Gyula Sax


Gyula Sax 1979
Association	Hungary Hungary
Born	June 18, 1951 Budapest
Died	January 25, 2014
title	International Master (1972) Grand Master (1974)
Best Elo rating	2610 (January 1988, January 1989)

Gyula Sax [ ˈɟulɒ ˈsɒks ] (born June 18, 1951 in Budapest ; † January 25, 2014 ) was a Hungarian chess master .

Single successes

Gyula Sax became Junior European Champion (U20) in Groningen in 1971/72 (shared with René Borngässer, who had the lower score).

In 1972 FIDE awarded him the title of International Master and in 1974 the title of Grand Master .

He won tournaments in Rovinj - Zagreb 1975, Vinkovci 1976 (with Vlastimil Hort ), Las Palmas (with Wolodymyr Tukmakow ) and in the traditional Amsterdam IBM tournament in 1979 (with Vlastimil Hort). In 1984 Sax was the sole winner in the strongly occupied Lugano Open .

Sax finished in the interzonal tournament in 1979 in Rio de Janeiro, the shared 7th place.

In 1987 he achieved his greatest success when he won the Interzonal Tournament in Subotica (shared). In the subsequent cycle of candidates he was defeated in the second round in 1988 in St. John's by the British Nigel Short with 1.5: 3.5.

In 1990, Sax qualified again for the Candidates Tournament at the Interzonal Tournament in Manila . There he reached a 4: 4 (+1 = 6 −1) against Viktor Korchnoi in the round of 16 , but lost the playoff in rapid chess .

His last Elo number was 2439. In January 1988 he finished with his highest Elo number of 2610, the shared 15th place in the FIDE world rankings (together with Ljubomir Ljubojević and Lajos Portisch ), in January 1989 with the same Elo number shared 12th place with eight other players.

Gyula Sax died of a heart attack.

Team successes

National team

Gyula Sax took part in ten Chess Olympiads with the Hungarian national team between 1972 and 2000 . The greatest success here was winning the 1978 Chess Olympiad before the Soviet Union, which had taken first place in all participations since 1952. In this tournament, Sax also reached third place in the individual ranking on board 3. Furthermore, he took second place with the Hungarian team at the 1972 and 1980 chess Olympiads . At the team world championships in 1985 and 1989, Sax was part of the Hungarian selection. 1985 the Hungarian selection took second place, Gyula Sax was also the most successful player on board 3. Between 1973 and 1997, Sax took part in six team European championships and achieved two second and third places. At the European team championship in 1973 he was also the best point player on board 8.

Club chess

In the Hungarian team championship, the NB I. Szabó László csoport , Sax played from 2001 until his death with Zalaegerszegi Csuti Antal , with whom he became Hungarian team champion in 2002 , 2003 , 2004 , 2005 , 2006 and 2008 and took part in the European Club Cup four times . Before that, Gyula Sax played with Honvéd Budapest , with whom he reached second place in the European Club Cup in 1988, and with Miskolci SSC , with whom he was Hungarian team champion in 2000 and 2001 and took part twice in the European Club Cup. In the German Federal Chess League, Sax played in the 1992/93 and 1993/94 seasons at SC Stadthagen , with whom he also took part in the 1993 European Club Cup and in the 1996/97 , 1997/98 and 1999/2000 seasons at PSV Duisburg . Sax also played for the Slovenian club ŠK Piramida Maribor , with whom he took part in the European Club Cup in 1994.