Levente Lengyel (13 June 1933 – 18 August 2014) was a Hungarian chess player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1964.

Levente Lengyel
Lengyel (Hoogovens 1964)
CountryHungary
Born(1933-06-13)13 June 1933
Debrecen, Hungary
Died18 August 2014(2014-08-18) (aged 81)
Budapest, Hungary
TitleGrandmaster (1964)
Peak rating2485 (July 1971)
Peak rankingNo. 96 (July 1971)

Background

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Lengyel gained the title of International Master in 1962 and became a Grandmaster in 1964. His final published rating from the international chess federation FIDE was 2293, although he had not been active for a number of years. At his peak, he was regarded as a strong grandmaster, competing for his nation at the top level and winning medals. He died in Budapest in 2014.[1]

Notable team results

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Lengyel played for Hungary in six Olympiads between 1960 and 1970. His most notable results were:

His overall Olympiad record was 41 points from 70 games.[2]

Lengyel also played in the European Team Chess Championship three times between 1961 and 1970.[3] His results were as follows:

  • 2nd European Team Championship 1961 Oberhausen - Lengyel scored 5½/10 and Hungary finished 3rd receiving bronze medals.
  • 3rd European Team Championship 1965 Hamburg - Lengyel scored 5½/10 receiving an individual bronze medal. Hungary also finished 3rd for team bronze.
  • 4th European Team Championship 1970 Kapfenberg - Lengyel scored 3½/7. Hungary finished 2nd receiving silver medals.

Notable individual results

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Lengyel also played in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, a preliminary round of the World Chess Championship, achieving 12th place with 13/23, 1.5 points short of qualifying for the candidates matches (the winner was Smyslov with 17).[7]

Notable games

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Portisch - Lengyel,
Málaga 1964
hgfedcba
1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1
22
33
44
55
66
77
88
hgfedcba
after 52. f4
Darga - Lengyel,
Amsterdam 1964
hgfedcba
1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1
22
33
44
55
66
77
88
hgfedcba
after 41... R6xe2+

Lengyel had wins against former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik,[8] but perhaps his two most memorable results were two games which finished in somewhat unorthodox fashion:

Portisch - Lengyel, Málaga 1964, where he achieved a stalemate draw with a spectacular queen sacrifice.[9]

In the left-hand board position (after 52. f4) Lengyel played 52... Qg4+! 53. Kh6 (53. Kxg4 is stalemate and 53. Kf6 is met by 53... Qe6+ with stalemate if the queen is taken, otherwise the game will end in perpetual check) Qg5+!! after which any of the three captures of the queen leads to stalemate.

Darga - Lengyel, Amsterdam 1964, where Darga resigned in a clearly winning position.[10]

In the right-hand board position (after 41... R6xe2+) Darga played 42. Resigns??, instead of 42. Rxe2 Bxh4+ 43. Ke3 where White should win with his additional material. It appears that both players missed that 43. Ke3 would be possible.

References

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  1. ^ Fehér Gyula (2014-08-19). "Lengyel Levente (1933–2014)" (in Hungarian). Hungarian Chess Federation (Magyar Sakkszövetség). Retrieved 2014-08-20.
  2. ^ "Olympiad results card". Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  3. ^ "European Team Championship results card". Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  4. ^ "Malaga 1964 crosstable" (in Polish). Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  5. ^ "Rubinstein Memorial 1966 crosstable" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  6. ^ "Reggio Emilia 1972-3 crosstable" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  7. ^ "1964 Amsterdam Interzonal crosstable". Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  8. ^ "Lengyel - Botvinnik, Belgrade 1969". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  9. ^ "Portisch - Lengyel, Malaga 1964". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  10. ^ "Darga - Lengyel, Amsterdam 1964". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
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