Che` and chess: a winning record- The Hindu

Santa Clara, May 01: Beneath a statue of the revolutionary leader and chess lover Ernesto `Che' Guevara, thousands of Cubans, young and old, played their favourite game into the night to break the world record for most people playing chess simultaneously. Former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov was among the 13,000 people that Cuban officials claimed had succeeded in surpassing the current Guinness World Record of 11,320 players — set in Havana in December 2002.
Karpov launched the endeavour in this central city's Revolution Plaza on Thursday, working his way down long lines of tables to make the first move at several chessboards. Participants stared in awe at the Russian chess legend, who eventually switched to signing autographs. "I'm so happy, not everyone got one of these!'' said a 19-year-old medical student Gilberto Cassanova, waving a signature.
Santiago Rodriguez, who plays chess every day, said it was inspiring to see a world champion in the flesh. "It makes you want to follow his lead — he's such a disciplined person," said 16-year-old Rodriguez, who plans to become a chef.

A spokeswoman for the Guinness Book of Records said from London that the attempt would indeed set a new world record if authenticated, a process that will take up to six weeks.

Along with Karpov, the plaza was dominated by the 20-tonne bronze statue of Guevara holding a rifle and looking ready for war. The engraving below him reads "Toward victory, forever."

Guevara took control of Santa Clara more than four decades ago as part of the Cuban Revolution that pushed former dictator Fulgencio Batista out of power in 1959. Guevara's remains were brought here in 1997, some 30 years after he was killed in Bolivia.
Even before arriving to Santa Clara, 250 km southeast of Havana, visitors are greeted by a highway hoarding showing Guevara's figure and the message that "Che is winning more battles than ever."
"Russia and Cuba and other countries should know their history and respect their heroes," Karpov, speaking in English, told reporters earlier in the day. "Of course, Che Guevara is a great hero for Cuba. He was trying to change lives here."
The Argentina-born Guevara was also a great chess player, and the first to launch the idea of simultaneous chess playing, according to his widow, Aleida March de la Torre, who attended Thursday's event.
A giant cloth poster of Guevara playing chess hung from palm trees in the plaza. Across the way was another cloth banner, this one a large, colour image of President Fidel Castro, wearing a green military uniform and laughing. Castro, who helped break the chess-playing record in 2002, was not present. A surprise guest, however, was Elian Gonzalez, the 10-year-old boy made famous after a high-charged custody battle between his Cuban family and relatives in Miami.
Gonzalez was found clinging to an inner tube in the waters off Florida's coast in November 1999 after a shipwreck that killed his mother and others travelling out of Cuba. After some time in Miami, he was eventually returned to his father in Cuba, where he has lived since. The youngster, who did not play chess, seemed oblivious to the dozens of news cameras pointed his way. He was accompanied by his father, stepmother and two younger half-brothers.
Though some of the young players seemed restless an hour into the event, most participants were focussed and taking their games seriously.
"I love chess," said Julio Vizcaino, a 53-year-old chemistry teacher."It develops the mind," he said.