Levente Lengyel
Encyclopedia
Levente Lengyel is a Hungarian
chess
player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1964.
gives his highest rating as 2627 in December 1964, which places him 36th in the world at that time.
He is still rated by the international chess federation FIDE, with a rating in September 2009 of 2293.
between 1960 and 1970. His most notable results were:
Lengyel's overall record was 41 points from 70 games.
Lengyel also played in the European Team Chess Championship 3 times between 1961 and 1970. His results were as follows:
Lengyel also played in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, (an preliminary round of the World Chess Championship
) achieving 12th place with 13/23 (the winner was Smyslov with 17)
Lengyel had wins against former World Champions Mikhail Tal
and Mikhail Botvinnik
, but perhaps his two most memorable results were two games which finished in somewhat unorthodox fashion:
Portisch - Lengyel, Malaga
1964, where he achieved a stalemate
draw with a spectacular queen sacrifice
.
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.
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.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1964.
Background
Lengyel gained the title of International Master in 1962 and became a Grandmaster in 1964. ChessmetricsChessmetrics
Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...
gives his highest rating as 2627 in December 1964, which places him 36th in the world at that time.
He is still rated by the international chess federation FIDE, with a rating in September 2009 of 2293.
Notable team results
Lengyel played for Hungary in six OlympiadsChess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
between 1960 and 1970. His most notable results were:
- 15th Chess Olympiad15th Chess OlympiadThe 15th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between September 15 and October 10, 1962, in Varna, Bulgaria.-References:* OlimpBase...
1962 VarnaVarnaVarna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
- Lengyel scored 8½/12 receiving an individual bronze medal, and Hungary finished 5th of 37 teams. - 17th Chess Olympiad17th Chess OlympiadThe 17th Chess Olympiad, organized by the FIDE and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between October 23 and November 20, 1966, in Havana, Cuba.-References:* OlimpBase...
1966 HavanaHavanaHavana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
- Lengyel scored 4/10 and Hungary finished 3rd of 52 teams, receiving bronze medals - 19th Chess Olympiad19th Chess OlympiadThe 19th Chess Olympiad, comprising an open team tournament and the Annual Congress of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, took place between September 5 and September 27, 1970, in the small town of Siegen, West Germany.-Tournament report:...
1970 SiegenSiegenSiegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
- Lengyel scored 5½/12 and Hungary finished 2nd of 60 teams, receiving silver medals
Lengyel's overall record was 41 points from 70 games.
Lengyel also played in the European Team Chess Championship 3 times between 1961 and 1970. His results were as follows:
- 2nd European Team Championship 1961 OberhausenOberhausenOberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
- Lengyel scored 5½/10 and Hungary finished 3rd receiving bronze medals. - 3rd European Team Championship 1965 HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
- Lengyel scored 5½/10 receiving an individual bronze medal. Hungary also finished 3rd for team bronze. - 4th European Team Championship 1970 KapfenbergKapfenbergKapfenberg is a city in Styria, Austria, near Bruck an der Mur. The town's landmark is Burg Oberkapfenberg. Main employer in the city of Kapfenberg was and still is the steel manufacturer Böhler....
- Lengyel scored 3½/7. Hungary finished 2nd receiving silver medals.
Notable individual results
- 1962 Hungarian Championship (Budapest) 1st= (lost to Lajos PortischLajos PortischLajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik"...
in a playoff) - 1964 Hungarian Championship (Budapest) 3rd= (behind Portisch)
- Malaga 1964 2nd= 7½/11(with Portisch, winner Arturo PomarArturo PomarArturo Pomar Salamanca is a Spanish chess Grandmaster .A chess prodigy , and a pupil of Alexander Alekhine, he became quite famous...
8½) - Rubinstein Memorial 1966 2nd= 9/14 (with Heinz Liebert, behind Vasily SmyslovVasily SmyslovVasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions . Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet Championship , and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won...
11) - Solingen 1968 1st
- Reggio Emilia 1972-3 1st= 7/11 (with Luben Popov)
Lengyel also played in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, (an preliminary round of the World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
) achieving 12th place with 13/23 (the winner was Smyslov with 17)
Notable games
Lengyel had wins against former World Champions Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
and Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
, but perhaps his two most memorable results were two games which finished in somewhat unorthodox fashion:
Portisch - Lengyel, Malaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
1964, where he achieved a stalemate
Stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves. A stalemate ends the game in a draw. Stalemate is covered in the rules of chess....
draw with a spectacular queen sacrifice
Queen sacrifice
In chess, a queen sacrifice is a move giving up a queen in return for tactical or positional compensation.-Queen sacrifice: real versus sham:...
.
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
Perpetual check
In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can force a draw by an unending series of checks. Such a situation typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate; while failing to continue the series of checks gives the opponent at least a chance...
) Qg5+!! after which any of the three captures of the queen leads to stalemate.
Darga - Lengyel, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
1964, where Darga
Klaus Darga
Klaus Viktor Darga is a German Grandmaster chess player.In 1951 Darga became German Junior Champion after winning the national under-20 championship. He also proved his strength as a young chessplayer by sharing first place in the World Junior Championship of 1953, with Oscar Panno of Argentina...
resigned in a clearly winning position.
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.