A Game Of Chess That Went On For Four Days But Still Ended In Draw: Read About The Longest-Ever Recorded Contest

The Sports World witnessed a bizarre phenomenon 40 years back when a chess game lasted for four days of play.

Hyderabad: Chess is a game full of strategy and tactics with players trying to conquer the 64-square chessboard with smart use of their pieces. Each player Sometimes the matches finish in quick time while others can go on for long durations. Each player controls sixteen types of pieces. Each player has one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. The final aim of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king and emerge triumphant.

Recently, the Chess world witnessed a historic moment when India’s D Gukesh became the youngest Chess World Champion at the age of 18 years and 195 days beating Grandmaster and defending champion Ding Liren.

In the 14-game contest between Liren and Gukesh, the former made a blunder in the last game in the last moments to hand his opposition a victory. Notably, the World Championship 2024 featured two contestants from Asia for the first time in 138 years. Gukesh has been rewarded with the prize money of 21.21 Crore rupees. Before Gukesh, Garry Kasparov of Russia won the title at the age of 22 in 1985.

However, chess fans might sometimes see long hours of play unfurl in front of their eyes. Usually, the matches end within a day but there was a rare instance when the chess fixture lasted over the course of four days.

The longest chess game on record was played in the World Junior Chess Championship in 1989 in the Philippines. It was a match played between Ivan Nikolic of Yugoslavia and Goran Arsovic of Serbia. The game lasted for 269 moves over the course of four days and left the fans stunned.

The game kicked off with a Queen’s Pawn opening and the players entered into a defensive mode, with neither side taking significant risks. Both the players started calculating their moves cautiously after a while and eventually, the board was cluttered with pieces.

The game went on for hours, with neither of the players gaining an advantage. The defensive approach went on for 269 moves and four days of play. The fixture was concluded with a draw due to the fifty-move rule. According to the rule, the game is declared a draw if no capture is made and no pawn is moved in the previous fifty moves.

The contest between Ivan Nikolic and Goran Arsovic demonstrated remarkable patience and strategy as both the players refused to give up and kept defending their area.