ADecember 05 1949
The Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto, California, Monday, December 05, 1949
Palo Altans Get Stalemate
Koltanowski sets new record for chess games in 12 hours
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 5 (AP)—Chess Expert George Koltanowski claimed a new world record today for the number of chess games played in 12 hours but was tied by two Palo Altans and beaten by a San Jose State College student.
In 12 hours he completed 257 games in a mass exhibition and had started a total of 271. He finished them all before quitting. He wound up last night with a record of 251 games won three lost and 17 drawn. The previous 12 hour record was 226.
Koltanowski took on his opponents 37 at a time. They ranged in age from 9-year-old Alto Lu Townes of Santa Rosa to 70-year-old Henry Strob, retired Stockton businessman.
In the grueling exhibition Koltanowski was on his feet constantly walking from chess board to chess board except for short rest periods and a brief whirl in a wheel chair. The occasion was a chess festival staged by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Santa Rosa master lost to Les Talcott, 21-year-old San Jose State College student; Andy Buschine, San Jose waterworks maintenance operator and Robert Wilson, San Francisco letter carrier.
Those getting a draw included Strob;
Francis Mills, Pacific Grove;
Robert Holton, Santa Rosa Junior College student;
M. E. Mattingly, Stockton contractor;
George B. Oakes, Salinas lettuce worker;
Frank S. Morsman, Palo Alto junior college student;
Edmund T. Dana, 63 Palo Alto; Lionel Wolfson, Sebastol, secretary of the Petaluma Chess Club.
