TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian grandmaster Morteza Mahjoub started his simultaneous exhibition in Tehran Thursday 9 am to take on 500 opponents.

The Rokh-dar-rokh 500 (rook versus rook 500) exhibition will put his name on Guinness world record. Currently, the record belongs to Kiril Georgiev from Bulgaria with 360 games over 14 hours.

To win the exhibition Mahjoub needs to beat at least 80 percent of the players from among 200 professional chess players, 280 chess enthusiasts, and 20 cinema actors and sportsmen, the Iranian students news agency reported.

The 29-year old grandmaster started physical training last month to get ready for an exhibition that is to take 16 hours and requires him to walk almost 40 kilometers.

He has been a member of the Iranian National Chess Team for twelve years and became Iran Youth Champion in 1994 when he was 13.

In 1995 he was Iran Students Champion and in 2000, he managed to beat grandmaster Anatoly Karpov in a simultaneous chess game between Karpov and the Iranian National Chess Team.

... Payvand News - 08/13/09 ... --