Pal Benko

Pal Charles Benko (Benkő Pál; July 15, 1928 – August 25, 2019) was a Hungarian and American chess player, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.

Benko was born on July 15, 1928, in Amiens, France, where his Hungarian parents were on vacation.

He was raised in Hungary.

Benko learned to play chess aged eight from his father, but he did not compete in tournaments until age 17 due to World War II.

During the war, he dug ditches for the Hungarian army before being captured by the Soviet army, which forced him to be a laborer.

He eventually escaped to his home, only to find that his brother and father had been sent to Russia as laborers, and his mother died as the war neared its conclusion.

Benko made rapid progress once he began tournament play and became Hungarian champion by age 20.

He was awarded the title of International Master in 1950.

He qualified for the 1952 Interzonal tournament but was unable to compete as he was sent to a concentration camp in March 1952 for attempting to defect to the American embassy in West Berlin during a chess tournament in East Berlin.

He starved and saw others around him die.

He remained imprisoned for 16 months, attaining release after Stalin's death.

He had earlier played for the Hungarian national team at the Moscow 1956 Olympiad, on board three, scoring 10/15, and helping Hungary to team bronze.

He represented Hungary at the 1957 Student Olympiad in Reykjavík on, scoring 7½/12, and Hungary was fourth as a team.

He emigrated to the United States in 1958 after defecting following the World Student Team Championship in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1957.

FIDE awarded him the title of Grandmaster in 1958.

Benko's highest achievement was qualifying and competing in the Candidates Tournament—the tournament to decide the challenger for the World Championship—in 1959 and 1962.

Both tournaments had eight of the world's top players.

He finished eighth in 1959 and sixth in 1962.

His titles were: 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1974, and 1975.

He moved to the United States, but it was not until 1962 that he appeared on the U.S. team.

He would wind up on six teams in a row.

At Varna 1962, Benko played board two, scored 8/12 for the silver medal on his board, and the U.S. finished fourth.

In the next world championship cycle, he qualified for the 1964 Interzonal but failed to progress to the Candidates.

He won the 1964 Canadian Open Chess Championship.

At Tel Aviv 1964, he was again on board two, scored 9½/14, and the U.S. ended up sixth.

At Havana 1966, Benko was on board three, scored 8/12, and the Americans won team silver.

At Lugano 1968, he made 6/12 on board three, and the U.S. finished fourth.

Benko also qualified for the 1970 Interzonal tournament, but gave up his spot to Bobby Fischer, who went on to win the World Championship in 1972.

Benko finished in first place (or tied for first place) in eight U.S. Open Chess Championships, a record.

At Siegen 1970, Benko was on board four, scoring 8½/12, and the Americans again finished fourth.

His last Olympiad was Skopje 1972, where he played on board three, made 9½/16, and the U.S. ended up ninth.

Benko defeated four players who held the World Champion title at some point.

They are Bobby Fischer, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, and Vassily Smyslov.

His career score against Fischer was three wins, eight losses and seven draws.

After Fischer retired, Benko was one of the few players with whom he maintained contact; reportedly, the two corresponded every week.

According to Chessmetrics, at his best, Benko was ranked 17th in the world, with a peak rating of 2687.

In later life, Benko was a tutor to many up-and-coming players from his native Hungary; his students included the Polgár sisters (Susan, Sofia, Judit Polgár) and Peter Leko.

Benko had a column on chess endgames in Chess Life magazine, which is published by the United States Chess Federation, for decades: "In the Arena" (1972–1981), "Endgame Lab" (1981–2013), and chess problem column "Benko's Bafflers".

In 2003 he revised Reuben Fine's book Basic Chess Endings.

Benko died in Budapest on August 25, 2019, at the age of 91.