7/7/2026 – Three full days! What if, out of those 72 hours, you play chess for 67 hours? Would you be able to survive? This was the question posed to all the players as the WR Chess World Record Marathon kicked off in Lima, Peru at the Sheraton Hotel. Some of the best grandmasters from South America participated in this amazing chess celebration that had US$100,000 at stake! We bring you the entire report from Lima.
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Jorge Cori conquers the WR Chess Marathon, 12-year-old Faustino Oro impresses
South America had always been a continent I wanted to visit. And thanks to the 67-hour world record marathon event organized by WR Chess, I got a chance to travel to the continent. I travelled to Lima, Peru together with my better half Amruta and my team member Abhyudaya, to cover one of the most unusual chess events. The WR Chess Marathon, a world-record attempt of 67 continuous hours of chess! Absolutely insane. Before I tell you what happened over those days, I want to share why Peru is not just another dot on the map for me.
My gateway to Peru
My acquaintance with Peruvian chess came through the Cori siblings. I believe Jorge Cori came to India during the World Juniors in 2014, and ever since, the surname "Cori" has been my window into Peru as a chess nation.
In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.
The starting list of the World Juniors 2014 held in Pune - Jorge Cori was already 2600+ rated
Twelve years ago: video of Jorge Cori learning the piano
Deysi Cori, Jorge's sister, is the current Peru number-one in women's chess. She remains a very memorable opponent in my chess career, as it was after playing her in 2014 that I reached 2400 on the live ratings and actually became an IM. She had also beaten me in 2017 when we played in Jakarta, Indonesia.
I was lucky to get a chance to play Jorge at the WR Chess Marathon, and we did play quite an exciting game! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Another personality who has absolutely put Peru on the world map is Julio Granda Zúñiga | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Master your middlegame with the complete strategy series – now available as a bundle at a reduced price. Take your chance to save and improve! Master your middlegame with the complete strategy series – now available as a bundle at a reduced price. Take your chance to save and improve!
WIM Angela Franco is the better half of Niklesh Jain (Hindi ChessBase India), and someone who is very close to both Amruta and me
From Angela (who comes from Colombia) I have known that South Americans can be very kind. Angela is a connection between South America and India. So when I landed in Lima, it did not feel like arriving in a strange land. It felt like I was going to meet people whom I already knew!
What is the WR Chess Marathon?
The Sheraton Historic Hotel in Lima, Peru | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
The lobby of the Sheraton Hotel was buzzing with incredible energy | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The playing hall filled to the brim - guess what the time is at this point... | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
...4.31 a.m. | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
Held at the Sheraton Lima Historic Centre from 25 to 28 June 2026, the marathon was a punishing, beautiful test of endurance - for players, arbiters and organisers alike. The programme was split into two halves:
Exhibition events (A to C): the headline Match Oro vs. Martínez, the "Master Class Handicap Blitz – Beat the Grandmaster" (5 minutes vs. 1 minute), and a rolling series of grandmaster and world-class simuls that ran deep into the night - one session finishing at 12 a.m, the next beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Main tournaments (D to K): three Bughouse team events, three Blitz tournaments and two Rapid tournaments, all feeding into an overall Grand Prix.
Juice and biscuits were placed for all the players | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
The King‘s Indian Attack is a universal opening: easy to learn, flexible, and rich in both tactical and positional opportunities.
Along with tea and coffee! | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
The single most striking decision by the organisers was this: there was no entry fee at all. It was an incredibly generous gesture. This helped to promote the event and bring so many people to play from not just Peru, but all across South America. On the flip side, with nothing at stake to register, many players who had signed up simply didn't turn up, which meant the arbiters had to constantly rework pairings and keep the machine running against a moving target.
The arbiters worked extremely hard around the clock | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
None of this would have happened without the funds provided by Wadim Rosenstein and WR Chess. Enormous effort came from tournament director GM Sebastian Siebrecht, while Martha Fierro played a key role in holding everything together.
Wadim Rosenstein sponsored the entire prize fund of US$100,000 and made it a grand festival for the Peruvians and South Americans | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Wadim Rosenstein giving autographs to fans in Lima | Photo: Amruta Mokal
GM Sebastian Siebrecht, the tournament director, with 12-year-old Faustino Oro | Photo: Amruta Mokal
IM Martha Fierro not only played the role of a host, but she also played in one of the events! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Jorge Cori wins the Grand Prix
The man of the marathon was Jorge Cori. The Peruvian GM won the overall Grand Prix, taking the top prize of US$7,000 and finishing as the event's highest earner with a total of US$16,000 across all the tournaments and the Grand Prix combined. For a home hero, in front of a home crowd and after more than 67 hours of chess, it doesn't get much sweeter than that.
Jorge Cori receiving the top prize from Wadim Rosenstein
Pablo Salinas Herrera takes on Jorge Cori in one of the midnight blitz events | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
Jorge Cori is no longer a professional player. He now runs an online chess academy and lives with his wife and cats in Mexico. Here are some wonderful pictures that Jorge shared with us.
A happy family!
With lots of medals in the background and the love from your near ones - isn't that a perfect life?
Doesn’t every chess game get decided by mistakes? Absolutely. But most players never truly comprehend that they are making the same kind of mistakes over and over again.
Jorge's better half is Ivette García Morales. She is the Director of ChessKid in Spanish
An interview with the Pragg and Vaishali of Peru - the siblings Jorge and Deysi Cori
Behind Cori in the Grand Prix, Daniel Yeager (USA) and Eilia Zomorrodian (CAN) shared the next two places, each collecting 4000 USD each. They earned their points by top finish in two bughouse events.
Daniel Yeager receives his prize from the President of the Peruvian Chess Federation, Víctor Pimentel
Interview with Daniel Yeager at the end of the event
Wadim Rosenstein played with GM Leinier Dominguez in Bughouse
The 12-year-old who stole the show: Faustino Oro
The amazing Fausti! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
If Jorge was the marathon's champion, Faustino Oro was its phenomenon. At just 12 years old, the Argentine sensation was electric all weekend. He won both rapid tournaments, and in both of them he finished on 8/9, edging GM Cristóbal Henríquez Villagra of Chile on tiebreak in a field that included Jorge Cori himself (8th) and a host of grandmasters.
The number of people following the games of Faustino was huge | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Deysi Cori v. Faustino Oro - an incredibly intense game that ended in the youngster's favour | Photo: Amruta Mokal
On top of that, Faustino came out on top in the exhibition Match Oro v. Martínez against GM José Eduardo Martínez Alcántara, taking the US$6,000 winner's share. Watching a boy this young handle this kind of pressure - and this many games - was one of the highlights of the trip.
Faustino also tried his hand at Bughouse chess, teaming up with Harshit first and with Carolina Luján in the second | Photo: Amruta Mokal
It was so much fun to analyse with Faustino, as he came to our room after the Grand Prix ended | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Here are two of Faustino's best games. Check out the analysis in the video below.
Interview with Faustino where he shows two of his best games from each of his rapid victories
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
Leontxo García, the man who has done more to popularise chess in Spanish language than anyone else, with Faustino Oro | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Faustino enjoying a ChessBase India video with his dad Alejandro
Can you guess which video it was? Here it is:
An exciting Amruta Mokal v. Faustino Oro time-odds match
Faustino giving an autograph to one of his "little fans"! It's clear that Faustino is going to inspire an entire continent with his exploits in the years to come | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The star of the event, José Martínez, who grew up in Peru and lived in Lima for several years, before moving to Mexico
José Martínez speaks about his experience of playing the WR Chess Marathon
Former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova giving a simul | Photo: Amruta Mokal
What an opportunity for the people of Peru to play the super-GM Leinier Domínguez | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The Bughouse heroes: Yeager and Plotkin
Bughouse - that chaotic, joyful, four-board team format - produced two standout stories that I made sure to cover. Daniel Yeager and his partner Eilia Zomorrodian were untouchable in the early stages, winning both Bughouse #1 and Bughouse #2. Then Mark Plotkin, the Canadian IM, closed the loop by winning the final Bughouse event alongside his partner Tobias Rizzo. Between them, they owned the bughouse boards from start to finish.
If you wanted to get better at Bughouse, this might be a good video to begin your journey
A word for the people who made it run
A marathon like this is measured not only in what happens on the boards. I want to recognise the work done by Chief Arbiter Gerhard Bertagnolli, who gave everything to keep the schedule flowing on time across three days and nights. The local arbiters' team worked tirelessly too, often under difficult, unpredictable conditions: 67 hours of chess is exhausting for everyone - the players, the arbiters, the officials. That the event ran as smoothly as it did is a tribute to all of them.
The work that was put in by the arbiters was absolutely insane | Photo: Amruta Mokal
In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.
Whatever be the time, they were awake! | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
Gerhard with tournament director Sebastian Siebrecht | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Faustino checks with Gerhard on what is delaying the proceedings | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Some amazing shots
Wherever people found space, they would sleep in between the rounds | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
Sometimes at the board as well | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
GM Harshit Raja taking power naps (also read as collapsed) between his games
The vlog of GM Harshit Raja, as he finished third in the blitz tournament, is not to be missed
Master your middlegame with the complete strategy series – now available as a bundle at a reduced price. Take your chance to save and improve! Master your middlegame with the complete strategy series – now available as a bundle at a reduced price. Take your chance to save and improve!
The team from St. Nevis and Kitts | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Proud Peruvians!
Personal note
I played intense games of chess after quite some time | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Although I played decent chess in the two rapid events in which I participated, I just couldn't handle my nerves under time pressure. I had quite dismal results, losing around 50 Elo points in both the events, pushing my rapid rating below 2200.
Sagar's 18 games
Playing these 18 games ignited within me the search for deeper understanding for chess. The videos I made after it or the interviews I did, I enjoyed them a lot more. I feel playing chess keeps one sharp. Whether you are a journalist, coach or associated with chess in some way - it is a very good idea to play tournaments from time to time.
After Amruta cut her hair a few months ago, a lot of people in the chat started to call her the Indian Faustino for fun. Getting the opportunity, Amruta made sure that she has a picture with Fausti! :)
Hanging out with a bunch of amazing people - Harshit Raja, Sebastian Siebrecht, Fiona Antoni Steil and yours truly
Peru welcomed us with open arms, and I leave the country with a deeper appreciation for a chess nation I had only ever known through two siblings and one dear friend. The WR Chess Marathon was a record of hours - but for me, it was really a record of the people who filled them.
The people who worked hard together to make this event happen | Photo: Amruta Mokal
The closing ceremony of the WR Chess World Record Marathon
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.
6/24/2026 – Wadim Rosenstein is currently organising a Chess World Tour with his company WR Chess. Following the Women's Chess Tour in Tokyo and Magnus Carlsen's appearance at the ASEAN E-Sports Chess Cup in Bangkok, the WR Chess Group is now making a stop in Lima, Peru, with the World Record Chess Marathon. Eight events will be held over four days.
2/22/2026 – Twelve-year-old Argentine talent Faustino Oro is set to compete in the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, one of the strongest open tournaments on the international circuit. With two GM norms already secured and the rating requirement met, the event represents his final opportunity to become the youngest-ever GM in history. The Moscow tournament brings together an exceptionally strong field, with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Andrey Esipenko and Daniil Dubov as the top seeds. | Photo: Argentine Chess Federation
On this 60 mins video we are going to concentrate on a simple, very solid idea in the main line Scandinavian, which even Magnus Carlsen has used to win games. Black focusses on making his life easy in the opening and forces White to work very hard to get advantage – but it is doubtful if White can get an advantage. Club players are always on the lookout for effective, time-saving solutions and here we have just that. Accompany FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin on this 60 mins video. You can learn a new opening system in 60 mins and start to play it with confidence on the very same day!
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
“Mate is great!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “The 8th rank” – Andy Woodward analyses his game against Magnus Carlsen from TePe Sigeman 2026, “A modern Nimzo-Indian” – Andrei Volokitin introduces readers to "his" system and much more!
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
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