Levente Lengyel


Levente Lengyel was a Hungarian chess player, who gained the Grandmaster title in 1964.

Background

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.

Notable team results

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.
Lengyel also played in the European Team Chess Championship three times between 1961 and 1970. 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

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 qualifying for the candidates matches.

Notable games

Lengyel had wins against former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, 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.
In the left-hand board position Lengyel played 52... Qg4+! 53. Kh6 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.
In the right-hand board position 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.