Chess - The Scotsman 06/04/2012

During his career, Portisch was a quiet, positional player who often played unspectacularly and with a work-like style that earned him the nickname, “The Hungarian Botvinnik.”

Portisch was one of the strongest non-Soviet players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s. He played in 12 consecutive Interzonals and showed a remarkable consistency by qualifying eight times (1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1985, and 1988) for the World Championship Candidates cycle, though never able to mount a serious challenge for the title.

But Portisch dominated on his home turf. He was an eight-time Hungarian champion and a faithful servant for his country in team events. He played in a record-breaking 20 Olympiads (1956-2000) and won 11 medals, the highlight an unprecedented team gold ahead of the Soviet Union at Buenos Aires in 1978, where on top board he scored 10/14.

He also had an amazing work ethic that put most grandmasters to shame, working eight to nine hours daily in an effort to eliminate any defects in his play. Unfortunately Portisch’s games never became widely appreciated as perhaps they should, but a highly recommended read, if you can find a copy, is the scarce 1979 book Selected Games of Lajos Portisch by Evgeny Varnusz.

L Portisch – J Timman

Candidates Tournament, 1985

Queen’s Indian Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 e3 Bb7 5 Bd3 Bb4+ 6 Nbd2 0-0 7 a3 Bxd2+ 8 Qxd2 c5 9 b4 d6 10 Bb2 Nbd7 11 0-0 Rc8 12 dxc5 bxc5 13 b5 e5 14 Bf5 g6 15 Bc2 Nb6 16 Qe2 Ne4 17 a4 Qe7 18 a5 Nd7 19 Rad1 Rcd8 20 Nd2 f5 21 Rfe1 Ndf6 22 f3 Ng5 23 Qf2 Ne6 24 f4 Ne4 25 Nxe4 fxe4 26 Qg3 exf4 27 exf4 Rxf4 28 Bc1 Rh4 29 Rd5! e3 30 Bxe3 Rxc4 31 Bg5 Qd7 32 Rd2 Nxg5 33 Bb3 Ne4 34 Bxc4+ Kh8 35 Qh4 Re8 36 Rf2 Qg7 37 Rf7 Qd4+ 38 Kh1 h5 39 Qf4 g5 40 Rf8+ Rxf8 41 Qxf8+ Kh7 42 Bg8+ 1-0