The World Chess Marathon 2026 took place from June 25 to 28 in Lima, Peru. More than 800 players set a collective world record for the longest chess marathon.

Participants played chess continuously for 69.5 hours, playing over 12,000 games. The event included 3 Blitz tournaments, 2 Rapid tournaments, and an exhibition match between 🇦🇷 Faustino Oro and 🇲🇽 Jose Martinez Alcantara.

🇵🇪 GM Jorge Cori, 🇨🇱 GM Pablo Salinas, and 🇲🇽 GM Jose Martinez won the Blitz tournaments, and 🇨🇱 GM Cristobal Henriquez and 🇦🇷 IM Faustino Oro won the Rapid tournaments. Faustino defeated Jospem in the exhibition match with a score of 4-2 with three wins and one loss.

The World Chess Marathon 2026 was organized by WR Chess in collaboration with the Peruvian Chess Federation. The previous record for the longest chess marathon belonged to Nigerian chess player and coach, Tunde Onakoya. He set the record of 64 hours in Times Square on April 20, 2025.

Credit: Wadim Rosenstein Instagram