chessgames.com

Leko 
Photo copyright © 2006 by Milan Kovacs (www.milankovacs.com)  
Peter Leko
Number of games in database: 1,655
Years covered: 1989 to 2009
Current FIDE rating: 2752
Highest rating achieved in database: 2763
Overall record: +354 -212 =793 (55.2%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      296 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (330) 
    B90 B33 B42 B32 B44
 Ruy Lopez (176) 
    C89 C78 C92 C67 C88
 Sicilian Najdorf (115) 
    B90 B93 B96 B92 B97
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (104) 
    C89 C92 C88 C95 C99
 French Defense (80) 
    C11 C16 C18 C12 C10
 Caro-Kann (60) 
    B17 B18 B19 B10 B11
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (179) 
    B33 B30 B31 B65 B56
 Queen's Indian (99) 
    E15 E12 E14
 Grunfeld (92) 
    D85 D97 D91 D79 D82
 Ruy Lopez (86) 
    C88 C84 C89 C69 C78
 Ruy Lopez, Closed (55) 
    C88 C84 C89 C85 C90
 English, 1 c4 c5 (53) 
    A30 A33 A34 A35 A39
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Kramnik vs Leko, 2004 0-1
   Leko vs Kramnik, 2004 1/2-1/2
   Leko vs Kramnik, 2004 1-0
   Anand vs Leko, 2005 0-1
   Leko vs Radjabov, 2006 1-0
   Leko vs L Bruzon, 2005 1-0
   Leko vs Radjabov, 2003 1-0
   Leko vs Svidler, 2005 1-0
   Leko vs Kasparov, 2003 1/2-1/2
   Leko vs Kramnik, 1995 1-0

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: [what is this?]
   FIDE World Championship Knockout Tournament (2001)
   Kramnik-Leko World Championship Match (2004)
   FIDE World Championship Tournament (2005)
   FIDE World Championship Tournament (2007)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Match Leko! by amadeus
   Leko! by larrewl
   2001-2007, 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 or 5.Nbd2, Rated 2700+ by cybermarauder
   Peter the Great by acirce
   Kramnik - Leko WCC Brissago,2004 by excmo
   crippledpawn's favorite games by crippledpawn
   Fide 2007 world cup by King mega
   Road to Reunification by ruylopez900
   WCC Index [Kramnik-Leko 2004] by Hesam7
   Wijk aan Zee Corus 2001 by suenteus po 147

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Peter Leko
Search Google® for Peter Leko


PETER LEKO
(born Sep-08-1979) Hungary

[what is this?]
Peter Leko was born in Subotica in 1979. He became the youngest grandmaster in the history of chess in 1994, at 14 years of age. With this honor, he started receiving invitations to major international events. His first supertournament victory came at Dortmund in 1999, and he repeated the win in the 2002 edition, in an event that doubled as a Candidates tournament to select a challenger for classical World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik.

The promised match with Kramnik took place in 2004, and Leko came extremely close to becoming Hungary's first World Champion. He led by one point going into the fourteenth and final game, but was then beaten by Kramnik, who thereby tied the match and retained his title.

Shortly after this near-miss, Leko won the Corus Chess Tournament (2005) in Wijk aan Zee. Undefeated throughout the event, he finished ahead of Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, and Kramnik. Leko thus became only the fifth player ever to win all of the "big three" annual supertournaments (Corus, Linares, and Dortmund). He is currently living in Szeged and is ranked sixth on the FIDE World Rating List, having previously been placed as high as fourth.


 page 1 of 67; games 1-25 of 1,655  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. D Seyb vs Leko  ½-½31 1989 NurembergB22 Sicilian, Alapin
2. Leko vs W Heckel 1-025 1989 NurembergB40 Sicilian
3. Leko vs U Jahr  0-150 1989 NurembergC07 French, Tarrasch
4. Leko vs A Rotstein 0-143 1989 WerfenB26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3
5. T Brionne vs Leko  0-127 1990 ParisD87 Grunfeld, Exchange
6. B Kusic vs Leko 1-074 1990 Nuernberg op 1-21D94 Grunfeld
7. Leko vs Meiser Markus  1-030 1990 St IngbertB07 Pirc
8. Leko vs A Labarthe  1-041 1990 ParisB01 Scandinavian
9. Leko vs W Von Alvensleben  1-034 1990 Budapest Spring opB12 Caro-Kann Defense
10. S Gorgievski vs Leko 0-150 1990 ParisA07 King's Indian Attack
11. G Koschka vs Leko 0-154 1990 Nuernberg op 7-36B57 Sicilian
12. Leko vs S Grunberg 0-141 1990 Budapest Spring opB02 Alekhine's Defense
13. Leko vs A Alawieh 0-159 1990 ParisC41 Philidor Defense
14. Leko vs W Wirth  ½-½41 1990 Nuernberg op 6-37B86 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack
15. Leko vs T Souche 1-040 1990 ParisC44 King's Pawn Game
16. M Gretzer vs Leko 0-124 1990 Nuernberg op 5-55D85 Grunfeld
17. Leko vs K Pytel  0-134 1990 St IngbertB10 Caro-Kann
18. B Stein vs Leko  ½-½49 1991 Dortmund-DA01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack
19. Leko vs R Caessens  ½-½24 1991 NettetalC45 Scotch Game
20. I Gurevich vs Leko  ½-½42 1991 KecskemetB63 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack
21. K Jarowski vs Leko  0-130 1991 ?B56 Sicilian
22. A Stebbings vs Leko  ½-½27 1991 London LloydsD82 Grunfeld, 4.Bf4
23. Leko vs Podzielny  ½-½45 1991 Dortmund-DB42 Sicilian, Kan
24. Mephisto vs Leko  0-156 1991 NettetalD90 Grunfeld
25. Mephisto vs Leko  ½-½17 1991 Dortmund-DD93 Grunfeld, with Bf4 & e3
 page 1 of 67; games 1-25 of 1,655  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Leko wins | Leko loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 90 OF 90 ·  Later Kibitzing >
May-15-09   ILikeFruits: big wang...
of yue...
reminds me of...
leko...
May-16-09   apple pi: <strategic clarity>: very, very apt. Leko should supplement his opening repetoire with the Catalan, IMO. He would be very successful in these semi-opened positions we sometimes get out of Catalans.
May-23-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  chancho: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail...
May-28-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  amadeus: Interview with Peter Leko: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail...

<I had many trainers during my carrier to whom I am all very thankful. Since this year besides my permanent coach Arshak Petrosian, with whom we have been working for eight years, I also started a serious professional work with German grandmaster Jan Gustafsson, who is helping me a lot in refreshing my opening repertoire. I cannot assess the daily number of hours, as it differs. During intensive training sessions it can well be ten or twelve hours a day...>

<In general I consider every top player to be universal. On the other hand each of us has his unique style, which depends most probably on the character of a player. I like to play in a “clean and clear” way, and I am definitely not the type of guy who takes unnecessary risks. I believe much more in the logic of our game rather than gambling on your opponent's nerves...>

Jun-08-09   Astardis: Now I don't know, maybe it's about time for Leko to reconsider himself carefully... he gets the home advantage and then draws Adams, barely manages to beat a way-past-his-prime Karpov and then loses to Kramnik, the boy Carlsen (!) and now the Indian. Doesn't this reveal something about Leko's class compared to other top players?
Jun-08-09   Illogic: Not really..
Jul-05-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: <Astardis> His rating doesn't seem to be that much off from those who are "better" than him is it? He's doing his best.
Jul-24-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  acirce: Interview from 2002 http://www.chessclub.com/resources/...
Aug-09-09   The Rocket: "How do you estimate your chances to qualify for the next World Championship cycle (through the FIDE Grand Prix or World-Cup)?"

how exactly does he qualify? I think he has the game to become world-champion but unfortunately I dont think it will happen.

he does have a clean record vs players like magnus carlsen after 10 classical games(with 3wins for leko).... so you never know in a match between the two:)

Aug-18-09   goosesmack2: its great to see Leko performing very well because then all the useless trolls and bashers who claim that he draws all the time can bite their own tongues... everyone who talks like that must be an idiot
Aug-18-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: <goosesmack2: its great to see Leko performing very well because then all the useless trolls and bashers who claim that he draws all the time can bite their own tongues... everyone who talks like that must be an idiot> Exactly. Leko can play against the top players and NOT lose. How many people can actually do that? Not many.

He can draw all he wants; it's better than losing.

Those who bash him want him to stop drawing so he'll be more likely to lose in equal positions by pushing it.

Aug-18-09   geniokov: What i appreciated from Peter Leko is his "consistency" maintaining his reputation as a part of Elite GM.His handling of e4 is exception from anybody.
Aug-18-09   goosesmack2: <Knight13> Thats the boy!
Aug-23-09   Method B: Poor Lékó. Another tragic end to a tourney. The good news is he seems to mixing up his openings with both colours. It was good to see him playing 1.e4 as well. It makes him more unpredictable and one day he may be the guy who show the opponent the deadly home-prep.

Anyway, it was a big chance...

Aug-24-09   Hesam7: <Peter Leko's sad-sack routine added another chapter in Jermuk. Starting the final round sharing the lead with Ivanchuk, Leko lost to Gelfand to finish =4-6 with Kasimjanov and Alekseev. This was a repeat of his loss to Aronian in the final round in Nalchik, when he was again in the lead. These are only the most recent late collapses in Leko's career. Of course the most famous was losing the final game of his 2004 WCh match with Kramnik. Add the final-round loss to Kramnik at Dortmund 2006, again when tied for first, and losing his last two games at Linares 2006 (yep, was in clear first and finished fourth). What I'm trying to say is that Leko should start burning down playing sites with a few rounds to go.> -- Mig Greengard, Daily Dirt, Aug. 23rd.
Aug-24-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  percyblakeney: <Of course the most famous was losing the final game of his 2004 WCh match with Kramnik. Add the final-round loss to Kramnik at Dortmund 2006, again when tied for first, and losing his last two games at Linares 2006 (yep, was in clear first and finished fourth)>

Leko’s last round weakness is one thing, but it is also combined with a top opponent weakness. 0-7 against Topalov after the latest win more than seven years ago, 0-4 against Kramnik over five years, and 1-6 against Svidler the last dozen years. There’s also 2-8 in career score against Anand, 0-7 against Kasparov/Karpov, minus against Aronian and Gelfand, four losses against Ivanchuk just in 2008, to mention the worst examples. A player as strong as Leko, solid top ten for more than a decade and usually around 5th on the world ranking, “should” have better scores.

He does have good results against for example Carlsen and Radjabov, mainly thanks to games when they were young(er), but no wins in more than 1½ year. And, compared to Leko, Carlsen and Radjabov have good results against most top players. Carlsen has a plus against Topalov, Aronian and Ivanchuk, Radjabov is even against them (and Anand) but with a plus against Kasparov. Both have a small minus against Kramnik, but Carlsen had black in 5 of 6 games, and Radjabov is even over the last 6+ years. It’s hard to explain why Leko is doing so much worse when he has been playing on average approximately as good chess as them after 2005.

Aug-25-09   Hesam7: <pb: Leko�s last round weakness is one thing, but it is also combined with a top opponent weakness. 0-7 against Topalov after the latest win more than seven years ago, 0-4 against Kramnik over five years, and 1-6 against Svidler the last dozen years. There�s also 2-8 in career score against Anand, 0-7 against Kasparov/Karpov, minus against Aronian and Gelfand, four losses against Ivanchuk just in 2008, to mention the worst examples. A player as strong as Leko, solid top ten for more than a decade and usually around 5th on the world ranking, �should� have better scores.>

Thanks for the statistics but I think his problem is psychological. He is not inferior in terms of chess strength, as a matter of fact he gets winning positions against the crowd you mentioned all the time but then all those games follow the same pattern: in time pressure somewhere between moves 30 and 40 he completely destroys what he had built up to that point. This is also reflected in tournament record, throughout the tournament he is playing good chess with good results but once the situation becomes tense (final rounds) he plays rather poorly. In other words, among top players he is the one most sensitive to psychological pressure .

Sep-08-09   kurtrichards: Happy Birthday, Peter!
Sep-20-09   The Rocket: well leko was actually winning at least 2 classical games vs kasparov but still ended up 0-7 so too bad peter:. he will never likely to get a classical win vs kasparov:
Sep-20-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Timeline: actually Leko's losses against Kasparov mostly came from earlier in his career also most of them being draws. Leko also have good deal of those wins against Carlsen and Radjabov after they became 2650+ or even 2700+ players while having no classical loss. In fact, he has clean record (no classical loss) againt both and againt Kamsky (2-0). He has virtually even record with Gelfand, Ivanchuk, Shirov, Bacrot & Topalov and plus against Morozevich and Grischuk. I agree he has bad record againt Kramnik & Anand but they have been the juggernaut during those periods and most players who played in his time frame have large loss against them. He does have poor record vs. Aronian and Svidler but even good players have their share of good and bad matchups.
Sep-20-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Timeline: Also yea clean record againt Karjakin in classical (2-0), against Carlsen (3-0) Radjabov (5-0)
Nov-14-09   Hesam7: According to liverating after the Tal memorial Leko dropped out of top 10 and is now #11. I think the 31 year old Leko has passed the peak of his career.
Nov-15-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Karpova: For sure, two bad tournaments in a row for Leko now - Pearl Spring Chess Tournament (2009) - and his last classical win was back in August (2009.08.16): I Cheparinov vs Leko, 2009

His performances at the 5th FIDE Grand Prix in Jermuk (4th place, 7.5/13, perf. 2769), Dortmund (2nd place, 5.5/10, perf. 2779) and the 4th FIDE Grand Prix in Nalchik (2nd place, 7.5/13, perf. 2777) were not that bad though (but not outstanding either).

Nov-15-09   KamikazeAttack: Leko has definitely weakened or stagnated over the last few years.

He became very strong around 02-04, his defensive skills were first rate and he was very difficult to beat. Now he wilts once the squeeze starts.

Presently, there is nothing special about his game in all the 3 phases - open, middle and end games. His decent creative skills are all but gone more or less.

I have no idea why he is regressing.

On the positive side, he is still young and I hope he finds out what's holding him back and make amends soon because it would be sad if such a talent goes to waste.

Nov-15-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Ron: It seems that the last great tournament result for Leko was this: Corus Chess Tournament (2005)
Jump directly to page #    (enter number from 1 to 90)
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 90 OF 90 ·  Later Kibitzing >
NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!
If you already have an account, you should login now.
Please observe our posting guidelines:
  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
  3. No personal attacks against other users.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
Blow the Whistle See something which violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator.


NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific player and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, you might try the Kibitzer's Café.
Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!


home | about | login | logout | F.A.Q. | your profile | preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | new kibitzing | chessforums | new games | Player Directory | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Little ChessPartner | privacy notice | contact us
Copyright 2001-2009, Chessgames.com
Web design & database development by 20/20 Technologies