Hungarian Brigitta Sinka, 87, clinches world chess record
After spending most of her life playing simultaneous chess, one senior Hungarian pensioner has finally captured a world record established by a 1920s Cuban grandmaster.
Brigitta Sinka Sets World Chess Record
Brigitta Sinka, 87, has spent 60 years playing chess six boards side-by-side. Finally, after close to six decades, she overtook the important 13,545 number, which was first garnered by Jose Raul Capablanca, who passed away in 1942.
Over the weekend, Sinka surpassed 13,600 games and then called it a day. Sinka reportedly maintains meticulous records of her games, particularly after a chess historian informed of her the record in 2010, when she had totaled 9,000 chess games. Sinka has records consisting of when, where, opponent and result of each chess match that is signed by a witness.
She was able to accumulate this number by playing thousands of simultaneous chess games all over Hungary, despite having undergone three heart surgeries in her lifetime. Sinka played at summer camps for schoolchildren, a program sponsored by her employer, a metal recycling firm from the era of Communism.
No Hopes of Slowing Down
"Chess is my life, simultaneous play is my passion. In one hour, I've gone round 30 times, you can count how many metres that is, soon it will be kilometres," said Sinka in an interview with Agence-France Presse (AFP). "I love seeing the twinkle in the children's eyes when they play, chess develops their brains like no other game."
Capablanca had been playing high-speed exhibition chess matches simultaneously for money. Unfortunately, his games, though counted, were never documented by organizations, officials or bystanders. Therefore, the number was never officially taken into account.
Sinka now hopes that the Guinness Records will record this amazing feat as an official world record.
Even with the world record, Sinka doesn't have any plans of stopping in the future. She veen started driving hoverboards or segways latelly!
This news comes as Walter Shawn Browne, a chess grandmaster and six-time United States champion, passed away Wednesday in Las Vegas at the age of 66. He had attended the 50th National Open to compete against fellow chess players. He passed away in his sleep.
Final Thoughts
With millions of people all over the world playing chess, both on-site at chess tournaments or online at coffee shops with Wi-Fi, it would be very interesting if there were genuine records. An individual like Sinka would never have to leave her home and just play chess all day against opponents all over the world at the same time. One could easily break the 13,600 record in perhaps a less amount of time.
