Simul record back to Iran

One could hardly imagine anything more peaceful than a simultaneous chess exhibition, but it looks like political enemies Iran and Israel have turned the area into a fierce battlefield. It was only four months ago that Israeli GM Alik Gershon played a simul over 523 boards in Tel-Aviv, breaking Iranian GM's Morteza Mahjoob's August 2009 record of 500 boards. Last week GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami from Iran took up the gauntlet and set a new new world record of 604 boards.

World Record 604 Board Simultaneous Chess Exhibition by GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (IRI)

Report for FIDE.com and other media by Casto Abundo

GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, 9-time Iran national champion, set a new world record of 604 boards for Simultaneous Chess Exhibition by an individual. The simultaneous exhibition took 25 hours from 8th to 9th February 2011 at the sports stadium of the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran.

He broke the 2009 record of 500 opponents set by Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob who scored 88.4%. Last year, Israeli GM Alik Gershon reportedly took on 523 opponents with an 86% result.

The opening ceremony at 10am was attended by Iran Sports Minister Dr. Saeed Lou, Iranian Chess Federation President Mohammed Jaffar Kambuzia, Asian Chess Federation Deputy President Casto Abundo, who was the official FIDE Observer, and some well known Iranian sportsmen. The main sponsor was Ansar Bank. There was a festival atmosphere and all players received T-shirts of the event, a book on the Ehsan Ghaem Maghami-Karpov match, official ID card, the chess set and board on which they played, food and drink.

Some 1,500 registered on the official website and the first to come had the honour of being part of history. Of the field of 604 participants, over half were adults. One fourth were women who were seated separately, and most children were seated together. All players recorded their moves on score sheets.



With all players at their boards, GM Ghaem Maghami began play at 10:20 am on 8th February. At around 2 pm there was a lunch break for all with players remaining at their boards. The record was assured at 6 am the next morning of 9th February as GM Ghaem Maghami achieved the 80% minimum score after beating 484 opponents.

The last games ended 11:25 AM on 9th February. After 25 hours, the final results were 580 wins, 16 draws and 8 losses for a total score of 588 out of 604 or 97.35 percent. Ten more boards were added which he won but which were not counted for the record.

Chief Organizer of the event was IA/IO Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh. Chief Arbiter was Hamid Reza Pour Shahmari assisted by Deputy Arbiter IA Najib, six Senior Arbiters and 48 national arbiters.

Players ranged from 5 to 85 in age, many coming from outside Tehran. The event enjoyed massive media coverage all TV stations with more than three hours live coverage.

Interestingly, Casto Abundo's report doesn't mention the word 'Guinness' at all. However, it's safe to assume that that's what the Iranian chess federation was after: to win back the Guinness record as quickly as possible.