A new Chess Guinness Record
On International Chess Day (July 20), FIDE, the international chess federation, organised a global chess tournament to commemorate its centurion year.
Over 350 events took place worldwide, both online and over the board, setting a Guinness Record for most number of chess games played in 24 hours. While the initial goal was to surpass one million games, the total number played was an astounding 72,84,970 (7.2 million). One hundred and nine chess federations participated, reporting their results globally. The federations with the highest number of games were Sri Lanka (9,848 games), India (9,397 games) and Kazakhstan (8,759 games). Sri Lanka and India also hosted the greatest number of registered tournaments for this competition, each with 78, followed by China with 45.
In Andhra Pradesh, Rotaractors of RID 3160 led by DRR Nagarjun Karnatakam organised a mega tournament where 501 games were played with the participation of 203 players. “FIDE was impressed with the mega show organised by Rotaract here. They are interested in working out a partnership with Rotary, Rotaract and Inner Wheel to form a Rotary chess federation. Discussions have just begun and it is in the nascent stage now,” says Karnatakam, himself an accomplished chess player.
He is the joint secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Chess Federation and a national arbitrator. “When this partnership materialises it will be a good public image platform for both Rotary and FIDE globally,” he says.
