Smallest chess pieces recorded

JAKARTA (JP): Small is beautiful. Or it certainly is the case for Prasetyo Sumedi who was officially recognized yesterday as having made the smallest chess pieces in Indonesia.

The set was made in one week with the tallest pieces, the Kings, standing a "sizable" nine millimeters high and three millimeters wide.

The smallest pieces, the pawns, are seven millimeters tall and two millimeters wide.

The chess board is 35 millimeters square and 4.5 millimeters thick.

All the pieces are made of wood.

For his zeal, the resident of Salatiga, Central Java, received a certificate in Semarang, Central Java, stating that his accomplishment was now recorded in the Indonesian Museum of Records.

As reported by Antara, the certificate was presented by the museum's manager, Paulus Pangka, who said that it was the 300th record to be entered in the museum.

Another record which has recently been entered is the 40-story Mulia Senayan Hotel in South Jakarta, which at eight-and-a-half months was recorded as the fastest built.

In February, the museum entered the name of a 75-year-old man nicknamed "the man of a thousand faces" because he is able to twist his face into numerous positions.

Masngudin of Tegalsari Barat village near Semarang could change his face by moving the muscles in his eyes, mouth, and nose.

Paulus said it was possible that Masngudin's "miraculous ability" could be recorded also in the Guinness Book of World Records. (mds)