Most Chess Tournaments Won By Any Player In History

Answer - Anatoly Karpov

Details:
Anatoly Karpov has apparently won over 160 chess tournaments, more than anyone else in history. (Source)


Tags: Anatoly Karpov - Chess - Chess Tournament - Karpov - Tournament
Posted by ALCHEssMIST - Alchemipedia - Cetacographer - Nirvana - Tags alliance.

Highest Ever Chess Elo Rating For Any Junior (Under 21 Years Age)

Answer - Magnus Carlsen

Details:

• Magnus Carlsen achieved the highest ever Elo rating for a Junior chess player (under 21 years of age) in October 2008 with a rating of 2786.
• The FIDE Rating Progress Chart for Magnus Carlsen is - here.

Tags: Chess - Elo Rating - FIDE Rating - Junior - Magnus Carlsen
Posted by ALCHEssMIST - Alchemipedia - Cetacographer - Nirvana - Tags alliance.

Highest Chess Elo Rating For Any Female

Answer - Judit Polgar

Details:

• Judit Polgar is the highest FIDE rated female chessplayer of all time.
• Judit had an Elo rating of 2735 in both the July 2005 and October 2005 FIDE rating lists.
• Judit's FIDE Elo Rating Progress Chart is - here.
• The 2nd highest rated female is Humpy Koneru with an Elo rating of 2623 (July 2009) - FIDE Elo Rating Progress Chart here).

Tags: Chess - Elo Rating - Judit Polgar -
Posted by ALCHEssMIST - Alchemipedia - Cetacographer - Nirvana - Tags alliance.

Largest Number of Blindfold Chess Games Played Simultaneously

Answer - 45 games by Miguel Najdorf in 1947.

Details:

• Miguel Najdorf played 45 games blindfold & simultaneously at the Prestes Maia Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil on 24-25 January 1947.
• Najdorf's score was +39 –2 =4.
• The blindfold simul took approximately 23 hours.
• A report of the simul by Najdorf, and all of 45 game scores, was published in the book Miguel Najdorf El hijo de Caissa by Nicolás Capeika Calvo (Buenos Aires, 2002).
• "Because of the effort and concentration required to play many simultaneous blindfold games, no one has seriously attempted to play more than 28 such games since 1960." (Blindfold Chess, Hearst and Knott, 2008).

References:

• Edward Winter - Chess Records
• Blindfold Chess: History, Psychology, Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important Games (Library Binding), Eliot Hearst & John Knott, McFarland (2008).

Image: Edward Winter @ www.chesshistory.com
Tags: 1947 - Blindfold Chess - Blindfold Simul - Edward Winter - Miguel Najdorf - Simultaneous -
Posted by ALCHEssMIST - Alchemipedia - Cetacographer - Nirvana - Tags alliance.

Youngest Chess Player To Have Defeated A Chess Grandmaster In An Official Standard Time Control Game

Answer - Hetul Shah (India) (FIDE ID)

Details:

• This occurred on January 11, 2009 at the 7th Parsvnath International Open tornament in New Delhi, India.
• Hetul Shah beat Grandmaster Nurlan Ibrayev of Kazhakstan under standard tournament time control conditions.
• Documentation of Hetul Shah's win in FIDE rating list - here.
• Nurlan Ibrayev's FIDE Elo rating progress - here.
• David Howell is youngest chess player to beat a Grandmaster at any time control - see here.

PGN:
[Event "7th Parsvnath International Open Chess "]
[Site "Modern School, Barakhamba Roa"]
[Date "2009.01.11"]
[Round "1.36"]
[White "Ibrayev, Nurlan"]
[Black "Hetul, Shah"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2407"]
[BlackElo "1817"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2009.01.11"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 Bd7 14. Nf1 Rfc8 15.
Ne3 Nc6 16. a3 Bf8 17. b3 Nxd4 18. Nxd4 Qc3 19. Ne2 Qxa1 20. Qd2 d5 21. b4 d4
22. Nd1 Rxc2 23. Qxc2 Rc8 24. Qd2 Nxe4 25. Qd3 Nd6 26. Bb2 Qa2 27. f4 Qc4 28.
Qb1 d3 29. Ne3 Qe4 30. Nc3 Qxf4 31. Ncd5 Qg3 32. Nf1 Qg6 33. Bxe5 Nc4 34. Nf4
Qb6+ 35. Kh1 Nxe5 36. Rxe5 Bd6 37. Re4 Bc6 38. Qc1 Qb7 39. Re1 Bxg2+ 40. Nxg2
Rxc1 41. Rxc1 Bf4 42. Rc3 d2 43. Rd3 h6 44. Kg1 Qb6+ 0-1

Reference:
Chessbase report 5144 - Hetul Shah, nine-year-old grandmaster slayer

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Youngest Chess Player To Have Defeated A Chess Grandmaster In An Official Game

Answer - David Howell (British Chess Champion, 2009)

Details:

• This record occurred in August 1999.
• David defeated GM John Nunn in a blitz game at the 1999 Mind Sports Olympiad.
• This record is still held by David Howell.

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Earliest Recorded Games With Modern Rules

Earliest Recorded Games With Modern Rules:

Castellvi, Francesco di - Vinyoles, Narciso (1490, Valencia, 1-0)
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 e6 8.Qxb7 Nbd7 9.Nb5 Rc8 10.Nxa7 Nb6 11.Nxc8 Nxc8 12.d4 Nd6 13.Bb5+ Nxb5 14.Qxb5+ Nd7 15.d5 exd5 16.Be3 Bd6 17.Rd1 Qf6 18.Rxd5 Qg6 19.Bf4 Bxf4 20.Qxd7+ Kf8 21.Qd8# 1-0 [See Diagram Below]




Louis, Lucena - Quintana (1515, Huesca ESP, 1-0)
1.c3 Nc6 2.d4 e6 3.e4 d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.g3 Bd6 6.Bh3 Bxh3 7.Nxh3 Qd7 8.Nf4 Nf6 9.Qf3 Bxf4 10.Bxf4 O-O-O 11.O-O Qh3 12.Bg5 Ng4 13.Qg2 Qxg2+ 14.Kxg2 f6 15.Bd2 Rhe8 16.Re1 Rxe1 17.Bxe1 Re8 18.Nd2 Nh6 19.Nf1 Nf5 20.Bd2 Nd6 21.h4 Ne4 22.Be3 g5 23.hxg5 fxg5 24.f3 Nd6 25.Bxg5 Re2+ 26.Kh3 Rxb2 27.Ne3 Nb5 28.Nxd5 Rc2 29.Re1 Nxc3 30.Re8+ Kd7 31.Nf6+ Kd6 32.Bf4+ 1-0 [See Diagram Below]




Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Highest Chess Quotient Of All Time

This honour goes to Sergey Karjakin (1990-), born in the Ukraine, who has a CQ of 199. Runner up is Magnus Carlsen with a CQ of 188.

The Chess Quotient (CQ) is based on the Intelligence Quotient (IQ). The CQ is calculated from the Elo rating divided by the player's age (16 years or younger). The best information about Chess Quotients is found on Paul Muljadi's site (here).

Links:
Muljadi.org CQ Page
Chess Quotient (CQ) of Youngest Grandmasters in History by Paul Muljadi

Image Credit - Wikimedia Commons, Stefan64

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Youngest Female Chess Grandmaster Of All Time

This honour goes to Hou Yifan (1994-) from China.

Hou Yifan obtained her chess Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 6 months.

Image Credit - Wikimedia Commons, Laserlight, Frederick Friedel

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Youngest Chess Grandmaster Of All Time

This honour goes to Sergey Karjakin (1990-) born in the Ukraine.

Karjakin obtained his chess Grandmaster title at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 0 days.

Image Credit - Wikimedia Commons, Stefan64
Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Women's World Chess Champions

The list of Women's World Chess Champions:

• Vera Menchik - 1927–1944
• Lyudmila Rudenko - 1950–1953
• Elisabeth Bykova - 1953–1956
• Olga Rubtsova - 1956–1958
• Elisabeth Bykova - 1958–1962
• Nona Gaprindashvili - 1962–1978
• Maya Chiburdanidze - 1978–1991
• Xie Jun - 1991–1996
• Susan Polgar - 1996–1999
• Xie Jun - 1999–2001
• Zhu Chen - 2001–2004
• Antoaneta Stefanova - 2004–2006
• Xu Yuhua - 2006–2008
• Alexandra Kosteniuk - 2008–present

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Most Accurate Chess Player Of All Time

Robert James 'Bobby' Fischer

The most accurate chess player of all time, based upon analysis by Charles Sullivan at truechess.com, is Robert James 'Bobby' Fischer.

Accuracy of chess moves was measured using computer analysis with comparison being made against the average chess Grandmaster. A summary of Sullivan's analysis can be found here.

For Fischer's best playing year 1968, he made no blunders, scored 86.54% in games, and his chess moves were judged to be 40.45% better than the average Grandmaster.


Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Undisputed World Chess Champions

The list of undisputed World Chess Champions:

• Wilhelm Steinitz - 1886–1894
• Emanuel Lasker - 1894–1921
• José Raúl Capablanca - 1921–1927
• Alexander Alekhine - 1927–1935 & 1937–1946
• Max Euwe - 1935–1937
• Mikhail Botvinnik - 1948–1957 & 1958–1960 & 1961–1963
• Vasily Smyslov - 1957–1958
• Mikhail Tal - 1960–1961
• Tigran Petrosian - 1963–1969
• Boris Spassky - 1969–1972
• Robert J. Fischer - 1972–1975
• Anatoly Karpov - 1975–1985
• Garry Kasparov - 1985–1993
• Vladimir Kramnik - 2006–2007
• Viswanathan Anand - 2007–present

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Most Popular Chess Website (Alexa)

The most popular chess website according to Alexa (The Web Information Company) is Chess.com.

Chess.com has an Alexa Rank of 5,036.

An honorable mention goes to Chessbase.com who have the second highest Alexa Rank of 14,868.

Results accessed 9th August 2009 and will be subject to change.

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Highest Ever FIDE Elo Rating

Garry Kasparov has the record for the highest ever FIDE Elo rating of 2851.

Kasparov had his rating in both the July 1999 and January 2000 FIDE Elo rating lists.


Garry Kasparov in
Cologne, Germany
(18 March 2007)
[Elke Wetzig (Elya)]

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Current World Chess Champion

The current World Chess Champion is Viswanathan Anand.


Viswanathan ANAND
[Wikimedia Commons]

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Oldest Living Chess Grandmaster

The oldest living chess Grandmaster is Andor Lilienthal.

Andor Lilienthal (born May 15, 1911) recently celebrated his 98th birthday.

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Oldest Continually Running Chess Event

The oldest continually running chess event in the world is the Scottish Chess Championship.

There has apparently been an unbroken link in the event since 1884.

Links:
Scottish Chess Championship 2009 (Edinburgh City Chambers) & Past Winners

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Oldest World Chess Champion

Answer - Wilhelm Steinitz



Details:
Wilhelm Steinitz was the oldest world chess champion, defeating Johannes Hermann Zukertort in 1886 at the age of 50 years. Steinitz retained the title until he was beaten by Emanuel Lasker in 1894 aged 58 years and 10 days.

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

Youngest World Chess Champion

The youngest undisputed World Chess Champion is Garry Kasparov who won the title at the age of 22 years after beating Anatoly Karpov in the second Karpov-Kasparov match (Moscow, 1985). Kasparov won this match (9th November 1985) with a score of 13-11 after winning with the black pieces (Sicilian defence) in the 24th game.

Honorable Mentions:

• Previous to Kasparov, the record holder was Mikhail Tal, in 1960 World Chess Championship, who defeated Mikhail Botvinnik at the age of 23 years.

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.

ALCHEssMIST Chess Records Labels

Labels on ALCHEssMIST Chess Records.

ALCHEssMIST Chess Records Index

Index for ALCHEssMIST Chess Records Site

Oldest World Chess Champion
Youngest World Chess Champion

ALCHEssMIST Chess Records Blog

A new blog by ALCHEssMIST about Chess Records.

This site will serve as a repository about chess related:

• Records
• Esoteric facts
• Lists.

Posted by ALCHEssMIST.