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Francisco Lupi

Number of games in database: 17
Years covered: 1940 to 1946
Overall record: +2 -11 =4 (23.5%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

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FRANCISCO LUPI
(born Mar-06-1920, died Jan-14-1954, 33 years old) Portugal

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Francisco Jose Duarte de Almeida Lupi is an obscure player with a very short chess career and life. He is remembered today for almost beating world champion Alexander Alekhine in a 1946 non-title match. Had Lupi won, that would have been the biggest match upset in chess history. Alekhine won the last two games to eke out a 2.5-1.5 (+2 =1 -1) match victory. Lupi died in January 1954, aged just 33.

Wikipedia article: Francisco Lupi

Last updated: 2024-01-19 13:17:13

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 page 1 of 1; 17 games  PGN Download 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Alekhine vs F Lupi 1-0371940Alekhine Blindfold simul, 6b EstorilE34 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Noa Variation
2. F Lupi vs Alekhine 0-1291945GijonD02 Queen's Pawn Game
3. F Lupi vs Alekhine 0-1391945SabadellD85 Grunfeld
4. Alekhine vs F Lupi ½-½301946EstorilC80 Ruy Lopez, Open
5. F Lupi vs Alekhine 1-0481946EstorilC10 French
6. F Lupi vs Alekhine 0-1221946EstorilC42 Petrov Defense
7. Euwe vs F Lupi  1-0521946London BD72 Neo-Grunfeld, 5.cd, Main line
8. F Lupi vs G J Wood 0-1421946London BC55 Two Knights Defense
9. F Lupi vs G Abrahams  ½-½601946London BB72 Sicilian, Dragon
10. I Koenig vs F Lupi  ½-½281946London BA04 Reti Opening
11. G Thomas vs F Lupi  0-1371946London BC86 Ruy Lopez, Worrall Attack
12. F Lupi vs W Winter 0-1281946London BA12 English with b3
13. F Lupi vs A Medina Garcia  0-1431946London BC50 Giuoco Piano
14. Denker vs F Lupi  ½-½641946London BD78 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O c6
15. P Devos vs F Lupi  1-0531946London BC82 Ruy Lopez, Open
16. F Lupi vs M Christoffel  0-1421946London BB80 Sicilian, Scheveningen
17. R H Newman vs F Lupi  1-0351946London BD79 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O, Main line
 page 1 of 1; 17 games  PGN Download 
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Lupi wins | Lupi loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
Aug-03-06  Autoreparaturwerkbau: This Lupi-fella played 6-out-of-9 games in his life against late Alekhine. Suspicious.
Aug-03-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  TheAlchemist: "Lupi" means "wolves" in Italian
Aug-03-06  Knight13: ... And Lupi even beat Alekhine once.
Aug-03-06  Calli: He is a Portugeuse player Francisco Lupi.
Aug-03-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eric Schiller: <AUTOGUY> Chessgames database is small. I have more games in my set, he played a round-robin in London in 1946. You need at least a million game database to draw any conclusions.
Aug-03-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Loopy Lupi? =)
Aug-03-06  DutchDunce: At least the F doesn't stand for "Froot"....
Aug-04-06  Autoreparaturwerkbau: <Eric> I suppose you are correct. I should add - "according to this database". Still, Lupi & late AA might be friends or something.
Aug-04-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  TheAlchemist: Didn't Alekhine use to live in Portugal towards the end of his life? And there probably weren't that many tournaments back then, he traveled to what was "available" (Estoril is in Portugal, Gijon an Sabadell are in Spain) and so did Lupi, perhaps.
Aug-04-06  Autoreparaturwerkbau: <TheAlchemist> You are correct.

As wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexan...) quotes:

<By 1943 Alekhine was spending all his time in Spain and Portugal as the German representative to chess events. In April 1944, he narrowly won a match against Ramon Rey–Ardid at Zaragoza (+1 –0 =3). In July 1944, he won at Gijon. In March 1945, he won at Madrid. In July 1945, he tied for 2nd-3rd with Antonio Medina–Garcia at Gijon. The event was won by Antonio Rico. In August 1945, he won at Sabadell. In August 1945, he tied for 1st with Lopez Nuñez at Almeria. In September 1945, he won at Melilla. In Autumn 1945, he took second at Cáceres, behind Lupi. Alekhine's last chess match was with Francisco Lupi at Estoril, Portugal in January 1946. Alekhine won two games, lost one, and drew one.>

Apparently, Lupi was one of the strongest players in the region.

Aug-04-06  blingice: <WannaBe> Froot Lupi...
Aug-04-06  Autoreparaturwerkbau: <blingice> Witty... :) Francisco Lupi it is.
Aug-07-06  Calli: For more on Francisco Lupi see Chess Note 4388 http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
Apr-29-08  wolfmaster: Not the sanest chess player, but he still beat Alekhine...
May-19-08  brankat: For all intents and purposes F.Lupi was practically supporting A.Alekhine during the last couple of years of his life, when Alekhine was completely destitute, 1945 - 46.

Mr Lupi also acted on Alekhine's behalf during the Congress in London 1946, when a debate was going on about possibility of Alekhine's WC Title defense.

May-19-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: <Not the sanest chess player, but he still beat Alekhine... >

Beat Alekhine in sanity or chess?

Sep-22-12  The Last Straw: <OhioChessFan> Probably in sanity. Alekhine was a very drunk guy :-).
Dec-05-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: No bio here for Alekhine's last sparring partner. As <Calli> noted, there is info on www.chesshistory.com.

Perhaps one of the cg biographers would like to honor Mr Lupi with a short biographical blurb...?

Dec-05-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Stonehenge: I found some info here:

http://www.lupi.com.pt/outros/franc...

Dec-06-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <Stonehenge> Thanks! Dead at 33. Poor fellow.
Dec-06-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: The cause of Lupi's death was congenital endocarditis; presumably, wartime privation did little to help him.
Jan-11-13  Parbrahman: Portuguese champion. In a tournament in Caceres, Spain in December 1945 he beat then reigning world champion Alekhine twice. The first of these two games cannot be found. The only game that a reigning world champ had lost which cannot be found anywhere.
Mar-06-16  TheFocus: Happy birthday, Francisco Lupi.
Jul-10-24  YoungEd: Edward Winter's article on F. Lupi (searchable from chesshistory.com) states that Lupi's birthdate is not known, citing Gaige as a reliable source. It looks like Chessgames took the birthdate from Wikipedia, but I don't know where the Wikipedia author got the information. Does anyone know?

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