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Chess tournament ar Rabin Square
Photo: Reuters

Israel vanquishes Iran... on chess board

Chess grandmaster Alik Gershon takes Guinness record for simultaneous chess games from arch-foe after marathon 19-hour match against 520 players. 'I'm tired but insanely satisfied,' he tells Ynet

An Israeli chess grandmaster took the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games from the Jewish state's arch-foe Iran on Friday after a marathon 19-hour match against 520 players.

 

A Guinness representative confirmed the new record.

 

Alik Gershon, 30, won 86% of the games he played against amateurs in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. He needed to win at least 80% to seal the record, which previously stood at 500 simultaneous games. 

 

The tournament began under the blazing midday sun on Thursday with Gershon shaking hands with every single player as he walked along rows of tables lined with chess boards. It ended at 7 am Friday, with Gershon scoring 454 victories, 58 ties and 11 defeats.


Gershon plays against Jewish Agency Chairman Sharansky (Photo: AFP) 

 

Training for the event, which continued through the night, was purely physical and included a lot of jogging and swimming, the former Israeli champion said.

 

"There are a lot of kilometers to walk and you have to stay focused," he said, noting that his Iranian rival Morteza Mahjoob walked 40 kilometers (25 miles) to secure his record.

 

'Chess board war only'

Mahjoob set the current record in August 2009 in a feat which took him 18 hours and with less than five seconds for each move.

 

Gershon did not let his fatigue affect the game and expressed great satisfaction after winning the tournament, which was initiated by the Jewish Agency to mark the 20th anniversary of immigration from the Soviet Union.

 

"First of all I feel tired, but I'm insanely satisfied," he told Ynet on Friday morning. "Breaking a record and vanquishing the Iranians is a wonderful feeling."

 

"Hopefully all our wars against Iran will be on the chess board," said a smiling Gershon. "For such wars, I am prepared."

 

In the real world of geo-politics, Iran and Israel are arch-enemies.

 

Along with the United States and other powers, Israel accuses Iran of using its nuclear energy program to hide efforts to produce an atomic bomb, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.

 

And Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is notorious for his oft-repeated denials of the Nazi Holocaust and for saying that the Jewish state will one day be wiped off the map.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.22.10, 08:53
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