JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli chess grandmaster set a world record by playing 527 ranked players simultaneously and winning 87 percent of the matches.
Alik Gershon, 30, of Herzliya completed the matches in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square by early Friday after starting the previous morning.
He snapped the Guinness mark set last year by the Iranian grandmaster Morteza Mahjoub, who had played 500 concurrent matches. To set the record, Gershon had to win at least 80 percent of the matches.
Many of Gershon’s opponents were ranked by the Israel Chess Federation, as per the requirements of the Guinness Book of Records, and are immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Gershon is a native of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, who immigrated to Israel in 1990.
The matches were under the close scrutiny of a judge representing the Guinness Book of Records.
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky played a match with Gershon at the beginning of the event. Public figures were among the spectators of Gershon’s record attempt.
The event was sponsored by the Jewish Agency and the Israel Chess Federation to mark the 20th anniversary of the mass aliyah from the former Soviet Union.
Gershon began to learn chess at age 2 and by 5 was competing. He became an Israeli youth champion, won the world championship in 1994 for youth up to age 14, and became Israeli champion in 2000.
