Levente Lengyel (13 June 1933 – 18 August 2014) was a Hungarian chess player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1964.
Levente Lengyel | |
---|---|
Country | Hungary |
Born | Debrecen, Hungary | 13 June 1933
Died | 18 August 2014 Budapest, Hungary | (aged 81)
Title | Grandmaster (1964) |
Peak rating | 2485 (July 1971) |
Peak ranking | No. 96 (July 1971) |
Background
editLengyel 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
editLengyel played for Hungary in six Olympiads between 1960 and 1970. His most notable results were:
- 15th Chess Olympiad 1962 Varna - Lengyel scored 8½/12 receiving an individual bronze medal, and Hungary finished 5th of 37 teams.
- 17th Chess Olympiad 1966 Havana - Lengyel scored 4/10 and Hungary finished 3rd of 52 teams, receiving bronze medals
- 19th Chess Olympiad 1970 Siegen - Lengyel scored 5½/12 and Hungary finished 2nd of 60 teams, receiving silver medals
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
edit- 1962 Hungarian Championship (Budapest) 1st= (lost to Lajos Portisch in a playoff)
- 1963 Enschede Zonal 2nd= (with Klaus Darga, behind Svetozar Gligoric)
- 1964 Hungarian Championship (Budapest) 3rd= (behind Portisch)
- 1964 Málaga 2nd= 7½/11 (with Portisch, winner Arturo Pomar 8½)[4]
- 1966 Polanica Zdroj Rubinstein Memorial 2nd= 9/14 (with Heinz Liebert, behind Vasily Smyslov 11)[5]
- 1968 Solingen 1st (ahead of Bruno Parma, Ludek Pachman, Laszlo Szabo and Jan Hein Donner)
- 1972 Bari 1st
- 1972-73 Reggio Emilia 1st= 7/11 (with Luben Popov)[6]
- 1977 Budapest 1st
- 1977 Virovitica 1st
- 1977-78 Gausdal 1st
- 1980 Val Thorens 1st
- 1982 Val Thorens 1st= (with Miodrag Todorcevic)
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
editPortisch - Lengyel, Málaga 1964
|
Darga - Lengyel, Amsterdam 1964
|
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
edit- ^ Fehér Gyula (2014-08-19). "Lengyel Levente (1933–2014)" (in Hungarian). Hungarian Chess Federation (Magyar Sakkszövetség). Retrieved 2014-08-20.
- ^ "Olympiad results card". Retrieved 11 October 2009.
- ^ "European Team Championship results card". Retrieved 11 October 2009.
- ^ "Malaga 1964 crosstable" (in Polish). Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ^ "Rubinstein Memorial 1966 crosstable" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ^ "Reggio Emilia 1972-3 crosstable" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ^ "1964 Amsterdam Interzonal crosstable". Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ^ "Lengyel - Botvinnik, Belgrade 1969". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
- ^ "Portisch - Lengyel, Malaga 1964". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
- ^ "Darga - Lengyel, Amsterdam 1964". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
External links
edit- Levente Lengyel rating card at FIDE at the Wayback Machine (archived 2014-08-21)
- Levente Lengyel player profile and games at Chessgames.com