GMEhsan Ghaem Maghami

Ehsan Ghaem Maghami was born in Tehran in 1982 and learned chess from his father. He won Iran’s men’s championship at fourteen and subsequently accumulated thirteen national titles. He became Iran’s first grandmaster; FIDE records the title in 2001. He won the Kish grandmaster tournament in 2004. In 2009 he defeated Anatoly Karpov in a twenty-game match combining classical, rapid and blitz chess.

In February 2011 Ghaem Maghami played 604 opponents simultaneously at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. The exhibition lasted more than 25 hours and produced 580 wins, sixteen draws and eight losses, breaking the previous Guinness record. He also won the 2011 Avicenna Open in Hamadan. His international career has included many years playing first board for Iran.