Guiness World Records has been tracking all sorts of records, from human achievements to wonders of the natural world, for over 70 years.
You can spend hours on their website or in their books learning about different records and barely scratch the surface of some truly amazing (and some truly crazy) achievements. Today we're going to check out some of the coolest chess records documented by the Guiness World Records.
Largest Chess Piece
Date: April 6th, 2018
Location: St. Louis, MO, USA
Fun Facts:
The piece stands at 20ft tall and 9ft 2in in diameter, and is 53 times the size of a standard king chess piece.
Largest Chess Lesson
Date: September 20th, 2018
Location: Muttenz, Switzerland
Fun Facts:
1,459 people participated in this event.
Largest Collection of Chess Sets
Record Set By: Tumen-Ulzii Zandraa
Date: April 26th, 2019
Location: Mongolia
Fun Facts:
The collection includes 438 chess sets.
Youngest Male Chess Grandmaster
Record Set By: Abhimanyu Mishra
Date: June 30th, 2021
Fun Facts:
Mishra was 12years and 145 days old when he claimed the title.
A chess "Grandmaster" is any player who has achieved three grandmaster norms and has a 2500 Elo rating awarded by the FIDE.
Largest Chess Set
Record Set By: Medicine Hat Chess Club
Date: May 27th, 2009
Location: Canada
Fun Facts:
The chess set board measures 19 ft 4 in X 19 ft 4 in.
Youngest Female Grandmaster
Record Set By: Hou Yifan
Date: August 29th, 2008
Fun Facts:
This record was set when Yifan was 14 years and 184 days old.
Hou Yifan is also the youngest ever Women’s World Chess Champion and only the third woman to ever break into the FIDE top 100 list.
Slowest Chess Move – Pre-Clock
Record Set By: Louis Paulsen
Date: November 1857
Fun Facts:
In this game, which finished in a draw, the two players took more than 15 hours to play 56 moves (only 53 were officially recorded).
Louis Paulsen, was recorded as taking as much as 1 hour 15 minutes to decide on his moves.
Longest Unbeaten Streak in Professional Chess
Record Set By: Magnus Carlsen
Date: October 9th, 2020
Location: Switzerland
Fun Facts:
The winning streak lasted a record 125 matches, and included 42 wins and 83 draws.
Fastest Time to Arrange a Chess Set
Record Set By: S. Odelia Jasmine
Date: July 20th, 2021
Location: Puducherry, India
Fun Facts:
The chess set was arranged in an impressive 29.85 seconds!
Most Expensive Chess Piece Sold in Auction
Fun Facts:
The piece was discovered in a sand dune on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
The piece is made from walrus ivory, and sold on July 2nd, 2019 for $930,415.
Most Games of Chess Played in 24 Hours
Record Set By: FIDE
Date: July 20th, 2024
Location: This event included games played online and over the board worldwide.
Fun Facts:
Standard FIDE time controls we used.
The total number of games played was 7,284,970!
Fastest Time to Arrange a Chessboard Blindfolded
Record Set By: Jeyasrikrishna Jeyakumar
Date: December 26th, 2024
Location: India
Fun Facts:
The chess set was arranged in an incredible 31.16 seconds!
Most Simultaneous Blindfolded Chess Games
Record Set By: Timur Gareyev
Date: December 4th, 2026
Location: Las Vagas, NV, USA
Fun Facts:
The simultaneous match lasted for 19 hours and 9 minutes and consisted of 48 total games.
Gareyev won 35 games, drew 7, and lost 6.