Playing 24 hours on a board!

Yes 24 hours! Can you belive? Try to imagine, something like running an ultramarathon... and here it is!

The Chess Blitz Marathon took place in Bruntal 30. - 31. May 2009.

My friend Laky (Tomáš Lakatoš - FIDE elo 2107) and I (Peter Procházka) had decided to accept big challenge and take part in the event. It means that we tried to beat much stronger opponents.

The starting list was full of them (e.g. GM Robert Cvek, GM Petr Velička, IM Pavel Šimáček...).

We started competing at 9:00 am 30. May and finished at 9:00 am 31. May. The Marathon consists of 98 games (each takes 5 min.) and you play against everyone 2 times (with both white and black pieces).

In my opinion, the event was very exciting, but of course hard. Especially staying on the same playing level all the time. Man who found the best way to cope with problems bacame the winner.

After 24 hours, 98 matches, taking 93 points, new champion IM Pavel Šimáček  (pictured) took the gold!

Laky finished on great 13th place and I on average 36th place (50 players overall).

Finally, I am not satisfied with my results, because sometimes I was playing like monkey or without brain. But on the other hand one game outshined everything! In 28th round I met IM Šimáček and I prepared him the first lose! Giving him simple 3 moves checkmate!!! Honestly, I dont know how...