Leonard Barden: “The longest ever decisive Fide-rated game, 272 moves”
Leonard Barden is going strong! At age 95 his Guardian publications continue to bring fresh and exciting chess news to the world. He has been writing his column regularly for 69 years (!!) without interruptions. In today’s publication of Barden, one of the main topics is the Kingston Invitational, where “the longest ever decisive Fide-rated game, 272 moves” between Billy Fellowes and CM Peter Lalic was produced. Barden also mentions the success of Stanley Badacsonyi (you can read the full Stanley Badacsonyi interview here)
Leonard Barden on the longest 272 moves decisive chess game
Last week’s Kingston Invitational, organised by the Guardian’s Stephen Moss, earned a niche in chess history when it produced the longest ever decisive Fide-rated game, 272 moves. Billy Fellowes v CM Peter Lalic sparked controversy when it emerged that Lalic has aimed for this record for a few years, and already has several three-figure games recorded in databases.
Replay: Billy Fellowes – Peter Lalic
Did you know? The longest decisive game at TCEC is 308 moves between Lc0 and Fritz
Fellowes continued to the bitter end, as is his habit. The 12-year-old is one of several juniors who rarely resigns and plays on to checkmate. The game was adjourned overnight because the caretaker wanted to close the Tiffin school building, and resumed at 8.30am so as not to delay the next round.
Some critics wanted a double default for bringing the game into disrepute but that opens a can of worms. There is no official verification of chess records, the game will be rated normally by Fide, and I would expect Wikipedia to update its entry from a 1979 game which lasted a mere 269 moves with rook and bishop against rook. There are two longer games on Chessbase, but they are draws which continued for hundreds of moves in totally blocked positions.
Leonard Barden on Stanley Badacsonyi
The most notable result in Kingston was by Stanley Badacsonyi, who tied first on 6.5/9, gained over 100 rating points, and qualified for the FM title – a triple achievement for the 14-year-old from Muswell Hill. Badacsonyi is still behind his contemporaries, Shreyas Royal and Sohum Lohia, but his energetic attacking style promises further successes. Kingston is in a good spot in the chess calendar, though it needs more titled players to support GM and IM norms.