Levente Lengyel (13 June 1933 – 18 August 2014) was a Hungarian

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 ...

player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1964.

Background

Lengyel gained the title of

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 ...

in 1962 and became a Grandmaster in 1964. His final published rating from the international chess federation

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

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.

Notable team results

Lengyel played for Hungary in six

Olympiads An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unti ...

between 1960 and 1970. His most notable results were: * 15th Chess Olympiad 1962

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

- Lengyel scored 8½/12 receiving an individual bronze medal, and Hungary finished 5th of 37 teams. * 17th Chess Olympiad 1966

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

- Lengyel scored 4/10 and Hungary finished 3rd of 52 teams, receiving bronze medals *

19th Chess Olympiad The 19th Chess Olympiad (german: Die 19. Schacholympiade), comprising an open team tournament as well as the annual FIDE congress, took place between September 5–27, 1970, in Siegen, West Germany. The Soviet team with six Grandmasters, led by ...

1970

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...

- Lengyel scored 5½/12 and Hungary finished 2nd of 60 teams, receiving silver medals His overall Olympiad record was 41 points from 70 games. Lengyel also played 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 ...

three times between 1961 and 1970. His results were as follows: *2nd European Team Championship 1961

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) 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 Rout ...

- Lengyel scored 5½/10 and Hungary finished 3rd receiving bronze medals. *3rd European Team Championship 1965

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

- 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

*1962 Hungarian Championship (Budapest) 1st= (lost to

Lajos Portisch Lajos Portisch (born 4 April 1937) is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest non-Soviet players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated ...

in a playoff) *1963 Enschede Zonal 2nd= (with

Klaus Darga Klaus Viktor Darga (born 24 February 1934) is a German chess grandmaster. Chess career In 1951, Darga became German Junior Champion after winning the national under-20 championship. He also proved his strength as a young chess player by sharing ...

, behind Svetozar Gligoric) *1964 Hungarian Championship (Budapest) 3rd= (behind Portisch) *1964 Málaga 2nd= 7½/11 (with Portisch, winner

Arturo Pomar Arturo Pomar Salamanca (1 September 1931 – 26 May 2016) was a Spanish chess player. He was the first Spanish player to be awarded the title of grandmaster (GM), and was a seven-time national champion.. ajedrez.pastranec.netLeontxo Garcỉ''Muere ...

8½) *1966 Polanica Zdroj Rubinstein Memorial 2nd= 9/14 (with Heinz Liebert, behind

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 to ...

11) *1968 Solingen 1st (ahead of

Bruno Parma Bruno Parma (born December 30, 1941) is a Slovene- Yugoslav chess player and Grandmaster. Parma was born in Ljubljana, in Italian-occupied Slovenia. He first played in the World Junior Chess Championship in 1959, sharing second place. Two yea ...

, Ludek Pachman, Laszlo Szabo and

Jan Hein Donner Johannes Hendrikus (Hein) Donner (July 6, 1927 – November 27, 1988) was a Dutch chess grandmaster (GM) and writer. Donner was born in The Hague and won the Dutch Championship in 1954, 1957, and 1958. He took part in the Internacional Chess Tou ...

) *1972 Bari 1st *1972-73 Reggio Emilia 1st= 7/11 (with

Luben Popov Luben Popov ( bg, Любен Попов; born 28 January 1936) is Bulgarian chess International Master (IM) (1965), Bulgarian Chess Championship winner (1970), European Team Chess Championships individual medalist (1977, 1980), World Student Tea ...

) *1977 Budapest 1st *1977 Virovitica 1st *1977-78 Gausdal 1st *1980 Val Thorens 1st *1982 Val Thorens 1st= (with

Miodrag Todorcevic Miodrag Todorčević (''Миодраг Тодорчевић''; born 10 November 1940, in Belgrade) a Serbian-French chess master and coach. In his chess career, he represented Yugoslavia/Serbia (till 1968 and 1977–2003), France (1968–1977), an ...

) Lengyel also played in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, a preliminary round of the

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the World Chess ...

, achieving 12th place with 13/23 (the winner was Smyslov with 17)

Notable games

Lengyel had wins against former World Champion

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...

, but perhaps his two most memorable results were two games which finished in somewhat unorthodox fashion: Portisch - Lengyel,

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

1964, where he achieved a

stalemate Stalemate is a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior ...

draw with a spectacular

queen sacrifice In chess, a queen sacrifice is a move that sacrifices a queen in return for some compensation, such as a tactical or positional advantage. Queen sacrifice: real versus sham In his book ''The Art of Sacrifice in Chess'', Rudolf Spielmann disti ...

. 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 In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can a draw by an unending series of checks. This typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate, and failing to continue the series of checks give ...

) Qg5+!! after which any of the three captures of the queen leads to stalemate. Darga - Lengyel,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

1964, where

Darga Darga (Hebrew: ) is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books. The symbol for the darga resembles a backwards Z. The darga is usually followed by a Tevir. It is most often found in places where a Tevir clause has ...

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

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 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 ...

. It appears that both players missed that 43. Ke3 would be possible.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lengyel, Levente 1933 births 2014 deaths Chess grandmasters Hungarian chess players People from Debrecen