Levente Lengyel

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Levente Lengyel
Lengyel (Hoogovens 1964)
CountryHungary
Born(1933-06-13)13 June 1933
Debrecen, Hungary
Died18 August 2014(2014-08-18) (aged 81)
Budapest, Hungary
TitleGrandmaster (1964)
Peak rating2485 (July 1971)

Levente Lengyel (13 June 1933 – 18 August 2014) was a Hungarian chess player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1964.

Background[edit]

Lengyel 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[edit]

Lengyel played for Hungary in six Olympiads between 1960 and 1970. His most notable results were:

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]

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 qualifiying for the candidates matches (the winner was Smyslov with 17).[7]

Notable games[edit]

Portisch - Lengyel,
Málaga 1964
abcdefgh
8
h8 black king
d7 black queen
g6 white queen
d5 black pawn
g5 white king
d4 white pawn
f4 white pawn
e3 white pawn
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
after 52. f4
Darga - Lengyel,
Amsterdam 1964
abcdefgh
8
g8 black king
a7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
b6 black pawn
f6 black bishop
g6 black pawn
f4 white pawn
h4 white pawn
a3 white pawn
d3 white rook
f3 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white rook
e2 black rook
f2 white king
e1 black rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
after 41... R6xe2+

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]

  1. ^ Fehér Gyula (2014-08-19). "Lengyel Levente (1933–2014)" (in Hungarian). Hungarian Chess Federation (Magyar Sakkszövetség). Retrieved 2014-08-20.
  2. ^ "Olympiad results card". Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  3. ^ "European Team Championship results card". Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  4. ^ "Malaga 1964 crosstable" (in Polish). Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  5. ^ "Rubinstein Memorial 1966 crosstable" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  6. ^ "Reggio Emilia 1972-3 crosstable" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  7. ^ "1964 Amsterdam Interzonal crosstable". Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  8. ^ "Lengyel - Botvinnik, Belgrade 1969". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  9. ^ "Portisch - Lengyel, Malaga 1964". Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  10. ^ "Darga - Lengyel, Amsterdam 1964". Retrieved 26 October 2009.

External links[edit]