After decades spent playing simultaneous chess, an 87-year-old Hungarian pensioner clinched a world record Sunday by finally overtaking a total set by 1920s Cuban Grand Master Jose Raul Capablanca, before calling it a day.

Almost 60 years since her first simultaneous games at a Chess Olympiad in 1957, Brigitta Sinka overtook the magic 13,545 number attributed to Capablanca, one of the world's best-ever players.

"I wanted to stop for a moment so everyone could reflect in memory of Capablanca," Sinka told AFP.

"There were so many people waiting for me to move my pieces however, so I simply carried on," she added.