 Lajos Portisch |
Lajos Portisch was born on April 4, 1937 in Zalaegerszeg in the Kingdom of Hungary. The town is 137 miles from Budapest, near the Austrian border. His father was a tinsmith.
In 1949, at the age of 12, he learned to play chess. From 1950 to 1952, Lajos was the best chess player of his native town. In 1952, he particiapted in the quarter-finals of the Hungarian chess championship. In 1954, he particiapted in the semi-finals of the Hungarian chess championship. In 1955, Portisch represented Hungary at the World Junior Chess Championship in Antwerp, Belgium. He finished in 4th place. The winner was Boris Spassky. In 1955, he became a master. In 1955, he finished secondary school with the best marks. In 1956, he moved to Budapest and studied economics at the Karl Marx University. Portisch said he had no talent for economics, so he dropped out of college after a month and concentrated on being a professional chess player or a musician. He later gave up the violin for chess. (source: Silver, "A talk with legendary Lajos Portisch," ChessBase Chess News, Feb 1, 2012) In 1956, Portisch tied for first through third places in a master event at Budapest In 1956, he represented Hungary in the Chess Olympiad in Moscow. He played for his country in 20 chess Olympiads (1956-1996, 2000) In July 1957, he played for Hungary in the 4th World Student Chess Championship in Reykjavik. Hungary took 4th, behind the Soviet Union. Portisch played Board 2, behind Pal Benko. In February 1958, he won the Hungarian Chess Championship for the first time. There were no cash prizes in the event and Portisch was just given a chess trophy. In Hungarian Chess Championships, he either shared the title or won it outright a total of eight times (1958, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1971, 1975, and 1981). He finished second at Hastings 1958-59 with 7/9, behind Wolfgang Uhlmann. In 1959, he was awarded the International Master title by FIDE. In 1960, he qualified from the Madrid Zonal for the Stockholm Interzonal that was held in 1962. In 1961, Portisch represented Hungary at European Team Championships in Oberhausen. He represented Hungary at eight European Team Championships from 1961 to 1992, winning a total of nine medals. He has scored (+16-4=39). In 1961, he was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE. In 1962, he came in 9th place at the Stockholm Interzonal. He participated in 12 consecutive Interzonals from 1962 through 1993, qualifying for the World Chess Championship Candidates Cycle a total of eight times (1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1985, and 1988). In 1963, he won the Halle Zonal ahead of Borislav Ivkov and Bent Larsen. In 1964, he came in 8th in the Amsterdam Interzonal. In 1964, Portisch defeated Samuel Reshevsky in the Amsterdam Interzonal Playoff Match. Portisch won 2, lost none, and drew one. It was the first match Reshevsky ever lost. Reshevsky refusted to talk to Portisch for two years. (source: "Grandmaster Lajos Portisch Recalls the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup," Donaldson-Portisch interview, Sep 11, 2013) In June-July 1965, Portisch lost to Mikhail Tal in the Candidates Quarterfinal Match. Tal won.scoring 4 wins, 1 lss and 3 draws. In 1966, he played in the Piatigorsky Cup in Santa Monica. He toed for 4th place, behind Spassky, Fischer, and Larsen. In 1966, he played in the Chess Olympiad in Havana. His only loss was to Bobby Fischer. In 1966, Portisch learned to drive and bought his first car in Hungary - a Volkswagen Beetle. In 1967, he won the Euopean Zonal at Halle, Germany. In January 1968, he tied for 2nd at Wijk aan Zee, behind Viktor Korchnoi. In 1969, he tied for 1st with Vasily Smyslov at Monte Carlo. In 1970, Portisch played board 3 at Belgrade 1970 in the USSR vs Rest of the World match, defeating Viktor Korchnoi. In 1971, he tied for 2nd, behind Vasily Smyslov, at the Amsterdam IBM tournament. In 1972, Portisch tied for 1st with Karpov and Petrosian at the Church's Fried Chicken tournament in San Antonio, Texas. In 1973, he took 1st at the 2nd Vidmar Memorial tournament in Ljubljana and Portoroz. In Januaty-February 1974, Portisch lost to Petrosain in the Candidates Quarterfinal Match. Petrosain won 3, lost 2, and drew 8. Portisch qualified from the Petropolis Interzonal (1973) and the Portoroz Interzonal Playoff (1973). The event was played on the island of Pama de Mallorca. In 1975, he finished with an equal 2nd with Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian after Anatoly Karpov at Milan. At the Biel Interzonal (1976), he qualified for the Candidates matches with an equal 2nd after Bent Larsen. In 1977, he beat Bent Larsen in the Candidates Quarterfinal match. He then lost the Spassky-Portisch Candidates Semifinal (1977) match. In 1978, he led the Hungarian team in the Buenos Aires Olympiad, which finished 1st, ahead of the Soviets. This the only time the Soviet Union failed to take first place in a chess Olympiad when they competed between 1952 and 1990. In 1978, he won the 2nd Interpolis tournament in Tilburg. In 1979, he took 3rd, behind Karpov and Romanishin, at the 3rd Interpolis tournament in Rilburg. In 1980, Portisch wrote "Six Hundred Endings." In August 1980, Portisch lost to Robert Huebner in the Candidates Semifinal Match. Portisch qualified from the Rio de Janeiro Interzonal (1979) and the Portisch - Spassky Candidates Quarterfinal (1980). Huebner won 2, lost none, and drew 9. The event was held in Italy. At one point, Portisch got rid of his seconds and appointed his own wife as his second, even though she did not play chess. (source: Adorjan, Black is Black, p. 171) In January 1981, Portisch was ranked number 2 in the world, behind Anatoly Karpov. In 1982, Portisch took 2nd behind Jan Timman at Mar del Plata. In 1983, Portisch tied for 3rd, behind Kasparov and Larsen, at Niksic, Yugoslavia. In 1984, he played in the Thessaloniki Olympiad. He won 5, lost 2, and drew 5. In 1985, Portisch played board one for Hungary at the first World Team Championship at Lucerne. He scored 5.5/9, as Hungary won the team silver medals. In 1986, he took last place at the Brussels OHRA-A Tournament. He won 1, lost 5, and drew 4. The event was won by Kasparov. In 1987, he tied for 3rd, behind Salov and Hjartarson, at the Szirak Interzonal in Hungary. He then defeated John Nunn by 4-2 in a playoff match at Budapest to advance to the Candidates. He won his first-round match at Saint John, New Brunswick 1988 by 3-2 over Rafael Vaganian. He lost to Jan Timman by 2-3 at Antwerp 1989 in the Candidates match. In 1990, Portisch was Karpov's second in his last world championship match against Kasparov. This event was played in New York and Lyon, France. In 1991, he took 6th place in the Hungarian championship, won by Judit Polgar. In 1992, he played board 2 for Hungary at the Manila Interzonal. He won 3, lost 3, and drew 3. In his final appearance in the world championship series, Portisch played well at the 1993 Biel Interzonal, scoring 7.5/13 and outperforming his ranking significantly, but did not advance. The event was won by Boris Gelfand. In 1994, he played board 2 for Hungary at the Moscow Olympiad. He won a silver medal, scoring 5 wins, no losses, and 4 draws. In 1995, he took last place in the Women-Veterans Tournament, with only 1 win, 4 losses, and 5 draws. Judit Polgar and Pia Cramling both tied for 1st. In 1996, he played board 2 for Hungary at the Yerevan Olympiad. He won 4, lost 2, and drew 3. In 1997, he took 2nd in the Hostdans Veterans vs Ladies Tournament in Copenhagen. Smyslov took 1st place. Portisch did not play in the 33rd Chess Olympiad, held in Elista, Kalmykia in 1998. In 1999, he took 1st place in the Tigran Petrosian Memorial. In January 1999, he was ranked number 3 in the world with a rating of 2640. In 2000, he played board 4 in his last chess Olympiad, held in Instanbul. He won 4, lost 1, and drew 4. In 2001, he took 1st at the Amsterdam Klompendans Tournament. In 2002, Portisch's wife died. In 2003, he tied for 2nd in the Hungarian championship, won by Zoltan Almasi. In 2004, Portisch was awarded the title of 'Nemzet Sportolja' (Sportsman of the Nation), Hungary's highest national sports achievement award. In 2006, he took last place in the Hungarian championship, won by Almasi. In 2008, Portisch took last place at the Corus Honorary Group Tournament. He won 1, lost 3, and drew 2. In 2012, he played in his last major tournament. He scored 5 out of 8 in the Chigorin Memorial in Russia. In 2015, Portisch gave up chess for music. In 2017, Portisch wrote "My Secrets in the Ruy Lopez." In 2023, Portisch was inducted in the World Chess Hall of Fame. Portisch is fluent in Hungarian, English, German, and Russian. Portisch's hobby is classical music and singing opera music. His younger brother, Ferenc, is an International Master. He was born in 1939. Portisch goes to church every Sunday. He is a devout Catholic. He once said that a female chess champion would be 'against nature.' Tell that to Judit Polgar. They played 7 times. Portisch never won. He lost two and drew 5. He holds the record for most career victories in the Chess Olympiads - 121 wins. Portisch has never played in a rated blitz tournament, saying he was never good at it because there were no chess clocks for him during his youth. He was nicknamed "the Hungarian Botvinnik." Portisch did not like that nickname. Naranja - L. Portisch, Siegen 1970, 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 O-O 10.h4 cxd4 11.cxd4 Qd6 12.Rc1 Rd8 13.d5 Ne5 14.Qb3 Bd7 15.f3 b5 16.Bd3 Qb4+ (17.Qxb4 Nxd3+ and 18...Nxb4) 0-1 Portisch - Oravez, Sombathej 1952, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 Bc5 7.Be3 Qf6 8.Nxe6 Bxe3 9.Nc7+ Kd8 10.fxe3 1-0
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 Bill Wall
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