Ehsan Ghaem Maghami
Encyclopedia
Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami is a chess
grandmaster
(2000) from Iran
. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2583.
In 2009, he won a 20 games combined match (four classical, four rapid and twelve blitz games) against Anatoly Karpov
, played with a special rule: play to mate or dead draw. The overall score was eight wins to Ghaem-Maghami, seven wins to Karpov, and five draws. In 2011 he came first in the 10th Avicenna International Open Tournament in Hamadan
, Iran.
Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, 28, won 96 percent of his games which began on 2011/02/08 in Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, a feat reportedly making him the new Guinness title holder of the game.
Of the total 614 games, Ghaem-Maghami won 590, lost eight and drew 16 in a feat that took more than 25 hours and treading around 55 kilometres (34.2 mi) as he moved from opponent to opponent.
He said he would have put in the same zeal even if the previous title holder was a non-Israeli.
"Iran is great and deserves the best. Let's not talk politics... even if this record was held by another person, I would have gone all out to break it," he said after the matches when asked about ousting Israeli Alik Gershon
.
, France
for refusing to play in his scheduled match against Israeli player Ehud Sachar. Ghaem-Maghami told organizers he would not play the Israeli for political reasons. The Islamic Republic of Iran, which refuses to recognize the existence of the Jewish state and regularly calls for its destruction, has long refused to engage in sports competition against Israel.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
(2000) from Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2583.
In 2009, he won a 20 games combined match (four classical, four rapid and twelve blitz games) against Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
, played with a special rule: play to mate or dead draw. The overall score was eight wins to Ghaem-Maghami, seven wins to Karpov, and five draws. In 2011 he came first in the 10th Avicenna International Open Tournament in Hamadan
Hamadan
-Culture:Hamadan is home to many poets and cultural celebrities. The city is also said to be among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.Handicrafts: Hamadan has always been well known for handicrafts like leather, ceramic, and beautiful carpets....
, Iran.
Guinness World Record
An Iranian grandmaster said he ousted the Israeli title holder on 2011/02/09 to regain the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players in over 25 hours.Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, 28, won 96 percent of his games which began on 2011/02/08 in Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, a feat reportedly making him the new Guinness title holder of the game.
Of the total 614 games, Ghaem-Maghami won 590, lost eight and drew 16 in a feat that took more than 25 hours and treading around 55 kilometres (34.2 mi) as he moved from opponent to opponent.
He said he would have put in the same zeal even if the previous title holder was a non-Israeli.
"Iran is great and deserves the best. Let's not talk politics... even if this record was held by another person, I would have gone all out to break it," he said after the matches when asked about ousting Israeli Alik Gershon
Alik Gershon
Alik Gershon is an Israeli chess grandmaster. On 21 October 2010 he set the Guinness World Record for simultaneous games after playing 523 opponents in Tel Aviv. After 18 hours and 30 minutes, he won 454 games , lost 11 and drew 58...
.
Israeli boycott
In October 2011, Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami was expelled from the Corsica Masters international chess tournament in BastiaBastia
Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for refusing to play in his scheduled match against Israeli player Ehud Sachar. Ghaem-Maghami told organizers he would not play the Israeli for political reasons. The Islamic Republic of Iran, which refuses to recognize the existence of the Jewish state and regularly calls for its destruction, has long refused to engage in sports competition against Israel.