JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Anatoly Karpov and Viswanathan Anand, two former world champions, took on dozens of children and teenagers in simultaneous chess games in Jerusalem on Monday as hundreds of onlookers watched.
The two Grandmasters were visiting Israel as part of the Jewish state’s 70th anniversary celebrations. Karpov faced 25 opponents and Anand took on 29 players outdoors in the afternoon sunshine with Jerusalem’s walled Old City as a backdrop.
Russian Karpov, 66, was world champion between 1975-85 and 1993-99, and 48-year-old Anand, from India, ruled the boards between 2000-2002 and 2007-13 before being succeeded by current world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
(Reporting by Ronen Zvulun, writing by Ori Lewis, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
