Fri, Oct 22 10 09:37 PM
Jerusalem, Oct 22 (PTI) "Israel checkmates, vanquishes Iran", said the country''s leading news portals as an Israeli Grandmaster overcame the Guinness record set by an Iranian for simultaneous matches after a marathon 19-hour chess encounter against 523 players. A Guinness representative confirmed the new record on Israeli Army Radio after Grandmaster Alik Gershon won 86 per cent of the games he played against amateurs in Tel Aviv''s Rabin Square, abuzz with activities commemorating former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin''s death anniversary. Gershon, 30, won 454, lost 11 and drew the other 58 games. As per the Guinness Book requirements, he was required to win at least 80 per cent of the games to better the record that earlier stood at 500 simultaneous games set by Iranian grandmaster Morteza Mahjoob. Israeli media showed a jubilant Gershon raising his arm in victory after shaking the hands of the players in front of him just before sunrise at 5:30am local time. "This is a very exciting day. It was very difficult, it was a supreme effort," the ecstatic Grandmaster said. Asked how he felt beating his Iranian rival, he smiled and said, "Hopefully all our wars against Iran will be on the chess board. For such wars, I am prepared." "It''s a very sweet feeling. It''s something which we prepared for a very long time," Gershon added describing his training regime built around long distance walking and swimming. The effort has been highlighted by the Israeli press during last few days, attracting a lot of public attention, especially in the context of sworn hostilities between the Jewish state and the Islamic republic. Jerusalem has dubbed Iran''s nuclear programme an existential threat and has been urging international community for tough sanctions against Tehran, while simultaneously also threatening with military action pronouncing that "all options are on the table" to foil the Islamic republic''s nuclear programme.
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