It took GM Axel Smith more than 29 hours to complete a 49-board blindfold simul this weekend. The Swedish grandmaster scored a dominant 41-8—but said afterward that raising awareness for a climate cause mattered more than the result or any record.
The event, held from Friday to Saturday in Lund, Sweden, aimed to raise awareness of climate issues. The games were also broadcast on Chess.com.
In the end, Smith won 35 games. 12 games were drawn, and he had only two losses. “It went much better than expected,” Smith told Chess.com. “I never thought I would win that many games.”
The broadcast from the event is in Swedish, but will give you an idea of how it went.
The two losses came after he lost track of which squares pawns were on. “I can’t help feeling a little bad about the blunders in the two games I lost. It could have been more. In the last game, I forgot where his rook was, so I had to make a few waiting moves until he moved it again,” he said.
15 games began over the board in Lund, while the rest were played online. After the first few hours, all games continued online, allowing opponents to take breaks. In some cases, players fell asleep during the night, and staff stepped in to make moves on their behalf. Several returned to their games early in the morning, some as early as 4:30 a.m.
While most of his opponents were lower rated, there were also some familiar names. One was Swedish chess legend GM Ulf Andersson. That game ended at 2:30 a.m. when the 74-year-old offered a draw after 13 moves.
Another strong opponent was IM Isak Storme, who fell into a trap against his blindfolded opponent.
Smith also produced several smooth finishes against weaker opponents, including this checkmate after 17 moves.
Staying awake proved less of a challenge for Smith than those around him. His wife, WFM Ellinor Frisk, who helped make the moves for his online opponents, fell asleep several times.
The next day, the grandmaster was also ready for a local 5K run. Besides being a grandmaster, coach and author, Smith is also competitive runner who finished 13th in the Swedish Marathon Championship. He has a personal marathon best of 2:28:47.
“Focusing only on chess, I didn’t notice the time passing. It felt like the simul only lasted for a few hours, but when I occasionally took off the blindfold, I noticed it became dark, then sunny, then dark again. Now I feel a bit dizzy, but actually not very tired,” Smith said.
I noticed it became dark, then sunny, then dark again. Now I feel a bit dizzy, but actually not very tired.
—Axel Smith
Smith explained before the simul how he tracked positions using a system of mental images for each board. “The memory system worked well, and the organizers did a splendid job. I had no sense of how time passed, and when the last game finished, it felt like four hours.”
The 49-board simul is unlikely to be recognized as an official world record. According to the organizers at Olydig Folkomröstning (Disobedient Referendum), the event matched the criteria listed by Guinness, but several opponents took breaks during the marathon session.
“It doesn’t matter to us in the slightest,” said Helen Wahlgren from the organization. “The aim was to raise awareness for fossil peat extraction in Sweden.”
Smith was also quick to downplay comparisons with GM Timur Gareyev’s 48-game record from 2016.
“I am very happy with how it went, with only two clear blunders,” Smith said. “However, compared to Gareyev’s 48-board blindfold simul, I had weaker opponents, some draws were less played-out, I won a few games due to mouse slips, and took 50 percent longer time even though the games were four moves shorter on average.”
Smith noted the original purpose behind the event. “The aim was not the record; it was to raise attention in Sweden about fossil peat mining,” he said.
The simul ultimately achieved what it set out to do. “I am glad that chess was able to make a small contribution to the Disobedient Referendum.”
While the exhibition likely will lack official recognition, the performance remains one of the more demanding blindfold exhibitions completed.
