With the ambition of breaking previous Guinness world of Iranian chess grandmaster Morteza Mahjoub set in 2009, Alik Gershon started playing the parallel matches on Thursday morning in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. The record breaking chess game was finished on early Friday.
The Jewish Agency and the Israel Chess Federation were sponsors of the event to mark the 20th anniversary of the mass aliyah from the former Soviet Union. A former prisoner of Zion and now the chairman of the Jewish Agency, Natan Sharansky had attended the event.
The adversaries of Gershon, who are registered and ranked by the Israel Chess Federation, as per the requirements of the Guinness Book of Records, are refugees from the former Soviet Union. Gershon, 30, is a native of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, who shifted to Israel in 1990.
Guinness Book of Records always scrutinizes the involved candidate’s performance. Anybody who is willing to make a Guinness Book Record needs to win at least 80 percent of the games. But Mohjoub’s record is 500 games! An amazing performance indeed!
Natan Sharansky, a chairman of Jewish Agency played a match against Gershon, in the beginning of this memorable event.
Gerson started learning chess at the age of tender 2. And at the age of 5 he was competing with others! And at the age 14 he became the world champion under 14. Also he won Israeli Championship in 2000.
