János Flesch (30 September 1933 – 9 December 1983) was a

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

Grandmaster, chess writer and coach, born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. He is best known for claiming a world record

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blindfold exhibition when he played 52 opponents in

in 1960. However, he was apparently allowed to consult scoresheets of the games and therefore his claim was disallowed. Flesch was awarded the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM) title in 1963 and the Honorary Grandmaster (GM) title in 1980. He died in an automobile accident"Szachy", nr 2/1984, p. 57 with his wife Ildiko Tenyei in Whitstable,

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, in 1983. Represented Hungary on the Tel-Aviv Chess Olympiad (1964) (fourth place), also participated in the

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

(1965) (third place). From 1967 he was working as chess trainer:
(1967–1970) Ferencvárosi Torna Club (FTC) Chess Club
(1971–1983) PMSC Chess Club

Playing style

János Flesch was an attacking player, taking risk in his games, developing an imaginative style of play. He often

sacrificed Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...

material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologi ...

in search for the

initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a pu ...

in chess. In many of his sharp games he won with a creative attack against the opponent's

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Notable chess games

Janos Flesch vs Mikhail Tal, Miskolc 1963, Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations,(B50), ½–½
The opponent is none other than the "Magician from Riga" the great World Champion - Mikhail Tal and Janos Flesch secures a draw in a fighting game.
Janos Flesch vs Hrumo, BFX Budapest 1960, King's Gambit: Accepted.Rosentreter-Testa Gambit,(C37), 1-0
A creative short attacking game, representing the playing style of J.Flesch.
Janos Flesch vs Viktor Korchnoi, Belgrade 1964, Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian. General,(B30), 1-0Janos Flesch vs Svetozar Gligoric, Belgrade 1964, King's Indian Attack(A07), ½–½Boris Spassky vs Janos Flesch, Tel-Aviv 1964, Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense. Main Line.(D57), ½–½

Writings

* * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flesch, Janos 1933 births 1983 deaths Chess grandmasters Chess coaches Hungarian chess players Hungarian chess writers Sportspeople from Budapest 20th-century chess players