Question Re: 2004 Cuban Olympic Commemorative

Hello everyone. I hope I have posted this in the correct forum. I am new to collecting and have received some stamps on approval from Kenmore Stamp Co. In the recent batch, there was one that I found rather interesting and I'm hoping I can find a way to learn more about the stamp. It seems odd to me to have a picture with a chess theme on an Olympic stamp, or am I missing something that happened in 2004. Either way, I just kind of like this stamp.

Anyhow, if anyone has a link to a site that can give me some interesting historical info behind this stamp, I'd appreciate it. Google is proving frustrating.

Thanks in advance for any and all answers.

That Cuban souvenir sheet commemorates the 2nd Cuban Sports Olympiad, held in April of 2004.

The games concluded with a giant simultaneous chess match between Karpov and thousands of opponents. That is the reason why you see chess on that stamp. Of course, the stamp pictures Castro, not Karpov. Authority has its privileges.

At that time I believe it set a new world record for greatest number of simultaneous chess matches by one player. I do not know what is the current record.

The cancel on the souvenir sheet represents the final day of the Olympiad (Apr 30, 2004).

k

Wow. Thanks for all of that info, that's just what I was looking for.

You are quite welcome!



It was getting late, and I missed this part of your post.

I'm on a road trip right now and all I have access to is slow dial-up. I will try to find some links when I return home. There are probably no/few links to the stamp, but there should be a few links to the event.

k