List of world records in chess facts for kids

These are some amazing world records in chess! They were all set in official chess games, like tournaments, matches, or special exhibitions where one player plays many others at once.

Longest and Shortest Games

Longest Chess Games Ever Played

The longest chess game in history was played in 1989 between Nikolić and Arsović in Belgrade. It lasted for an incredible 269 moves and took over 20 hours! The game ended in a draw. At that time, the rules allowed for more moves without a piece being captured, which helped make the game so long.

The longest game that actually had a winner was between Fressinet and Kosteniuk in 2007. Kosteniuk won after 237 moves! It was a rapid chess game, so players didn't keep track of moves as carefully.

The longest game in a World Chess Championship was Game 6 of the 2021 World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Carlsen won after 136 moves, and the game lasted more than 8 hours!

Shortest Chess Games Ever Played

Quickest Wins

The fastest way to win a chess game is in just two moves, called the "fool's mate". It usually happens in casual games when one player makes big mistakes right at the start.

Sometimes, games are lost without any moves being played at all! This happens if a player doesn't show up on time or breaks a rule, like having a forbidden electronic device. For example, Bobby Fischer lost a game in the World Chess Championship 1972 because he didn't show up for Game 2.

In 1970, Oscar Panno resigned (gave up) his game against Bobby Fischer after just one move. He did this to protest the game being rescheduled to a day Fischer preferred not to play on due to his religion.

The shortest serious tournament game between skilled players that ended because of the positions on the board (not a forfeit) was only three moves long! It happened in 1984 between Đorđević and Kovačević. White made a mistake, and Black quickly won a piece, leading White to resign.

Even future world champion Viswanathan Anand once lost a game in only six moves in 1988. He made a mistake that cost him a piece, and he had to resign.

Quickest Draws

Players can agree to a draw at any point in a game. Sometimes, players agree to a draw very early, after only a few moves. This is sometimes called a "grandmaster draw" and can happen if players want to save energy in a tournament or if the game doesn't affect their chances of winning a prize. Recently, many tournaments have tried to stop these very short draws.

Quickest Stalemate

A stalemate is when a player cannot make any legal moves, but their king is not in check. The shortest known stalemate was created by Sam Loyd and happens after just 10 moves. It's a very tricky situation!

Fewest Moves in a Tournament

In a 2003 tournament, Péter Székely drew all 13 of his games, playing an average of only 10 moves per game!

Game Play Records

Latest First Capture

Imagine playing chess for a long time without any pieces being taken! In a game in 1969 between Rogoff and Williams, the very first capture happened on White's 94th move! Another game in 1966 was drawn after 70 moves without any pieces or pawns being captured at all.

Latest First Capture in a Decisive Game

In a game from 1927 between Yates and Znosko-Borovsky, the first capture happened on Black's 40th move. Znosko-Borovsky won this game.

Latest Castling

Castling is a special move in chess where the king and a rook move at the same time. The latest castling ever recorded happened on Black's 48th move in two different games: Neshewat-Garrison in 1994 and Somogyi-Black in 2002.

New Ideas in Openings

"Theoretical novelties" are new, strong moves discovered in the opening part of a chess game. The book 1000 TN!! The Best Theoretical Novelties lists many of these. The earliest one in the book happened on White's fourth move in a game between Karpov and Miles in 1978. The latest happened on Black's 34th move in a game between Shulman and Marin in 2009.

National Records

Countries with the Most Grandmasters

After the Soviet Union split up, Russia now has the most grandmasters. In November 2018, 229 out of 1645 grandmasters were from Russia.

Cities with Many Grandmasters

In 2005, Reykjavík, Iceland, had a very high number of grandmasters compared to its population. With eight grandmasters living there, it had one grandmaster for every 14,000 residents!

Most Rated Players

As of November 2018, Germany has the most active players with an official FIDE rating, with 11,813 players. Russia is close behind with 11,313.

Strongest Chess Team Ever

Many people believe the USSR team at the 1958 Olympiad (a big team tournament) was the strongest ever. It included four world champions (Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, and Tigran Petrosian), a world championship challenger (David Bronstein), and Paul Keres, who was a top player.

Tournament Records

Perfect Tournament Scores

It's very rare for a player to win every single game in a top chess tournament. Some amazing examples include:

• Emanuel Lasker winning 13 out of 13 games in New York in 1893.
• José Raúl Capablanca winning 13 out of 13 in New York in 1913.
• Bobby Fischer winning all 11 games at the US Championship in 1963/64.

William Lombardy is the only player to get a perfect score (11-0) in the World Junior Chess Championship in 1957.

Vera Menchik won four Women's World Chess Championship tournaments in a row with perfect scores, winning a total of 45 games!

Most Tournament Wins

John Curdo holds the record for winning the most tournaments. When he passed away in 2022, he had won an incredible 1,009 tournaments!

Most National Championship Wins

As of 2017, Carlos Juárez has won the Guatemalan Chess Championship 27 times! That's a lot of national titles.

Biggest Win in an Interzonal Tournament

An Interzonal tournament is a big event where players try to qualify for the World Championship. Bobby Fischer had the biggest winning margin at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal in 1970. He scored 18.5 points out of 23 games, which was 3.5 points ahead of the players in second place!

Most Games Won in a Tournament

Gustav Neumann won all 34 of his games at the Berlin tournament in 1865, a perfect score!

Most Games Lost in a Tournament

Nicholas MacLeod lost 31 games in a single tournament in New York in 1889. He was only 19, and it was a very long tournament. Another player, Colonel Moreau, lost all 26 of his games at Monte Carlo in 1903.

Losing All Games on Time

Sometimes players lose games because they run out of time on their chess clocks. Friedrich Sämisch famously lost all 15 of his games at the Büsum 1969 tournament and all 13 of his games at the Linköping 1969 tournament because he ran out of time.

Most World Champions in One Tournament

The Nottingham 1936 chess tournament had five past, current, or future world champions playing: Max Euwe (the champion at the time), Alexander Alekhine, Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, and Mikhail Botvinnik. This record was matched in two other tournaments in the 1970s.

Largest Tie for First Place

In a tournament in Las Vegas in 2000, 13 players all tied for first place with the same score!

Highest Performance Rating in a Tournament

A "performance rating" shows how well a player performed in a specific tournament. The highest known performance rating is 3103, achieved by Karen H. Grigoryan when he won all 9 games at a tournament in 2019. At the top level, Fabiano Caruana had a performance rating of 3098 at the 2014 Sinquefield Cup.

Longest Time Thinking About a Move

Before chess clocks were common, players could take a very long time to think. In 1980, Brazilian International Master Francisco Trois spent 2 hours and 20 minutes deciding on his 7th move in a game! He later said he didn't understand why he took so long for just two possible moves.

Match Records

Perfect Scores in Matches

Some players have won every game in a match against another player:

• Howard Staunton won 7-0 against Daniel Harrwitz in 1846.
• Wilhelm Steinitz won 7-0 against Joseph Henry Blackburne in 1876.
• Bobby Fischer won 6-0 against Mark Taimanov in 1971.
• Fischer also won 6-0 against Bent Larsen in 1971.

Most Draws in a Match

In the World Chess Championship 2018 between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, all 12 of their regular games ended in draws! The winner was decided only in faster tie-break games.

Playing Records

Most Consecutive Wins Against Masters

Bobby Fischer won 20 games in a row against top players during his journey to the World Championship in the early 1970s. This included two perfect 6-0 wins against Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen.

Wilhelm Steinitz had an even longer winning streak of 25 games over nine years, from 1873 to 1882!

Longest Unbeaten Streak

The longest time a top player has gone without losing a game is held by Magnus Carlsen. He played 125 games in a row without a loss between 2018 and 2020! This streak included 42 wins and 83 draws. Before him, Ding Liren had an unbeaten streak of 100 games, and Mikhail Tal had 95.

Rating Records

FIDE, the international chess organization, started using the Elo rating system in 1970 to rank players.

Highest Rating Ever

The highest rating ever achieved is 2882, by Magnus Carlsen. He reached this amazing number in May 2014 and again in August 2019.

Carlsen also reached an unofficial "live rating" of 2889.2 in April 2014, which is even higher!

Largest Rating Lead

In July 1972, Bobby Fischer's rating of 2785 was 125 points higher than the second-highest player, Boris Spassky. This was the biggest lead ever recorded. Garry Kasparov's biggest lead was 82 points, and Magnus Carlsen's was 74 points.

Longest Time as Number One

Garry Kasparov was the world's highest-rated player for a record 255 months (over 21 years)! Before the rating list, Emanuel Lasker was considered the best player for 292 months.

Age-Related Records

Youngest World Champions

• Youngest undisputed world champion: Garry Kasparov, who won the title in 1985 when he was 22 years, 6 months, and 27 days old.
• Youngest FIDE world champion: Ruslan Ponomariov, who won in 2002 at 18 years, 3 months, and 13 days old.
• Youngest Women's World Chess Champion: Hou Yifan, who won in 2010 at 16 years, 9 months, and 27 days old.

Youngest Grandmaster

The youngest player to become a grandmaster is Abhimanyu Mishra. He earned the title in 2021 when he was just 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days old!

Oldest Grandmaster

Some players have been given the grandmaster title later in life to honor their past achievements. The oldest person to receive an honorary grandmaster title was Enrico Paoli, who was 88 years old in 1996.

Other players have earned the title by winning the World Senior Chess Championship. The oldest to do this was Yuri Shabanov, who was 66 when he won in 2003.

Oldest Players in a Match

In 2014, Grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi (born 1931) played a match against Grandmaster Wolfgang Uhlmann (born 1935). Their combined age was 162 years, which is likely a record for a match between grandmasters! In 2015, Korchnoi played Mark Taimanov (born 1926), and their combined age was 174!

Youngest Player to Beat a Grandmaster

On January 11, 2024, Leonid Ivanović, who was 8 years, 11 months, and 7 days old, beat Grandmaster Milko Popchev in a tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.

Oldest Player to Beat a Grandmaster

In 2015, Mark Taimanov was about 89 years and 9 months old when he beat Viktor Korchnoi in a rapid game. The oldest known player to beat a grandmaster in a regular tournament game is Anthony Saidy. In 2019, at 82 years and 1 month old, he beat Grandmaster Vladimir Belous.

Simultaneous and Blindfold Records

Best and Worst Results in Simultaneous Exhibitions

In a simultaneous exhibition, one player plays against many opponents at the same time. In 1922, World Champion José Raúl Capablanca played 103 opponents at once, winning 102 games and drawing one! This is considered the best result ever in a large simultaneous exhibition.

Former World Champion Garry Kasparov had an amazing performance in 1998 when he played against four Israeli grandmasters. He scored 7-1, which is incredible against such strong players.

The worst result by a master was in 1951, when International Master Robert Wade played against 30 Russian schoolboys (aged 14 and under). He lost 20 games and drew 10!

Most Games in Blindfold Exhibitions

In a blindfold exhibition, the player doesn't look at the boards. The record for most games played blindfold is 48, set by Timur Gareyev in December 2016. He played 48 opponents over 20 hours, winning 35 games!

Most Players in a Multi-Simul

On December 24, 2010, 20,500 people played chess simultaneously in Ahmadabad, India! World Champion Viswanathan Anand was there and took part.

Most Simultaneous Games Played by One Person

On February 8–9, 2011, Iranian grandmaster Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami played against 604 players over 25 hours! He won 580 games, drew 16, and lost 8.

Writing Records

Longest-Running Chess Column

Leonard Barden wrote a daily chess column for the London Evening Standard newspaper for over 54 years, from 1956 to 2010! It then continued online until 2020, making it a total of over 63 years!

|