Players Around The Globe Set Chess World Record

Update: Guinness World Records for most chess games played in 24 hours was set on July 20, 2024 when 7,284,970 chess games were played.

Have you ever set a Guinness World Record or been part of a group that set a record? Here’s your chance on Saturday, July 20, 2024. As GWR says, “Be officially amazing!“

International Chess Day

July 20 is International Chess Day. In addition, this year the International Chess Federation (FIDE) celebrates its 100th anniversary on that date. To commemorate the occasion, FIDE wants more chess games played on this day than any other 24-hour period and plans to record the number of games played with Guinness World Records, the global authority for record-breaking achievements.

Be part of the worldwide celebration on International Chess Day and play at least one game on a platform or in an over-the-board tournament registered for the effort. The time period for games to be played is between 00:00 on July 20 and 00:00 CEST on July 21 (6 p.m. on July 19 and 6 p.m. July 20 ET, or 3:30 a.m. July 20 and 3:30 a.m. July 21 IST). Games can be played online or over-the-board.

Be officially amazing!
—Guinness World Records

Online Games

Qualifying time controls are a minimum of five minutes per game with no increment or three minutes per game with a two-second increment. Qualifying games need to have a minimum of 15 moves per player.

Online games can be played on a platform such as Chess.com that has registered with FIDE for this attempt. Several other platforms are also participating: Lichess, FIDE Online Arena, Simple Chess, and Chess Alliance. All players must be registered with the platform (anonymous accounts are not permitted), and games against computers are not counted. After the end of the time period, the platforms will submit the numbers of qualifying games that they hosted.

Over-The-Board Games

OTB games are also eligible, and they have the same qualifying time controls as online games. Interestingly, the time controls for some tournaments exceed the minimums. For example, the tournament being conducted by the Pacific Northwest Chess Center in Redmond, Washington, has a time control of 25 minutes per game plus a five-second increment.

Although registration of online games is not required, OTB games need to be played in an event registered by a national federation to be counted for this attempt. For example, U.S. Chess has registered the 2024 U.S. Junior, Girls' Junior, and Senior Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, as participating events. (The deadline for registration has already passed.)

OTB games are to be supervised by a licensed FIDE arbiter. The arbiter of the event will confirm the number of games played and submit a tournament report file to FIDE. Federations from Albania to Zambia (109 in all) have registered more than 800 events for this attempt. You can see the list of participating OTB events here (select the OTB tab near the bottom of the page). India has more than 70 registered events. 

Documenting The Attempt

After the time period of the attempt has ended, the chairperson of the FIDE Arbiters Commission will submit the number of qualifying games to Guinness World Records—and the rest will be history.

Chess And Guinness World Records

Is anything chess-related already included in Guinness World Records? Of course, here are some prominent ones:

Longest Chess Marathon

The Guinness record for the longest chess marathon was set just a few weeks ago. On June 4, 2024 in Stavanger, Norway, two players played chess for 61 hours, three minutes, and 34 seconds. In the process of setting the record, Norwegians Askild Bryn and Odin Blikra Vea played 383 five-minute blitz games.

During the games, former world champion GM Magnus Carlsen was a frequent visitor to encourage them. After they had set the new record, he said: "I am really proud of them. I honestly had my doubts if they were going to make it.”

I honestly had my doubts if they were going to make it.
—Magnus Carlsen

Who won the final game in the marathon? It was a draw. Here is the 383rd game from the record-setting match. If you had been playing chess for more than 61 hours, do you think that you could have played as well?

Fastest Time To Set Up A Chessboard

Guinness actually has two records for the fastest time to set up a chessboard. One is when the contender is blindfolded; the other has no similar restriction.

• Blindfolded: If you are blindfolded, could you set the pieces correctly on a chessboard? How much time would it take? The Guinness World Record for the fastest time to arrange a chess set blindfolded is 33.6 seconds. It was set on February 24, 2024 by Prayash Nahata of India.
• Not Blindfolded: The fastest time for setting up a chessboard without being blindfolded is also an official Guinness record. It was set by S. Odelia Jasmine of India on July 20, 2021 when she arranged a chess set in just 29.85 seconds. For this record, just one hand can be used, unlike attempts when blindfolded.

More Records

If you are interested in more chess-related world records, see the article “Every Guinness Chess Record.” However, because records change on a daily basis, some new ones may have already been set.

What do you think? Are you ready to earn bragging rights for helping to set a world record? Don’t procrastinate. Make sure that you’ve planned a time on July 20 to participate. Be part of the worldwide attempt that unites players around the globe to set the record for most chess games played in a day.