Cuba breaks world record for simultaneous chess playing
Campaign News | Saturday, 1 May 2004
Amazing end to Cuba's 'Olympic' games
April 30: 13,000 chess players, including former world champion Anatoly Karpov, have broken Cuba's own world record for most people playing chess at the same time.
Chess players played their matches Thursday in a large square in central Cuban town of Santa Clara, at the foot of the tomb of Latin revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Organizers say Mr. Guevara was also an avid chess fan.
The event ended the "Cuban Olympics" Cuba's international sports competition.
Mr. Karpov contributed to the record by playing several opponents simultaneously during Thursday's event.
According to the Guiness Book of World Records, Cuba set the previous record for group chess when 11,320 people gathered in Havana in December of 2002.
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