Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami

August 11, 1982

Tehran

On the September 2011 FIDE list, he had an Elo rating of 2583. The overall score was eight wins to Ghaem-Maghami, seven wins to Karpov, and five draws. While also a talented football player and the captain of the Tehran juniors football team at the age of 10, his interest in chess exceeded his interest in football, causing his choice of the former over the latter. An Iranian grandmaster, he ousted the Israeli title holder on 9 February 2011 to regain the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players in over 25 hours. "I am so happy to break the record" a victorious yet exhausted Ehsan remarked, adding ".,but now I have to break my sleep record". Reportedly, a physician, a masseur and a dietician were monitoring him throughout the match. 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. In October 2011, Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami was expelled from the Corsica Masters in Bastia, France for refusing to play in his scheduled match against Israeli player Ehud Shachar. Ghaem-Maghami told organizers he would not play the Israeli for political reasons. The Islamic Republic of Iran, which refuses to recognize the existence of the Jewish state, has long refused to engage in sports competition against Israel. In 2012 he took part in the Indonesia Open Chess Championship. In 2013 he played against British Grandmaster Nigel Short in his native homeland.

Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami

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chess player

Background

Ehsan was born on January 11, 1982 in Tehran and learned to play chess at the age of 8 from his father.

Education

He holds a Bachelor of Laws and is currently studying sports management at the University of Tehran. In 2004, he finished first in the Kish General Motors Tournament. In 2011, he finished first in the 10th Avicenna International Open Tournament in Hamadan, Iran.

Career

On the September 2011 FIDE list, he had an Elo rating of 2583. The overall score was eight wins to Ghaem-Maghami, seven wins to Karpov, and five draws. While also a talented football player and the captain of the Tehran juniors football team at the age of 10, his interest in chess exceeded his interest in football, causing his choice of the former over the latter.

An Iranian grandmaster, he ousted the Israeli title holder on 9 February 2011 to regain the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players in over 25 hours.

"I am so happy to break the record" a victorious yet exhausted Ehsan remarked, adding ".,but now I have to break my sleep record".

Reportedly, a physician, a masseur and a dietician were monitoring him throughout the match. 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. In October 2011, Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami was expelled from the Corsica Masters in Bastia, France for refusing to play in his scheduled match against Israeli player Ehud Shachar. Ghaem-Maghami told organizers he would not play the Israeli for political reasons.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, which refuses to recognize the existence of the Jewish state, has long refused to engage in sports competition against Israel.

In 2012 he took part in the Indonesia Open Chess Championship. In 2013 he played against British Grandmaster Nigel Short in his native homeland.

Achievements

In 2009, he won a 20-game combined match (four classical, four rapid and twelve blitz games) against Anatoly Karpov, played with the proviso that each game be played to mate or dead draw. His early rise in the chess community was swift as he won the Iranian men"s championship title by age 14. Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami, then 28 years old, won 96 percent of his games which began on 2011/02/08 in Tehran"s Shahid Beheshti University, a feat reportedly making him the new Guinness title holder of the game. Of the total 614 games, Ghaem-Maghami won 590, lost 8 and drew 16 in a feat that took more than 25 hours and treading around 55 kilometres (34 mi) as he moved from opponent to opponent.

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