Marathon

Earlier this month, at the Kingston Invitational, Peter Lalic won a game against 12-year-old Billy Fellowes in 272 moves. Published in full, it would take up most of this article and resemble a cryptographic message more than a game of chess. But it earns a place in the record books as the longest over-the-board game in history, eclipsing the game Nikolic-Arsovic, Belgrade 1989, which was agreed drawn after 269 moves.

Billy Fellowes-Peter Lalic

Kingston Invitational, August 2024

The first diagram, at move 18, sets the scene. With more space to manoeuvre, Black holds a clear strategical advantage. The snag is that both of the natural pawn breaks which open up the position (b6-b5 or f6-f5) would improve White’s pieces in the short term by opening lines for Ra1/Bg2 and weakening a5/e5 pawns.

International chess rules state that if each side makes 50 moves without a pawn move or a capture, a player may claim a draw. Lalic cautiously marked time until that deadline and then nudged his pawn from c7-c6 at move 66, which reset the counter back to 0. Then at move 114 came c6-c5. At move 139 the queens were traded: Qh6xd2. Finally, at move 183, Lalic felt prepared to make the b6-b5 break. White exchanged on b5, and after a5-a4 came at move 216, Lalic went on to win rather easily. Fellowes could have resigned earlier, but at that point who could blame him for staggering on until mate?

Some onlookers suggested that Lalic’s war of attrition brought the game into disrepute, noting his penchant for inviting locked positions. It may have been tiresome, in every sense, but I had to admire his dogged persistence. Running down the clock and depleting the opponent’s resources are legitimate strategies, perfectly illustrated by the fact that the decisive blunder came shortly after the a5-a4 pawn break.