Sunday 9 May 2010

Andor Lilienthal (1911-2010)

The worlds oldest grandmaster, Andor Lilienthal, has passed away at the age of 99. He was also the last surviving member of the first group of players who were awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE in 1950. His active chess career was between 1930 and 1977 but even in retirement he maintained a strong interest in the game, including attending the 2006 Chess Olympiad in Turin (where I met him at a reception). A number of blogs and websites are covering his career, including this obituary at Chessvibes.
Here is a historic game from the 1993 Olympiad, where Lilienthal, representing Hungary, defeated the famous artist and chess player Marcel Duchamp, playing for France.

Duchamp,Marcel - Lilienthal,Andor [D69]
Folkestone ol (Men) Folkestone (11.4), 1933

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Nf3 c6 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nd5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Rc1 Nxc3 12.Rxc3 e5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.dxe5 Qxe5 15.f4 Qe4 16.Bd3 Qxe3+ 17.Kh1 Qe7 18.f5 Qf6 19.Bb1 b6 20.Rh3 Ba6 21.Re1 Rad8 22.Qc2 Rfe8 23.Rc1 Re2 24.Qc3 Qxc3 25.Rhxc3 c5 26.Ra3 Bb7 27.Rxa7 Bxg2+ 28.Kg1 Bf3 29.Ra3 Rg2+ 30.Kf1 Rxh2 31.Re1 Bc6 32.Bd3 h5 33.Re7 Rxb2 34.Be2 Bb5 35.Bxb5 Rd1+ 36.Re1 Rxe1+ 37.Kxe1 Rxb5 0-1

2 comments:

Paul said...

A fine chess player...R.I.P Maestro...

Tietie007 said...

Rest in peace, Andor !