Chess Records

Largest chess tournaments

The British Land UK Chess Challenge has around 70 000 British school kids playing across England in recent years.

The Supernationals III in Nashville 2005 had 5270 juniors competing.

The largest adult event would probably be the World Open in Philadelphia 1986 with 1506 players. Nick de Firmian came in first ahead of Yasser Seirawan, Jozsef Pinter, Gyula Sax, Margeir Petursson, and Ivan Farago, as well as the young Anand. In 2003, the World Open had a lot of players as well: 1462. The HB Global Chess Challange, Minneapolis, May 2005 had 1358 players (43 GMs). By comparison, there were 1135 players at Calvia Olympiad 2004, and Bled Olympiad 2002 only had 806 players.

The largest round robin tournament was probably New York 1869. There were 48 competitors who were supposed to face each other twice each. Not surprisingly not all of the games were finished. The winner was George H. Mackenzie. Another fairly large round robin was Carlsbad 1911 with 26 players.

The event with the most grandmasters would probably be one of the Olympiads. Calvia Olympiad 2004 had 250 grandmasters. Bled Olympiad 2002 only had 183 grandmasters. The European Club Cup in Rethymonon Greeece 2003 had 150 grandmasters. Aeroflot swiss, Moscow 2004 had 140 grandmasters.

Highest Sonas Performance Ratings

Men

Karpov 2899 - Linares 1994, 11/14 84.6%
Fischer 2887 - Candidates Semi-final vs. Larsen, Dallas 1971 +6 100%
Lasker 2882 - World ch. vs. Steinitz, Moscow 1896 12.5/17 73.5%
Kasparov 2881 - Tilburg 1989 12/14 85.7%
Lasker 2878 - London 1899 21.5/26 82.7%
Lasker 2876 - World ch. vs. Marshall, USA 1907 11.5/15 76.7%
Kramnik 2874 - BGN World ch. vs. Kasparov, London 2000 8.5/15 56.7%
Karpov 2873 - World ch. vs Kasparov, Moscow 1984-5, 25/48 52.1%
Fischer 2870 - Candidates Quarter-final vs. Taimanov, Vancouver 1971 +6 100%
Tal 2869 - Candidates, Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade 1959 20/28 71.4%

Women

Judit Polgar 2778 - Madrid 1994
Judit Polgar 2760 - Wijk aan Zee 2003
Judit Polgar 2746 - Polgar-Piket match, Aruba 1995
Judit Polgar 2739 - Linares 1997
Sofia Polgar 2735 - Rome 1989
Judit Polgar 2733 - Sicilian, Buenos Aires 1994
Judit Polgar 2728 - Dos Hermanas 1993
Judit Polgar 2719 - Donner Memorial 1995
Judit Polgar 2717 - Hastings 1992
Judit Polgar 2715 - Dos Hermanas 1995

Susan Polgar and Maia Chiburdanidze are the next two to appear on the list somewhat further down. Both achieved ratings of 2677 at Aruba 1992 and Banja Luka 1985 respectively. (Source : Jeff Sonas's Chessmetrics Site May 2005).

1971 Candidates semi-final, Dallas, Fischer-Larsen +6 3060
1971 Candidates 1/4-final, Vancouver, Fischer-Taimanov +6 3020
2001 Europe v. Asia Rapid, Batumi, Kasparov 3017
1994 Linares, Karpov 11/13 84.6% 2942
2000 Rapid Frankfurt, Anand 2941
2002 Bled Olympiad, Kasparov 2933
1989 Tilburg, Kasparov 2913
1989 Belgrade, Kasparov 2907
2002 Essen, Zvjaginsev 2905
1998 Pamplona, Morozevich 2904
1997 Linares, Kasparov 2884
2000 Sarajevo, Kasparov 2881

Longest winning run

William Steinitz won 25 games in a row between 1873 and 1882. He won his last 14 at Vienna 1873, 2 against Henry Blackburne in the playoff, 7 against Blackburne in a match in London in 1876 and then his first two games at Vienna 1882. Mackenzie brought an end to the streak when Steinitz two pawns up allowed Mackenzie to escape to a draw by perpetual check.

The second longest run is Bobby Fischer's 20 game streak in 1970-1. He won his last 7 at Palma de Mallorca Interzonal 1970, won six straight in his quarterfinal candidates match against Mark Taimanov at Vancouver 1971, another six straight in the semifinal against Bent Larsen in Dallas, and then the 1st game of the Candidates final against Petrosian in Buenos Aires. Petrosian won the second game when Fischer came unglued in an extremely double-edged line of the Gruenfeld defence.

Most overwhelming match victories against strong masters

The loser in each case was among the top ten players in the world at the time of the match.

1876 Match, London Steinitz-Blackburne +7 =0 -0 100%

1971 July, Candidates semifinal, Dallas, Fischer-Larsen +6 100%

1971 May-June, Candidates quarterfinal, Vancouver, Fischer-Taimanov +6 100%

1910 Nov.-Dec. World ch. Berlin, Lasker-Janowsky +8 =3 86.4%

1852 London, Harrwitz-Williams +7=3

1909 Match Paris, Lasker-Janowsky +7 =2 -1 80%

1995 Feb. FIDE World ch. semifinal Kamsky-Salov +4 =3 78.6%

1907 Jan.-Apr. World ch. New York, Philadelphia, Memphis, Chicago and Baltimore, Lasker-Marshall +8 =7 76.7%

1851 London, Staunton-Jaenisch +7=1-2 75%

1896-7 Nov.-Jan. World ch. Moscow, Lasker-Steinitz +10 =5 -2 73.5%

For women, 1962 Sep.-Oct. World ch. Moscow, Gaprindashvili-Bykova +7=4 81.8%

Top Tournament performances

The highest winning percentages for tournaments where at least four of the top ten were present.
1872 June-July, London, won by Steinitz 7.5/8, 93.8%
1930 Jan.-Feb. San Remo, won by Alekhine 14/15, 93.3%
1862 London, won by Anderssen 11/12, 91.7%
1876 Mar.-Apr. London, won by Blackburne 10/11, 90.9%
1873 July, Vienna, won by Steinitz 22.5/25, 90%
1867 June-July, Paris, won by Kolisch 21/24, 86.4%
1883 Apr.-June, London, Zukertort 22/26, 84.6%
1994 Linares, Karpov 11/13, 84.6%
1899 London, Lasker 22.5/27, 83.3%
1867 Dundee, Neumann 7.5/9, 83.3%

Longest unbeaten run of games

Apparently this record belongs to USCF player Bill Martz who went 104 games without losing, but I have found this hard to verify.

Better documented is Mikhail Tal's run of 93 games. He lost to Petrosian in round 15 of the USSR ch. in Oct. 1973 and then went until Oct. 1974 without a loss. Kirov stopped his streak in the 4th round of Novi Sad.

Tal had a similar run a little more than a year before. He went unbeaten in 86 games from July 1972 when he lost to Uusi in the tenth round at Viljandi until he lost to Balashov on board 3 at the USSR Team ch. Moscow, round 2 in April 1973 +47=39

Kramnik 82 games from Jan. 12 1999 Euro club ch. Belgrade until he lost 4th round to Adams at Dortmund 2000

Tal 80 games 1980-1

Capablanca 63 games February 10, 1916 New York loss to Chajes to March 21, 1924 New York loss to Reti +40=23

Most consecutive tournament wins

15 Kasparov - USSR ch. Frunze 1981 shared with Psakhis, Bugojno 1982, Moscow Interzonal 1982, Niksic 1983, Brussels 1986, Brussels SWIFT 1987 shared with Ljubojevic, Amsterdam 1988, Belfort World Cup 1988, USSR ch. Moscow 1988 shared with Karpov, Reykjavik World Cup 1988, Barcelona World Cup 1989 shared with Ljubojevic, Skellfetea World Cup 1989 shared with Karpov, Tilburg 1989, Belgrade 1989, Linares 1990

9 Karpov - Tilburg 1977, Bugojno 1978 (Cat.14) shared with Spassky, Montreal 1979 (Cat.15) shared with Tal, Waddinxveen 1979, Tilburg 1979 (Cat.15), Bad Kissingen 1980 (Cat.15), Bugojno 1980 (Cat.15), IBM Amsterdam 1980 (Cat.14), Tilburg 1980 (Cat.15)

8 Fischer - U.S. ch. 1966-7, Monte Carlo MON Mar.-Apr. 1967 1st ahead of Smyslov Geller and Larsen, Skopje-Krusevo CZE Aug. 1967 1st ahead of Geller and Matulovic, Netanya ISR June-July 1968, Vinkovci Sep. 1968, Rovinj Zagreb Apr.-May 1970 ahead of Smyslov Korchnoi and Petrosian, Buenos Aires 1970, Palma de Mallorca IZ Nov.-Dec. 1970

8 Larsen - Capablanca Memorial, Havana Aug.-Sep. 1967 ahead of Taimanov and Smyslov, Winnipeg Oct. 1967 =1st with Darga ahead of Keres and Spassky, Palma de Mallorca Nov.-Dec. 1967 ahead of Botvinnik and Smyslov, Sousse Interzonal Oct.-Nov.1967 ahead of Korchnoi, Geller and Gligoric, Monaco Apr.1968 ahead of Botvinnik and Smyslov, US Open 1968, Canadian Open 1968, Merrimac Grand Prix 1968

7 Alekhine - Kecskemet 1927, Bradley Beach 1929, San Remo 1930, Bled 1931, London 1932, Berne 1932, Pasadena 1932

7 Kasparov - Wijk aan Zee 1999, Linares 1999, Sarajevo 1999, Frankfurt 1999, Wijk aan Zee 2000, Linares 2000, Sarajevo 2000

7 Botvinnik - Absolute championship, Leningrad/Moscow 1941, Sverdlovsk 1943, USSR championship Moscow 1944, USSR ch. Moscow 1945, Groningen 1946, Chigorin Memorial Moscow 1947, World ch. The Hague/Moscow 1948

6 Tal - Dubna 1973(shared), Hastings 1973/4(shared with Timman, Szabo and Kuzmin), Lublin 1974, Halle 1974, Novi Sad 1974, USSR ch. Leningrad 1974(shared)

6 Karpov - Hannover 1983, Tilburg 1983, Oslo 1984, Philips & Drew London 1984, OHRA Amsterdam 1985

5 Spassky - Moscow Zonal 1964 (Cat. 15) 1st ahead of Korchnoi and Geller, Amsterdam Interzonal May-June 1964 =1st with Tal Larsen and Smyslov, Belgrade Sep.-Oct. 1964 1st ahead of Korchnoi Ivkov and Larsen, Sochi Aug.-Sep. 1965 =1st with Unzicker, Hastings Dec. 1965-Jan. 1966 =1st with Uhlmann

Youngest world champion

Garry Kasparov, of the former USSR, was 22 years and 210 days old when he beat Anatoly Karpov for the world championship of chess on November 9th, 1985, making him the youngest men's champion in history.

However, the youngest world champion of all was Maya Chiburdanidze of the former USSR, who was 17 years old when she won the women's title in 1978.

Youngest grandmaster

Morphy was 21 when he beat Anderssen and Harrwitz in matches in Paris 1858.

Alexander Alekhine was 22 at St.Petersburg 1914 when Nicholas II declared him a grandmaster.

David Bronstein at 26 was the youngest of the players to receive the GM title when the FIDE first granted them in 1950.

Tigran Petrosian was 23 when he became a grandmaster in 1952.

Boris Spassky became a GM at age 18 after coming 3rd in the 1955 USSR championship.

Bobby Fischer beat this record by coming 5th at Portoroz Interzonal in 1958, becoming a GM at 15 years, 6 months, 1 day.

Judit Polgar got her GM title on December 20, 1991 at 15 years, 4 months, 28 days.

Peter Leko broke her record in 1994 by becoming a GM at 14 years, 4 months, 22 days.

Etienne Bacrot earned his Grandmaster title in March, 1997 at age 14 years and 2 months with his last-round victory at a tournament near Paris.

Ruslan Ponomariov achieved his third GM norm in October 1997 at the Kiev NIKA-VV International. He was 14 years, 0 months, 17 days.

Bu Xiangzhi became the youngest ever GM after he finished joint first in the Qingdao Daily Cup which was played in Qingdao, China, Oct 18th-23rd 1999. Bu had recently scored norms in Hungary at the Paks GM tournament (September) and the 2nd Kluger Memorial Budapest First Saturday October tournament. Bu was born 10th December 1985 making him 13 years 10 months and 13 days old when he scored the final norm.

Teimour Radjabov is sometimes mentioned as a record-holder although he was older than Bu when he got the title. Apparently his supporters are hoping that the FIDE will revoke Bu's title because of the accusations that some Chinese players deliberately lost games to Bu in his last tournament. Radjabov tied for 1st at Alushta, Ukraine on March 19, 2001 for his 3rd GM norm. He was 14 years, 0 months, 14 days.

Koneru Humpy of India beat Polgar's record as the youngest woman to become a GM in 2002. She was one day younger than Polgar.

Sergey Karjakin became the latest record-holder after securing his third GM norm in a tournament held in Sudak in August 2002. He was 12 years, 7 months, 0 days old. He served as a second for Ruslan Ponomariov in his 2002 match with Vassily Ivanchuk.

Judit Polgar of Hungary was the youngest player of either sex to win International Master status at age 12 years and one month in 1989.

Clean scores in weaker tournaments

1865 Berlin, Neumann +34
1899 Dutch ch. Amsterdam, Atkins +15
1933 Folkestone, Women's world ch, Menchik +14
1937 Stockholm, Women's world ch, Menchik +14
1893 New York, Lasker +13 ahead of Pollock and Pillsbury
1913 New York, Capablanca +13
1963-4 U.S. championship, Fischer +11
1930 Hamburg Olympiad, Alekhine +9
1935 Warsaw, Women's world ch, Menchik +9
1931 Prague, Women's world ch, Menchik +8
1959 Latvian Olympiad Swiss, Tal +7
1989 8th Asia Pacific team ch., Anand +7
1977 European Team ch. Moscow, Karpov +5