Some World records in the game of chess (as played in serious tournaments):

Longest game

The longest tournament chess game ever to be played under modern time rules was Nikolic - Arsovic, Belgrade 1989, which lasted for 20 hours and 15 minutes with a 269 move draw.

Shortest tournament game

The shortest decisive game ever played in a tournament is often considered to be Djordjeic - Kovacevic, Bela Crkva 1984. It lasted for only 3 moves (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c6 3.e3 Qa5+ winning the bishop).

There have been a number of forfeited games (which could technically be regarded as a loss in zero moves - the most notable example is game two of the 1972 World Championship match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, which Fischer defaulted), and a number of shorter frivolous examples (a game between Fischer and Oscar Panno, for example, went 1. d4 d5 2.c4 resigns - Panno's resignation is more a sign of his unwillingness to play than any reflection of the position on the board).

Latest first capture

The game between Filipowicz and Smederevac, Polanica Zdroj 1966, lasted 70 moves without a single capture. The game ended as a draw.

Longest decisive game without a capture

Nuber - Keckeisen, Mengen 1994 lasted 31 moves without a single capture. In the end Keckeisen resigned.

External link

• Tim Krabbé's chess records page