Some World records in the
game of
chess (as played at the professional level):
The longest chess game ever to be played was Nikolic - Arsovic, Belgrade 1989, which lasted for 20 hours and 15 minutes with a 269 move draw.
The shortest decisive game ever played in a tournament is often considered to be was Djordjeic - Kovacevic, Bela Crkva 1984. It lasted for only 3 moves (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c6 3.e3 Qa5+ winning the bishop).
There have been a number of forfeited games (which could technically be regarded as a loss in zero moves - the most notable example is game two of the 1972 World Championship match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer), and a number of shorter frivolous examples (a game between Fischer and Panno, for example, went 1. d4 d5 2.c4 resigns - Panno's resignation is more a sign of his unwillingness to play than any reflection of the position on the board).
In the game between Filopowicz and Smederavac, Polanica Zdroj 1966, lasted went 70 moves without a single capture. The game ended as a draw.
Nuber - Keckeisen, Mengen 1994 lasted 31 moves without a single capture. In the end Keckeisen resigned.