Pal Benko

Pál Charles Benkő [ pa ː l bɛŋkø ː ] ( born July 15, 1928 in Amiens, France) is a Hungarian- American chess grandmaster and study composer.

Tournament Players

In the English -speaking world he is known by Pal Benko. This notation is used by the World Chess Federation, in chess databases and usually also in the German press.

Pál Benkő 1948 won the Hungarian championship. In October 1957, he emigrated to the United States. In 1958 he was appointed by the World Chess Federation FIDE Grand Master. He took 1959 and 1962 to the candidates tournaments to the World Cup finals. In 1970 he qualified for the Interzonal in Palma, but renounced in favor of Bobby Fischer on participation, which therefore could be 1972 world champion. Benkő won eight times the U.S. open championships.

The mid-1990s he played for the club SK Goeggingen in the German 2nd Bundesliga.

There are named some chess openings for him, as the Benkő Gambit (also Volga Gambit or Volga Benkő Gambit ) and in English, the " Benkő - opening " ( Benko Opening) 1 g3, in the German language is for the name Königsfianchetto common. In the 1962 Candidates Tournament Benkő opened 11 of his 14 games with the rare White - train 1 g3, but thus achieved only one win - against Bobby Fischer - and thus lost against Paul Keres and the eventual champion Tigran Petrosian.

His best historical Elo rating of 2687, he reached in December 1958 his Elo rating is 2408 (as of January 2008)., But he is currently listed as inactive.

At the Chess World Championship for Seniors 1992, he finished in third place.

Study Composer

Pál Benkő is a recognized authority in the final. He composed endgame studies and chess problems and is an International Master of chess compositions. For decades, he had a column in Chess Life magazine, published by the United States Chess Federation. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2003 he published an autobiography titled My Life, Games and Compositions (ISBN 1-890085-08-1 ).

Solution: The e- pawn must be protected from the tower, he is beaten, then the position is a draw. It does not help 1 Kf7? Re1 Be6 Tf1 2 3 4 Kh8 Kg8 Tg1 tg7 5 E8D T7 T8 Kg8 6 7 Kxh8 stalemate and the sub- transformation leads to 5 E8T TF7! 6 Lxf7 patt or 6 Bg4 Th7 7 Kg8 through the fork tg7 to draw. Therefore, better 1 Be6 KG7 1 ... 2 Td1 h5 h6 KG7 3 4 Kh7 Bf5 Kg8 5 h7 KG7 6 H8D Kxh8 7 Kf7 wins Re1 Be6 8 Tf1 9 Kg6 2 Kd7 Td1 3 KC6 Tc1 4 KD5 Td1 Well not 5 KC4 Tc1 6 Kd3? Rc8! 7 Lxc8 Kf7 with draw (wrong speed) 5 KE5! Re1 6 Kf5 Tf1 7 KG5 Tg1 7 ... 8 Rf8 exf8D Kxf8 9 Kf6 shuts off the black king from the conversion box 8 Kh5 and the conversion decision.

White, however, could also take the route via c7 d7 - d6 - e5 or play 5 Ke4.

Works (selection)

Pal Benko and Jeremy Silman: Pal Benko. My Life, Games and Compositions. Los Angeles 2003.