Cubans set new world record in Chess

New Delhi:

13,000 Cuban chess lovers played their favourite game long into the night setting the world record for most number of people playing chess simultaneously. This was a record many of the Cuban players had already helped break just 16 months ago and the attempt to break it once again was started last week. Former world chess champion and Grand Master Anatoly Karpov launched the record attempt, working his way down a long line of tables, playing 11 simultaneous games. The previous record for multi-board chess was also set in Cuba, with 11,320 Cubans playing 5,660 simultaneous games of chess in Havana's Revolution Square. On that day, even Cuban President Fidel Castro turned out to play. The latest event took place in front of Che Guevara's tomb in the Central Cuban town of Santa Clara. The Argentina born Guevara was also an enthusiastic chess player and though simultaneous chess playing is said to be his idea, surely even he couldn't have imagined that of all his revolutionary ideas, this one would go on to become a world record.