Peter Leko (; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

grandmaster and commentator. He became the world's youngest grandmaster in 1994. He narrowly missed winning the

Classical World Chess Championship 2004 The Classical World Chess Championship 2004 was held from September 25, 2004, to October 18, 2004, in Brissago, Switzerland. Vladimir Kramnik, the defending champion, played Peter Leko, the challenger, in a fourteen-game match. The match ended ...

: the match was drawn 7–7 and so

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

retained the title. He also came fifth in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 and fourth in the

World Chess Championship 2007 The World Chess Championship 2007 was held in Mexico City, from 12 September 2007 to 30 September 2007 to decide the world champion of the game of chess. It was an eight-player, double round robin tournament. Viswanathan Anand won the tourname ...

. Leko has achieved victories in many major chess tournaments, including the annual tournaments at

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, Linares,

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee (; ) is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus chess tournament or the Hoogove ...

and the Tal Memorial in Moscow. He won two team silver medals and an individual gold medal representing Hungary at eight

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

s as well as team bronze and silver and an individual silver medal at three European Team Championships. Leko has been ranked as high as fourth in the

FIDE world rankings The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" and rankings of countries according to the average r ...

, which he first achieved in April 2003.

Early years

Peter Leko was born into an ethnic Hungarian family in the city of

Subotica Subotica (, ; , , ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Central Europe and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Sub ...

, Yugoslavia, but moved to

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

when he was one year old. He was taught chess by his father shortly before he turned seven and took part in tournaments from the age of nine. His first coach Tibor Károlyi began work with him in 1989, ending three months before Leko became a grandmaster. They later reunited in 1998 until the end of 2000. Leko also worked with IM Gaspar Mathe when he was ten years old. As a junior, Leko competed in several age categories in the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. History Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015 (OR 2016), the event has been s ...

, winning bronze in the U10 in 1989, bronze in the U12 in 1990, fourth place in the U14 in 1992, silver in the U14 in 1993 and gold in the U16 in 1994. Leko earned 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 ...

title in 1992. In 1994, he became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 4 months and 22 days, at the time the youngest to have done so, breaking the record previously held by

Judit Polgár Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, widely regarded as the Strong (chess), strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years ...

. His norms came at a First Saturday tournament in Budapest and Leon (sharing third place with

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

and

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; ; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE ...

) in 1993, and shared third place at

Hoogovens Koninklijke Hoogovens known as Koninklijke Nederlandse Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken (KNHS) until 1996 or informally Hoogovens. is a Dutch steel producer founded in 1918. Since 2010, the plant is named Tata Steel IJmuiden. The steelworks based i ...

in 1994.

Rising to the top

Leko showed his class in winning at Copenhagen in 1995 with 8 points out of 11 games. Soon after, Leko competed at

where he shared third place (5 points out of 9 games) with

Vasyl Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk (; born March 18, 1969) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster, Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on t ...

, backing up his new world ranking, placing him 55th with 2605 Elo. At Belgrade, a last round loss to Ivanchuk pushed him down to eighth place. He slipped to last place in Dortmund in 1996 but recovered with fourth place in Vienna (5/9). In 1997, Leko won in Cienfuegos (5/9) and Yopal (6½/9) and took fourth place at the traditional Tilburg chess tournament (7/11) establishing him as a rising star, climbing to 16th in the world rankings in the January 1998 list. Leko continued his rise up the rankings with second place (7/11) behind

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion, a two-time World Rapid Chess Champion, a two-time Chess World Cup Champion and a World Blitz Chess Cup Champion. ...

at Tilburg in 1998, fourth place (5/9) in Dortmund and fourth place (6½/14) at Linares in early 1999. Leko's run of form culminated in achieving his first major tournament win (5/7) at Dortmund, half a point ahead of

. It was at this tournament that he met his future wife, Sofia. He made his first entry into World Championship tournaments at the FIDE World Chess Championship 1999 held in Las Vegas, defeating Christian Bauer 1½-½ but losing to eventual quarter-finalist

Sergei Movsesian Sergei Musheghi Movsesian (; born 3 November 1978) is an Armenian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1997. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team at the 2011 World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo. ...

after rapid tiebreaks 2½-1½. In January 2000, Leko faced the winner, FIDE World Champion

Alexander Khalifman Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman (; born 18 January 1966) is a Russian chess player and writer. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990, he was FIDE World Chess Champion in 1999. Early life Alexander Khalifman was born in St Petersb ...

in a six-game match held in Budapest, which he won 4½-1½. Leko followed up his victory by sharing second place (8/13) with Kramnik and Anand at Corus behind a dominant

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

, sharing last place (4½/10) at Linares and sharing second place (5/8) with Kramnik at Dortmund. At the

FIDE World Chess Championship 2000 The FIDE World Chess Championship 2000 was held in New Delhi, India, and Tehran, Iran. The first six rounds were played in New Delhi between 27 November and 15 December 2000, and the final match in Tehran started on 20 December and ended on 24 D ...

held in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

(rounds 1-6) and

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

(final), Leko was knocked out in the third round by Khalifman (4½-3½) after "sudden death" tiebreaks. In 2001, Leko posted solid results in Corus (6½/13), Linares (4½/10), third place in Dortmund (5½/10) and winning an eight-game

Chess 960 Chess960, also known as Fischer Random Chess, is a chess variant that randomizes the starting position of the pieces on the back rank. It was introduced by former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in 1996 to reduce the emphasis on opening prepa ...

(Fischer Random Chess) match against Michael Adams at Mainz. The year was rounded off with an early exit in the second round of the

FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 The FIDE World Chess Championship 2002 was held in Moscow, Russia. The first six rounds were played between 27 November and 14 December 2001, and the final match started on 16 January and ended on 23 January 2002. The Ukrainian Grandmaster Rusla ...

, held in Moscow, at the hands of

Ashot Anastasian Ashot Anastasian (; 16 July 1964 – 26 December 2016) was an Armenian chess Grandmaster. He won two team bronze medals and one individual gold medal at Chess Olympiads. On the March 2011 FIDE list, he had an Elo rating of 2556,Vadim Zvjaginsev.

Classical World Championship Challenger

Under the terms of the Prague Agreement signed in May 2002, "The Dortmund winner will play the Classical World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik and the present FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov will play Garry Kasparov, the current World's number one rated player". The Dortmund Chess Meeting was held in June 2002 with the format a two-stage event, with two-four player groups played as double round robins, with the two top players from each group progressing to a knockout stage determining the winner. Leko qualified comfortably from the B Group in second place to

Evgeny Bareev Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev (; born 21 November 1966) is a Russian-Canadian chess player, trainer, and writer. Awarded the FIDE Grandmaster title in 1989, he was ranked fourth in the world in the international rankings in 1992 and again in 2003, w ...

and faced

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, ; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994. He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classical world championshi ...

in a four-game match. This ended early with the score 2½-½ in Leko's favour. In the final of the Tournament Leko met

, who had been in good form in the run up to the tournament but had a draining match which had gone to tiebreaks against Bareev in the semi-finals. The match was won by Leko 2½-1½, ensuring he became the official challenger to

for the

. His Candidates triumph was followed up by leading the Hungarian team on board one to team silver in the

35th Chess Olympiad The 35th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and women's tournament, took ...

with an unbeaten run, along with sharing first (7/12) at Linares in early 2003 with Kramnik, half a point ahead of Anand and Kasparov, notably ending a ten super-tournament winning streak by Kasparov. This was shortly followed up by second place at the 12th Amber Melody tournament (Blind 6/11, Rapid 7½/11) a point behind Anand, and a solid result (5/9) in Budapest. At Dortmund, Leko disappointed with 4/10, considered to be due to the difficulties regarding the organising of the match with Kramnik. 2004 started brightly for Leko with shared second place (8/13) with Adams in Corus, half a point behind Anand and sharing second place (6½/12) with Kasparov in Linares, half a point behind Kramnik. He competed as part of an Armenia vs Rest of the World match, scoring 4/6 and finished in fourth place in Dortmund (held in the same format as the Candidates Tournament in 2002 but with play-offs for final positions).

Classical World Championship Match

After several delays due to the collapse of the Einstein Group, who were originally to have organised the match, Leko contested the

held from September 25 to October 18, 2004, in

Brissago Brissago (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Locarno (district), district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland, bordering Italy. Brissago lies on the western shore of Lake Maggiore and includes the Brissago Is ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Leko was helped by

Vladimir Akopian Vladimir Akopian (, ; born December 7, 1971) is an Armenian- American chess Grandmaster. Career Akopian was born in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union. He won the World Under-16 Championship in 1986 at the age of 14 and ...

Arshak Petrosian Arshak B. Petrosian (; born December 16, 1953) is an Armenian chess player and National Coach. FIDE awarded him the International Grandmaster title in 1984. He won the Armenian Chess Championship in 1974 and 1976. He became a prominent Soviet to ...

and

Vladislav Tkachiev Vladislav Tkachiev (, born November 9, 1973 in Moscow) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani-French chess grandmaster. Biography In 1982, he moved to Kazakhstan with his parents and learnt to play chess a year later. A winner of the Kazakhstani Youth Ch ...

. In a match containing six games agreed as drawn before 25 moves, Leko lost the first game in dramatic fashion despite placing Kramnik's Petroff Defence under pressure after making a blunder in an unbalanced endgame where his Queen was slowly outmanoeuvred by Kramnik's pair of Rooks. Then followed two short draws and a hard-fought draw in Game 4 where Leko over-pressed with Black in a

Ruy Lopez The Ruy Lopez (; ), also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez remains one of the most popular chess openings, featuring many variations. In ...

opening but Kramnik failed to take advantage of an extra pawn in the rook endgame. Leko equalised the match score in Game 5 after switching his White opening from 1.e4 to 1.d4 playing a

Queen's Gambit Declined The Queen's Gambit Declined (or QGD) is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 This is known as the ''Orthodox Line'' of the Queen's Gambit Declined. When the "Queen's Gambi ...

line that Kramnik was familiar with. Kramnik allowed himself to enter a Rook and Bishop endgame a pawn down but with the likely result a draw. Leko used his pawns to press through the centre. Kramnik believed he could construct a fortress and save a draw but Leko managed to find a way to convert the win. In game six, a short draw was agreed after Kramnik declined a pawn sacrifice. In game seven, Leko was surprised by an unusual move order in the opening and simplified the position leading to a draw soon after, closing out the first half of the match with the score 3½–3½. In Game 8, Leko scored an important win, taking the match lead for the first time. For the first time Kramnik allowed Leko to play the aggressive Marshall Attack variation of the Ruy Lopez. Kramnik played a queen sacrifice and continuation which his team had believed via computer analysis to be fine for him. However, Leko exploited a hole in the preparation and by sacrificing material created a decisive advantage. Between two short draws in Game 9 and 11, notable for Kramnik's change of opening with Black to

Queen's Indian Defence The Queen's Indian Defense (QID) is a chess opening defined by the moves: : 1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4, d4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6, Nf6 : 2. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. c4, c4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. c ...

, Game 10 saw Leko eventually finding a successful defence to Kramnik's opening advantage. That was enough to persuade Leko to change his opening with Black to the Caro-Kann for Game 12. Kramnik pressed but Leko found enough counterplay to repel him and secure a draw. In the penultimate Game 13, in search of a win, Kramnik switched opening again with Black to the dynamic

Benoni Defence The Benoni Defense, or simply the Benoni, is a chess opening characterized by an early reply of ...c5 against White's opening move 1.d4. The original form of the Benoni, now known as the Old Benoni, is characterized by : 1. b:Chess Opening Theor ...

and launched a kingside attack in the middlegame while Leko's pieces were on the queenside. Leko managed to liquidate the position to a tense Rook and pawn endgame where Leko's precise defence nullified Kramnik's advantage, leading to a draw. In a dramatic final game, with Leko needing only a draw to secure the Championship, Kramnik chose the Advance variation against Leko's Caro-Kann and placed immediate pressure on Leko using a line played during the Tal–Botvinnik World Championship Match of 1961. Leko's plan to exchange off White's pieces and form a fortress did not work and Kramnik was able to break through the Black position. Leko resigned when checkmate was threatened. Under the rules of the match, with the score tied 7–7, Kramnik retained his title as Classical World Champion and would move on to an eventual reunification match against Veselin Topalov in 2006.

Career after Brissago

Despite the drawn match, Leko maintained a high level in 2005, winning the Corus tournament with 8½/13. and finishing fourth at Linares (6/12). After taking a break, Leko attended the first

Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...

Rapid match against World No.7 Michael Adams in which Leko lost the first three games, won the next three and drew out the remaining two, ending the match 4-4. A 4/9 at Dortmund was followed by competing for the FIDE

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...

title in

San Luis, Argentina San Luis () is the capital city of San Luis Province in the Cuyo, Argentina, Cuyo region of Argentina. It is also the seat of the Juan Martín de Pueyrredón Department. City information Points of interest in the city include the Park of the Na ...

having qualified as most recent "Classical" challenger, finishing fifth with 6½/14. For more information, see FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. In 2006, Leko scored solid results at Corus (tied 7th, 6½/14), Morelia-Linares (fifth, 7½/14), a 4½-3½ win in the Miskolc Rapid match against

, Dortmund (tied third, 4/7) and in sharing first place with 5½/9 at the inaugural Tal Memorial, he completed a career "Grand Slam" of major tournament victories at Dortmund, Linares, Corus and Tal Memorial. The next year, Leko struggled at Morelia-Linares tying for last place and lost the Miskolc Rapid match 4½-3½ against

soon after. Leko regained his form for the Candidates Matches held between 26 May and 13 June, held to select 4 players for the

. The format was held as a 16-player two-round knockout tournament with each match best of six games. He comfortably won his matches against Mikhail Gurevich (+3−0=1) and

(+2−0=3), to qualify for the eight-player championship tournament. A few months later, he won the ACP World Rapid Chess Cup. Shortly after the

was held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

from 12–30 September as an 8-player double round robin. Leko finished in fourth place with 7/14 and rounded off the year tying for third place (4½/9) at the Tal Memorial. Peter Leko 2009

In 2008, Leko tied for fifth in a strong field at Corus with 7/13 but tied for last place in Morelia-Linares with 5½/14 and lost a Miskolc Rapid match 3½-4½ against 17-year-old

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

, but rebounded 4 months later with his third victory at Dortmund (after 1999 and 2002) with 4½/7, sixth place (4½/9) in a tough field at the Tal Memorial and securing individual gold on board 1 at the

38th Chess Olympiad The 38th Chess Olympiad (), organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from 12 to 25 November 2008 in Dresden, Germany. There were 146 teams ...

held in Dresden. Leko took part in the FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2010 which selected two players for the 2011 Candidates Tournament, electing to play in the four later tournaments in the 6-tournament cycle. In

Elista Elista (, ;"Большой энциклопедический словарь", под ред. А. М. Прохорова. Москва и Санкт-Петербург, 1997, стр. 1402 , ''Elst'', )The approximate pronunciation of the Cyr ...

, Russia, he shared fifth place with 6½/13, in

Nalchik Nalchik (, ; ; ) is the capital city of Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwest of Beslan (Beslan is in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania). It covers an area of ...

shared second with 7½/13, shared fourth at

Jermuk Jermuk () is a mountain spa town and the centre of the Jermuk Municipality of the Vayots Dzor Province in southern Armenia, at a road distance of east of the provincial capital Yeghegnadzor. It was considered one of the popular destinations for ...

with 7½/13 and shared seventh place at

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

with 6½/13. With his weakest result at Astrakhan not counting towards his points tally, he finished in seventh place overall with 320 points, the highest final placing of a player who did not win an event. As he did not take part in the World Cup held in 2011, Leko did not progress to the Candidates Tournament. Aside from the FIDE Grand Prix cycle, 2009 saw Leko lose a Miskolc Rapid match 3-5 against

, tie for second place with

and

Dmitry Jakovenko Dmitry Olegovich Jakovenko (; born 29 June 1983) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001. Jakovenko was European champion in 2012. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team at the 2009 World ...

with 5½/10 in a very strong Dortmund and finished in fourth place in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, China. He struggled at the Tal Memorial of 2009 scoring 3/9, broke even at Corus 2010 with 6½/13, lost what would be the final Miskolc Rapid match 3½-4½ against

Boris Gelfand Boris Abramovich Gelfand (; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, mak ...

and came bottom of the Dortmund field with 4/10. After representing Hungary in the

39th Chess Olympiad The 39th Chess Olympiad (, ''39-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organised by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from September 19 to October 4, 201 ...

in September he took several months away from chess. He made his return to chess at the

World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...

held in

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

, China in July 2011 with an undefeated 5½/9 on board 1. This was followed up by a shock first round exit from the

Chess World Cup 2011 The Chess World Cup 2011 was a chess World Cup tournament. It was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 26 August and 21 September 2011, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Cup winner Peter Svidler, along with second placed Alexan ...

against

Sam Shankland Samuel L. Shankland (born October 1, 1991) is an American chess grandmaster. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018. Shankland was California State Champion in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and Champion of State Champions in 2009. He won bron ...

and a third-place finish at the Saratov Governor's Cup. The year was rounded off with 5½/9 at the European Team Championships held in Halkidiki, Greece. Naiditsch-Leko 2012 Dortmund

In April 2012, Leko scored 4/6 for Moscow's SHSM-64 team at the Russian Team Championships then came second with 5/7 at Sigeman & Co Tournament, half a point behind

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

. At Dortmund, Leko shared third place with Kramnik, Naiditsch and

Ruslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov (; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004 and is the youngest holder of the title at the age of 18 years and 104 days, though the title was split ...

, scoring 5½/9 and narrowly missed a win against tournament winner Caruana, followed up by scoring 5½/10 at the

40th Chess Olympiad The 40th Chess Olympiad (), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event that took p ...

, held in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. In September 2012 he entered the

FIDE Grand Prix The FIDE Grand Prix is a biennial series of chess tournaments, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon. Each series consists of three to six chess tournaments, which used to form part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Champio ...

2012-13 as a nominee of AGON, who owned the rights to the World Championship cycle. At the first event, held in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he finished in fifth place with an undefeated 6/11 and at the

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

event tied for seventh with a solid 5½/11 a month later. In April 2013 at the

Zug Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; ; ; ; )Named in the 16th century. is the largest List of cities in Switzerland, town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug. Zug is renowned as a hub for some of the wealthiest individuals in the wor ...

event, he shared seventh place with

Sergey Karjakin Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and politician. A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title a ...

and

Anish Giri Anish Kumar Giri (; ; born 28 June 1994) is a Dutch chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance. It is played on ...

scoring 5/11. After skipping the event held in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

during the next month, he tied for third place with eventual series winner

at the fifth event held in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, scoring 6/11. Having completed his four tournaments in the cycle, Leko did not take part in the sixth and final event and finished the Grand Prix cycle in 13th place with 230 points (the result in Zug not counting towards his points tally). Outside of the Grand Prix cycle, Leko helped the SHSM team secure third place at the

European Chess Club Cup The European Chess Club Cup is an annual chess tournament for club teams from Europe. It is organised by the European Chess Union. The competition is held with the Swiss system over seven rounds. It consists of two sections, open and women's, with ...

held in Eilat, Israel in October 2012, with a score of 3/6. Leko also took part in the World Mind Games finishing seventh with 3½/7 in the Rapid section and 6½/15 in the Blitz. He placed a strong fifth place at the Tata Steel Chess (formerly Corus) event in January 2013 with 7½/13. In April, he scored 3/6 for Ugra in the Russian Team Championships and in July, shared third with 4½/9 at Dortmund with Naiditsch. Leko tied for third with 5/9 at the Sherbank Rapid held in

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in June. In August 2013, Leko was knocked out of the FIDE World Cup 2013 in the second round ½-1½ by

Julio Granda Julio Ernesto Granda Zúñiga (born February 25, 1967) is a Peruvian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster and four-time champion of the Americas. Career Born in Camaná, he learned how to play chess at the age of five. In 1980 he won the Worl ...

, followed by scoring 4½/7 for sixth-placed Ugra at the European Club Cup held in

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in October. Leko finished the year at the World Mind Games with tied first in the Rapid section (losing out on head-to-head tiebreak) but tired with a 16th placed 11/30 in the Blitz section. In April 2014, Leko played in the Russian Team Championships for Malachite scoring 5/7, in July tied for second with 4/7 at Dortmund with

Georg Meier Georg "Schorsch" Meier (; 9 November 1910 – 19 February 1999) was a German Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer famous for being the first foreign winner of the prestigious Senior TT, the Blue Riband race of the Isle of Man TT Races, in 1939 ri ...

and contributed to a team silver medal at the

41st Chess Olympiad The 41st Chess Olympiad (), organised by the FIDE, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess even ...

with 5/10. In August 2015, he played a 6-game match with Chinese Grandmaster Li Chao in the city of Szeged in Hungary. He lost the match +0-2=4. Since November 2017, he has been coaching the German prodigy

Vincent Keymer Vincent Keymer (born 15 November 2004) is a German chess grandmaster. He was the No.1 in the FIDE World Chess Ratings for Juniors in January 2024. Chess career Vincent Keymer was born in Mainz, Germany, a city that has a long history of hostin ...

Team chess results

Leko first represented Hungary aged 15 years and two months at the

31st Chess Olympiad The 31st Chess Olympiad (, ''31-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, took pla ...

, going on to make nine more appearances at the Chess Olympiad, winning two team silvers and an individual gold, as follows: : Leko also took part in numerous Team Chess Championships, both at

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and

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level (notably debuting at Debrecen in 1992 at the age of 13 years 2 months), with results as follows: :

Playing style

Peter Leko is known for playing in a solid and steady manner, avoiding risks. In his words, "I like to play in a “clean and clear” way, and I am definitely not the type of guy who takes unnecessary risks. I believe much more in the logic of our game rather than gambling on your opponent's nerves." Jacob Aagaard commented, "Peter Leko has three essential qualities (that I know about). He has a great opening repertoire, he is a greatly gifted technical player and a very nice guy. If he had a good understanding of dynamics as well, he would have been one of the greatest players of our time (rather than just one game away from being World Champion!)." Despite criticism that his style leads to drawish chess, his consistent style has seen him remain in the elite since he was a teenager and win multiple elite-level tournaments. Leko has acted as a second in World Championship matches (for Anand vs Karpov in Lausanne 1997, for Kramnik vs Anand in Bonn 2008, for Anand vs Carlsen in Chennai 2013) due to his theoretical understanding in the openings phase of the game.

Sample game

On the way to winning the prestigious

Corus chess tournament The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...

in 2005, Leko defeated

with the black pieces. The moves were: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. c3 Bg7 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 0-0 14. Nce3 Be6 15. Bd3 f5 16. 0-0 Ra7 17. a4 Ne7 18. Nxe7+ Rxe7 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bxb5 d5 21. Ra6 f4 22. Nc2 Bc8 23. Ra8 Qd6 24. Nb4 Bb7 25. Ra7 d4 26. Ba6? (see diagram) :Better was 26.Bc6 Bxc6 27.Rxe7 Qxe7 28.Nxc6 with approximate equality. 26... Bxg2! 27. Bc4+ Kh8 28. Ra6 Qc5 29. Kxg2 f3+ 30. Kh1 Qxc4 31. Rc6 Qb5 32. Rd6 e4 33. Rxd4 Bxd4 34. Qxd4+ Qe5 35. Qxe5+ Rxe5 36. Nc2 Rb8 37. Ne3 Rc5 38. h3 Rxb2 39. c4 Rg5 40. Kh2 Kg8 41. h4 Rg6 42. Kh3 Kf7 43. Nf5 Rc2 44. Ne3 Rd2 45. c5 Ke6 46. c6 Rg8 47. c7 Rc8 48. Kg3 Rxc7 49. Kf4 Rd4 50. Ra1 Rf7+ 51. Kg3 Rd8 52. Ra6+ Ke5 53. Ng4+ Kd5 54. Nf6+ Rxf6 55. Rxf6 Ke5 56. Rh6 Rg8+ 57. Kh3 e3 0–1

Personal life

Leko is married to Sofia Petrosian, daughter of

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n grandmaster

, who is also his trainer. Leko is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

."GM Peter Leko Interview"
Retrieved 20 January 2023.

References

External links

* * * *
Interview ahead of the 2005 [Championship]

Portrait of a chessplayer - PETER LEKO part 1

Portrait of a chessplayer - PETER LEKO part 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leko, Peter 1979 births Living people Chess Grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Hungarian chess players Chess players from Subotica Hungarians in Vojvodina World Youth Chess Champions