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Jan-14-05
 | | Gypsy: <nikolaas/Dillinger> All of the above are fine choices -- and I would add also Charousek. (At least.) My list was by no means exhaustive; I highlited Maroczy as I like both his play and the way he faced life. I just plain out spaced on Breyer. He was a revolutionary chess thinker, but I was looking along the lines of a championship calliber play. Reti and Benko are "multinationals" so I kind of passed by them too. While Reti is an all time favorite of mine I knew next to nothing about Benko's play and thoughts untill very recently. Only about a month ago I read Benko's book on chess psychology and I liked his writing and games there. I rooted for Leko in the Kramnik match, and he exceeded expectations pretty much throughout the match, except for his dear-in-headlight play in the last game (and one or two early draws up to that point). His conduct off the board was impecable throughout. We will see how he proceeds from here on. As for Polgar sisters: It was absolutely shameful how some appartchiks of hungarian chess federation tried to block their progress (particularly Zuza's) and "put them in their place". Interestingly, Judith and Zuza play quite different chess. While Judith brilliance reminds one of Alekhine, I found also very pleasurable to watch Zuza dismantle her oponents (during the Olympiad) with the logic of Rubinstein. |
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Jan-14-05
 | | dryden: Hungarian all time favourites of mine:
1. Lajos Portisch (who once sang several bars of a magyar folk song over the phone to the referee of the K-K match to prove he was Anatoly's coach)
2. Laszlo Szabo (3 times a candidate - brilliant attacking player)
3. Geza Maroczy
4. Farago (always plays the French)
5. Forintos |
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Jan-14-05
| | percyblakeney: <Hungarian all time favourites> Isidor Gunsberg is my choice. Losing 4-6 (with nine draws) against Steinitz in a match for the World Championship was no bad result, even if he maybe was counted as an Englishman by then. |
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Jan-17-05
| | nikolaas: <gypsy> I have to agree that it's a pleasure to study his endgames. Especially those two against Marshall. |
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Feb-15-05
| | Dudley: Portisch is a very solid strategic player so many of his games don't have the brilliant touch of a Kasparov, but they are probably more realistic for the average player to emulate. In the aforementioned new book, Benko relates that Portisch did not think much of his own tactical ability, comparing it to a typical master ranked player. It's positional play and strategy that allow him to play and sometimes beat the highest ranked players. Btw, there seems to be a lot of contempt here for players like Portisch that would beat almost anyone on this website routinely. |
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Apr-04-05
| | skakmiv: Today, Portisch turns 68. |
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Jun-19-05
 | | Caissanist: As I remember it, Portisch was on the wrong end of a lot of brilliant *comebacks*, rather than brilliancies in general. He was the best in his generation at planning and preparing openings, arguably better even than Fischer; so long as the game followed his plans he would totally crush his opponent. But if something happened that he had not foreseen then he became a completely different player. He would then make not just tactical but positional errors as well. Several times I have heard him described as "panicking" when things did not go as expected. It may be that he simply didn't have the kind of mind that couldn't adjust to surprises quickly enough. |
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Jun-19-05
 | | OneArmedScissor: I have yet to see a picture of Mr. Portisch. Anyone care to post a link to a picture of him?
Thanks |
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Jun-19-05
 | | paulalbert: For picture, go to google link on this site ( better to strike chess after his name ) and do a google " images" search. You'll come up with some decent pictures of Lajos at various times during his career. Paul Albert |
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| Aug-01-05 | | WMD: Another excerpt from the NIC interview:
Q: One of the reasons why you wore this this black suit against Fischer was that it was Sunday. Has it ever been a problem for you to be a Catholic in a socialist country? P: Actually never, because they never dared say anything about it. When they realized I was a religious person
I was already a well-known chess player. For example, the morning after we had won the Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires in '78, me and two other players ran into the chief of the Hungarian delegation in the hall of the hotel. Well, he was a nice man, but a strong communist. And he said, 'Where are you going?' And I said, 'To church to give thanks that we won the Olympiad.' And his answer was, 'Yes, well done, well done. Go, go.' (Laughs) It was a bit funny and we started to laugh, well, smile at least, that a communist leader should say something like that.' |
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| Aug-01-05 | | Koster: Posiibly because socialism and catholicism are so similar. Both are absolutist and demand obedience to a centralized beauracracy. |
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| Aug-01-05 | | WMD: <beauracracy> 6/10 for effort. |
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| Aug-03-05 | | weirdoid: This is not fully chess related, but I cannot refrain from posting it. Was Portisch the strongest (again, strongest, not best) chessplayer of his day? You judge! http://www.ex.ac.uk/~dregis/DR/Stor... |
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Nov-09-05
 | | EmperorAtahualpa: <weirdoid> Your link doesn't work! Could you correct it please? |
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| Jan-06-06 | | chessmaster pro: <EmperorAtahualpa>yes it works are u connected??or maybe you have a virus |
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Jan-09-06
| | Caissanist: Hehe, nice anecdote. The directory that contains the link that <weirdoid> gave has been moved to another site, and it looks like there's a redirection problem. The correct new link is http://www.ex.ac.uk/~dregis/DR/Stor.... |
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Jan-09-06
 | | Pawn and Two: <it was Russia who liberated Hungary>. The Soviets had an unfortunate tenancy to turn their liberated countries into Soviets Pawns. After 11 years of Soviet freedom, came 1956. I well remember the Hungarian uprising of 1956 and the savage Soviet response. |
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Feb-04-06
| | Dozy: As a member of a Sydney Hungarian chess club I had the good fortune to play a simul against Portisch when he was in Australia in 1971 for a GM tournament. I've been a Portisch fan ever since. I don't remember much about the game except that his b2 bishop kept its malevolent eye on my position the whole time. It didn't actually DO anything, it just watched, but boy, how it watched! There's a short piece about it at http://www.rootyhillchess.org/porti... |
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Mar-16-06
| | Caissanist: All four of Portisch's "notable" draws are games where he should have won and got swindled, ouch. |
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| Mar-16-06 | | Hafen Slawkenbergius: Reading Caissanist from June 19th, doesn't it seem as if Leko and Portisch have much in common, far more than their nationality? |
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| Apr-04-06 | | BIDMONFA: Lajos Portisch PORTISCH, Lajos
http://www.bidmonfa.com/portisch_la...
_ |
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Apr-04-06
| | catfriend: Happy birthday, Mr.Portisch! |
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Apr-04-06
 | | twinlark: <Dozy> I also played against Portisch in 1971 in a simul in Canberra. I had been playing chess for a couple of years since high school and mine was one of the last games to finish when I lost (needlessly I might add) a Queen pawn ending. I don't have the score for that game any more, but I do remember Portisch regretfully taking advantage of my blunder as I had played really well up till then. He was my favourite GM for a while after that and I truly hoped he could do well in the Candidates cycle. Boldog szuletesnapot, GM Portisch! |
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Apr-04-06
| | drukenknight: <Several times I have heard him described as "panicking" when things did not go as expected. It may be that he simply didn't have the kind of mind that couldn't adjust to surprises quickly enough.> This sounds about right. If you read his comments to his game vs Fischer, the Nimzo Indian at Santa Monica 1966, he sounds as if there is nothing he can do after the sack of Q for 2 rooks. His comments are fatalistic. |
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Apr-09-06
| | diagonal: late happy birthday for Lajos Portisch, the man with the - until know - most Chess Olympic appearances (twenty times: 1956-74, 78-88, 92-96 & 2000): the hungarian regular was also a strong contender in the Interzonals: eight times qualified as a Candidate (but never made the final). |
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