
As pointed out by Mr. Hugh Brodie on Facebook:
Zoltan Sarosy (Toronto, Canada) turned 107 in August (2013). He was a strong correspondence player, and apparently still follows (and occasionally plays) the game.
As pointed out by one of our readers:
Aaron Schwarzman, an strong argentinian chess player (he was 3rd at the Argentinian Championship 1933 and 1935, and won the international Mar del Plata 1934, lived 104 years.
9. Oldest grandmaster
Arthur Dake (1910-2000) was the oldest competitive chess grandmaster. He was still playing in rated chess tournaments at the age of 89.
Correction: as pointed by one of our readers: GM Enrico Paoli played his last official tournament at the age of 94.
10. Oldest world chess champion
William Steinitz was 58 years, 10 days when he lost his title to Emanuel Lasker on May 26, 1894
