Pál Benkő

Pál Benkő demonstrates the Benkő Gambit (2005)
Association	Hungary (until 1957) United States (since 1957)
Born	July 15, 1928 Amiens , France
Died	August 26, 2019 Budapest , Hungary
title	International Master (1950) Grand Master (1958)
Best Elo rating	2530 (FIDE, July 1973) 2687 ( historic , December 1958)

Pál Benkő Charles [ PAL bɛŋkøː ] (* 15. July 1928 in Amiens , France ; † 25. August 2019 in Budapest , Hungary ) was a Hungarian - American Chess - Grandmaster and study composer .

Tournament player

In the English-speaking world he is known as Pal Benko . This notation is used by the World Chess Federation, in chess databases and mostly in the German press.

Pál Benkő won the Hungarian championship in 1948. In October 1957 he emigrated from Reykjavík to the USA. In 1958 he was appointed Grand Master by the World Chess Federation FIDE . He took part in the Candidates' tournaments for the World Chess Championship in 1959 and 1962 . In 1970 he qualified for the 1970 Palma de Mallorca interzonal tournament , but renounced participation in favor of Bobby Fischer , who was therefore able to become world champion in 1972. Benkő renounced the intervention of the US Chess Federation , he also received a severance payment of 2000 US dollars . Benkő won the US Open Championships eight times. Benkő took part in seven Chess Olympiads , in 1956 in Moscow he reached third place with the Hungarian team, from 1962 to 1972 he played in the United States team. He achieved second place as the best result in Havana in 1966 , and in the individual classification he achieved the second best result on the second board in 1962 in Varna .

In the mid-1990s he played for the SK Göggingen club in the German 2nd Bundesliga . In Hungary, Benkő played for Spartacus Budapest, with whom he won the European Club Cup in 1982, in the 1970s and 1980s , and for Vasas SC Novák from 2002 to 2005.

Some chess openings are named after him, such as the Benkő-Gambit (also Wolga-Gambit or Wolga-Benkő-Gambit ) and in English the “Benkő-Opening” (Benko Opening) 1. g3 , in the German-speaking area it is the name of Königsfianchetto common. In the Candidates' tournament in 1962 , Benkő opened 11 of his 14 White games with the rare move 1. g3, but only achieved one win - against Bobby Fischer - and thus lost to Paul Keres and the eventual world champion Tigran Petrosjan .

He reached his best historical rating of 2687 in December 1958. Benkő had not played a rated game since the Hungarian Team Championship in 2004/05 .

At the 1992 Senior World Chess Championship , he finished third.

Game example

Benkő fisherman

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

End position after 41. Qg6 +

Benkő won the following game with the white stones at the interzonal tournament in Portorož in Yugoslavia in 1958 against the eventual world champion Fischer.

Benkő – Fischer 1-0

Portorož, August 10, 1958

King's Indian Defense (Samisch Variant), E80

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 e5 6. Nge2 0-0 7. Bg5 exd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Nc2 Be6 10. Be2 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Bf2 Ne5 13. Ne3 c6 14. 0–0 Da5 15. Qd2 Rfd8 16. Rfd1 a6 17. a4 Qc7 18. a5 c5 19. h4 Qe7? (19 ... Ng6 would be better) 20. hxg5 hxg5 21. Nf5 Bxf5 22. exf5 g4 23. Bh4 Qf8 24. fxg4 Sexg4 25.Bxg4 Nxg4 26. Qg5 Nf6 27.Rd3 Nh7 28. Qg4 f6 29.Nd5 Qf7 30. Re1 Re8 31.Rde3 Re5 32.Bg3 Rxe3 33.Rxe3 Re8 34.Re6 Ng5 35.Rxd6 Re4 36.Rd8 + Kh7 37.Bf4 Bh6 38.Rd7! (38.… Qxd7 39. Nxf6 + and wins ...) Re1 + 39. Kf2 Ne4 + 40. Kxe1 Qxd7 41. Qg6 + 1: 0

Study composer

Pál Benkő was a recognized authority in the final . He composed endgame studies and chess problems and is an international master in chess compositions . For decades he had a column in Chess Life magazine , published by the United States Chess Federation . In 1993 he was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame . In 2003 he published an autobiography entitled My Life, Games and Compositions .

Pál Benkő
Magyar Sakkélet, 1981
1st prize

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White moves and wins

Solution:
The e-pawn must be protected in front of the rook, if he is captured, the position is a draw. It doesn't help 1. Kf7? Te1 second Be6 Tf1 + Kg8 3. Tg1 + 4. Kh8 Rg7 5. e8D T7 + T8 + Kg8 6. 7. Kxh8 stalemate and the sub-transformation leads to the fifth E8T TF7! 6. Bxf7 stalemate or 6. Bg4 Rh7 + 7. Kg8 through fork Rg7 + to a draw . Therefore better

1. Be6 Kg7 1.… Rd1 2. h5 Kg7 3. h6 + Kh7 4. Bf5 + Kg8 5. h7 + Kg7 6. h8D + Kxh8 7. Kf7 Re1 8. Be6 Rf1 + 9. Kg6 wins
2. Kd7 Rd1 +
3. Kc6 Rc1 +
4. Kd5 Rd1 + Now not 5. Kc4 Rc1 + 6. Kd3? Rc8! 7. Bxc8 Kf7 with a draw (wrong bishop )
5. Ke5! Re1 +
6. Kf5 Rf1 +
7. Kg5 Rg1 + 7.… Rf8 8. exf8D + Kxf8 9. Kf6 blocks the black king from the square from
8. Kh5 and the conversion decides.

However, White could also take the route via d7 – c7 – d6 – e5 or play 5. Ke4.

Works

• Pal Benko, Jeremy Silman : Pal Benko. My Life, Games and Compositions. Siles Press, Los Angeles 2003, ISBN 1-890085-08-1 .

Web links

Commons : Pál Benkő  - collection of images

• Review of his autobiography
• Replayable chess games by Pál Benkő on chessgames.com (English)
• Compositions by Pál Benkö on the PDB server

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johannes Fischer: A fascinating life, an exemplary biography In: chessbase.com , December 9, 2004, accessed on September 28, 2019.
2. ↑ Jeremy Gaige : Chess Personalia: A Biobibliography. McFarland & Company, July 1987, ISBN 978-0-89950-293-9 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Frank Zeller : On the 90th birthday of Pal Benkö. In: chessbase.com. July 15, 2018, accessed August 27, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Frederic Friedel : Pál Benkö dies at 91. In: chessbase.com. August 27, 2019, accessed on August 28, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Pal Benko Dies at Age 91. In: uschess.org. August 26, 2019, accessed on August 27, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Dylan Loeb McClain: Pal Benko, Who Stepped Aside for Bobby Fischer, Dies at 91. In: NYTimes.com . August 26, 2019, accessed on August 27, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Benko / Silman, p. 85.
8. ↑ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 75.
9. ^ Wojciech Bartelski: Benko, Pal. In: olimpbase.org. Retrieved on August 27, 2019 (English, results at Chess Olympiads). 
10. ^ Wojciech Bartelski: Benkő, Pál. In: olimpbase.org. Retrieved on August 27, 2019 (English, results from European Club Cups). 
11. ↑ Chessmetrics Player Profile: Pal Benko. In: chessmetrics.com. April 23, 2006, accessed on August 27, 2019 .