Largest number of people eating giant canned stinky tofu set world record

Largest number of people eating giant canned stinky tofu set world record

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) A total of 1,229 people braved the heavy rain and gathered in Taipei earlier this weekend to set a world record for the largest number of people to ever eat a large-size canned stinky tofu.

The can of stinky tofu, 89 centimeters high and 151 cm in diameter and weighing 1,227 kilograms, also set a world record for being the largest of its kind in history.

Seyda Subasi-Gemici, an executive from the Britain-based Guinness World Records, attended the event to certify the two new world records, according to organizers.

"Stinky tofu tastes so delicious. It isn't stinky at all," said Edita Garskaite of Lithuania, who attended the event with her friend.

Tianmu Marketplace Development Association Chairwoman Tang Di said the event was held in Tianmu, long a preferred neighborhood for foreign residents, to improve its reputation among foreign visitors.

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Iranian Chess Players Claims New Guinness World Records 2011

An Iranian grandmaster said he ousted the Israeli title holder on Wednesday to regain the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players in over 25 hours.

Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, 28, won 96 percent of his games which began on Tuesday in Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, a feat reportedly making him the new Guinness title holder of the game.

A representative of World Chess Federation (FIDE) who was present during the event was yet to confirm Maghami's victory. He had to win 80 percent of the games to seal the record, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.

Of the total 614 games, Maghami won 590, lost eight and drew 16 in a feat that took more than 25 hours and treading around 55 kilometres (34 miles) as he moved from opponent to opponent.

Maghami said there was "no problem to register the record given the presence of the FIDE representative who was observing the matches. FIDE will report the outcome to Guinness."

He said he would have put in the same zeal even if the previous title holder was a non-Israeli.

"Iran is great and deserves the best. Let's not talk politics... even if this record was held by another person, I would have gone all out to break it," he said after the matches when asked about ousting Israeli Alik Gershon.

On October 22, Gershon had won 454 games, lost 11 and drawn 58, setting the record at 523 after ousting another Iranian, Morteza Mahjoob, who previously won the title in August after victory in 500 games.

On defeating Mahjoob, an euphoric Gershon said: "Hopefully, all our wars against Iran will be on the chess board."

Iran and Israel are bitter rivals outside of chess with the latter not ruling out a military strike against the Islamic republic to stop its controversial nuclear programme.

The political animosity between the two escalated under Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has often denied the Nazi Holocaust and said the Jewish state will one day be "wiped off the map."

"I am so happy to break the record, but now I have to break my sleep record," ISNA quoted Maghami as saying. He said a physician, masseuse and a dietician were monitoring him.

Maghami said he would not be surprised if his record was also broken soon, adding he would like to better it himself.

"It is not strange for my record to be broken by anyone. Mr Mahjoob had the title for more than a year. I could try to improve it," Maghami said.

Mahjoob said he will pitch for the title again and expressed his joy at a fellow Iranian regaining the title.

"Soon I will set a record. The title will remain Iranian since I will have a go at the record in the coming summer. I am determined and I will do it," Mahjoob said, quoted by Mehr news agency.

In October, after his defeat to Gershon, he said he would exert extra efforts to win again and even play against 1,000 players simultaneously.

Chess was outlawed in Iran in 1981 because it was perceived to encourage betting, which is forbidden in Islam.

But in 1988 the Islamic republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a decree permitting chess as long as no gambling was involved. Since then the game has made a vigorous comeback in Iran.

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Largest Number of People Playing Chess Game in Gujarat set Guinness World Record

Ahmedabad: From atop, the GMDC ground resembles one mammoth chess board in black and white. And fittingly so, given that Ahmedabad is all set to break a mammoth world record on Friday.

As many as 20,000 people and 1,200 masters will gather at the ground in the afternoon for a game of chess. In the process, they will break Mexico's Guinness world record of the largest number of people playing the game together at the same time. El Zocalo, Mexico City's central square, had set the record when 13,446 players had assembled to play chess on October 21, 2006. Former world champion Anatoly Karpov was the guest of honour in Mexico while Ahmedabad will have current world champion Viswanathan Anand.

After his first world championship title in 2000, Anand had nurtured a desire to make India the epicentre of chess. And, for the past 10 years, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was looking for a way to bring the game into the collective consciousness of Gujaratis. The record-breaking event is the coming together of these two aspirations with the Gujarat State Chess Association, NIIT and the Gujarat government working for it for 10 months. A lady adjudicator from Guinness Book arrived in the city from London on Thursday. "We can't divulge the name of the adjudicator now but yes, she will ensure that everything is in place for the record," said one of the organisers.

Friday will see 1,000 masters play simultaneously against 20,000 participants. Each master will take on 20 players. Another 200 masters will be on stand by. The ground has been divided into 64 squares with 320 participants in one square. "We have never attempted anything on this scale, which makes it unique and will be a very important feat both for Gujarat and India," Anand had said in an interview to TOI in the build-up to the event. "This is only the beginning of a chess revolution," he had said.

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