Wateringer Martijn van IJzendoorn (26) achieved the world record for simultaneous clock checkers on Saturday. In a period of 4 hours 24 minutes he achieved the required winning percentage of 70 percent.

In a simultaneous chess game, one player, in this case Van IJzendoorn, plays against several players at the same time. To get the world record, the Wateringen grandmaster competed against fifty opponents in Gouda today. Westlander had to achieve a winning percentage of at least 70 percent, and this was more than achieved. He won 38 matches, drew 12 and lost none. After that the winning percentage reached 88 percent. With this he took the world record from the hands of Russian multiple world champion Alexander Georgiev.

Ahead of the record attempt, IJzendoorn admitted that he had prepared himself optimally. “For training, I played two matches against 30 players. I won them with 73 and 85.7 percent respectively.”

Van IJzendoorn played against guys who could have signed up for this. And they all have certain powers. He averages no more than 2 to 3 seconds per move per opponent.

Champion

Van IJzendoorn has been involved in the game from a young age. During his debut at the National Championship in 2017, IJzendoorn became the Dutch chess champion and has been part of the Dutch Team since then. He then finished third twice more at the European Championships. Today, on September 16, 2023, he added to the world record for simultaneous clock checkers.