World records in chess

This is a list of world records in chess as achieved in organized tournament, match, or simultaneous exhibition play.

The longest tournament chess game (in terms of moves) ever to be played was Nikolić–Arsović, Belgrade 1989, which lasted for 269 moves and took 20 hours and 15 minutes to complete a drawn game. At the time this game was played, FIDE had modified the fifty-move rule to allow 100 moves to be played without a piece being captured in a rook and bishop versus rook endgame, the situation in Nikolić versus Arsović. FIDE has since rescinded that modification to the rule.

The longest decisive tournament game is Danin–Azarov, Turnov 2016, which Danin won in 239 moves. In the 9th round of THT Extraliga (highest Czech team league), Danin needed to win his game to make the match end in a 4:4 draw. Although he managed to do that, his team (TŽ Třinec) was relegated from the highest league in the end.

The second longest decisive tournament game is Fressinet–Kosteniuk, Villandry 2007, which Kosteniuk won in 237 moves. The last 116 moves were a rook and bishop versus rook ending, as in Nikolić – Arsović. Fressinet could have claimed a draw under the fifty-move rule, but did not do so since neither player was keeping score, it being a rapid chess game. Earlier in the tournament, Korchnoi had successfully invoked the rule to claim a draw against Fressinet; the arbiters overruled Fressinet's argument that Korchnoi could not do so without keeping score. Fressinet, apparently wanting to be consistent, did not try to claim a draw against Kosteniuk in the same situation.

The longest game played in a world championship is the fifth game of the 1978 match between Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov. Korchnoi's 124th move, as White, produced stalemate.

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