Chinese GM Zhou Jianchao ended his unbeaten streak in February after 158 classical games. Zhou set the longest known consecutive unbeaten streak in classical chess.

Zhou Jianchao lost to GM Francesco Sonis in the fourth round of the Connecticut Classical tournament, held from February 6 to 8. A total of 158 classical games were played across 26 FIDE-rated tournaments. This result is 3 games more than GM Bogdan Lalic’s streak of 155 games without defeat in 2010-2011.

Zhou’s opponents had an average rating of 2298, while his own rating stands at 2581. During the streak, Zhou gained 21 rating points.

Zhou Jianchao

Zhou Jianchao

Chinese-American GM

“I didn’t know how many games I played without defeat. The psychological mindset is very important. If I thought about it, it would affect my play, and I would have lost much earlier.”

Zhou Jianchao is a Chinese-American GM and the Champion of the US Chess Grand Prix 2023. Magnus Carlsen’s longest unbeaten streak is 125 games, which lasted from August 1, 2018, to October 10, 2020.

Credit: Austin Fuller