Peter Leko

Infobox chess player
playername = Péter Lékó


caption=
birthname = Péter Lékó
country = HUN
datebirth = birth date and age|1979|9|8
placebirth = Subotica, Yugoslavia (now Serbia)
datedeath =
placedeath =
title = Grandmaster
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating = 2741
(No. 10 on the July 2008 FIDE ratings list)
peakrating = 2763 (April 2005)

Péter Lékó ( _sr. Петер Леко) (born September 8, 1979 in Subotica, Yugoslavia) is a Hungarian chess player. He became a grandmaster in 1994 at the age of 14 years (a world record at the time). In the April 2008 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2741, making him number ten in the world, and Hungary's number one. His best rating was number four, first achieved in April, 2003.

Early life

Leko was a chess prodigy and became a Grandmaster at age 14, then the youngest ever.

He is the son-in-law of Armenian grandmaster Arshak Petrosian.

World Championship Results

In 2002 Leko won the Candidates Tournament to qualify as the challenger to Vladimir Kramnik for the Classical World Chess Championship 2004. (The World Chess Championship was split at the time, but most of the strongest players participated, the most notable exceptions being the world's top two, Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand). After several delays, the match was held from September 25-October 18, 2004, in Brissago, Switzerland. Lékó led by a point with just one game left to play. Kramnik managed to win the last game, tying the match 7-7 (+2 -2 =10), which entitled him to remain the reigning "classical" world champion.

In October 2005, Lékó played for the FIDE World Chess Championship title in San Luis, Argentina, and was ranked 5th with 6.5 points. For more information, see FIDE World Chess Championship 2005.

In May-June 2007 Lékó played in the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2007. He won his matches against Mikhail Gurevich (+3-0=1) and Evgeny Bareev (+2-0=3), to qualify for the 8 player championship tournament. In the championship he finished 4th out of eight.

Chess960

In 2001, Lékó narrowly defeated Grandmaster Michael Adams in an eight game Fischer Random Chess (Chess960) match played as part of the Mainz Chess Classic. As a result, Lékó was hailed by many as the first Fischer Random Chess world champion. This claim is not universally accepted, since there were no open qualifying matches. Many do accept the claim, however, since this was also true of the first orthodox world chess champion titleholders, and both players were in the top five in the January 2001 world rankings for orthodox chess.

Miskolc rapid chess matches

Every year since 2005, Peter Leko played a rapid chess match in the Hungarian city of Miskolc. Each year, he faced a different world-class opponent.
*In 2005, he drew Michael Adams 4-4
*In 2006, he beat Anatoly Karpov 4.5-3.5
*In 2007, he lost to Vladimir Kramnik 3.5-4.5
*In 2008, he lost to Magnus Carlsen 3-5

Playing style

Lékó is an extremely solid player and is considered to be one of the most difficult players in the world to defeat. He has been criticized in the past for a perceived lack of killer instinct and a propensity to draw a large percentage of his games. As white, Lékó almost always plays 1. e4, and as black he often plays the Sveshnikov Sicilian or Grünfeld Defense. More recently he relies on the Marshall Attack, the Nimzo Indian and Queen's Indian with black. In addition, he is renowned for his endgame skill.

Notable accomplishments

*2008: 1st Dortmund (Cat. 18)
*2007: 1st ACP Rapid World Cup
*2006: 1st Tal Memorial (Cat 20)
*2005: 1st Corus chess tournament
*2004: Drew Classical World Chess Championship 2004 (+2 -2 =10) versus Vladimir Kramnik
*2004: 2nd Linares chess tournament (Cat 20)
*2004: 2nd Wijk aan Zee (Cat 19)
*2003: 2nd Monaco
*2003: 1st Linares (Cat 20)
*2002: 1st Candidates Tournament at Dortmund chess tournament
*:Won the right to challenge Vladimir Kramnik for the World Chess Championship
*2002: 2nd place at Essen (Cat.17)
*2002: 3rd place at Monaco
*2002: 1st Rapid Grand Prix at Dubai
*2001: 1st Rapid Master Event in Nordhorn (Germany)
*2001: 3rd Dortmund (Cat. 21)
*2001: Defeated Michael Adams in a Fischer Random Chess match, Mainz, Germany
*2000: Defeated Alexander Khalifman in match play, Budapest
*1999: 1st Dortmund (Cat. 19)
*1999: 1st the Rapid Grand Prix in Bordeaux (France)
*1998: 2nd place at Tilburg (Cat. 18)
*1996: 1st World Junior Chess Championship U16
*1995: 3rd Dortmund (Cat. 17)
*:At the age of 15
*1994: Awarded International Grandmaster title
*:At then-record age of 14 years old
*1992: Awarded International Master title

Sample game

Chess diagram|=
tright|
=
| | | | |rd|kd| |=
rl|bd| | |rd| |bd|pd|=
bl| | |qd| | | | |=
| | | |pd| | | |=
|nl| |pd| |pd| | |=
| |pl| | | | | |=
|pl| | | |pl|pl|pl|=
| | |ql| |rl|kl| |=
In this position after move 26 in the 2005 Corus tournament game between Viswanathan Anand and Péter Lékó, Lékó (Black) punishes Anand's erroneous 26th move with a strong combination.

On the way to winning the prestigious Corus chess tournament in 2005, Lékó defeated Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand with the black pieces. The moves were:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. c3 Bg7 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3 Be6 15. Bd3 f5 16. O-O Ra7 17. a4 Ne7 18. Nxe7+ Rxe7 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bxb5 d5 21. Ra6 f4 22. Nc2 Bc8 23. Ra8 Qd6 24. Nb4 Bb7 25. Ra7 d4 26. Ba6? (Better is 26. Bc6 Bxc6 27. Rxe7 Qxe7 28. Nxc6 with approximate equality. See diagram) Bxg2! 27. Bc4+ Kh8 28. Ra6 Qc5 29. Kxg2 f3+ 30. Kh1 Qxc4 31. Rc6 Qb5 32. Rd6 e4 33. Rxd4 Bxd4 34. Qxd4+ Qe5 35. Qxe5+ Rxe5 36. Nc2 Rb8 37. Ne3 Rc5 38. h3 Rxb2 39. c4 Rg5 40. Kh2 Kg8 41. h4 Rg6 42. Kh3 Kf7 43. Nf5 Rc2 44. Ne3 Rd2 45. c5 Ke6 46. c6 Rg8 47. c7 Rc8 48. Kg3 Rxc7 49. Kf4 Rd4 50. Ra1 Rf7+ 51. Kg3 Rd8 52. Ra6+ Ke5 53. Ng4+ Kd5 54. Nf6+ Rxf6 55. Rxf6 Ke5 56. Rh6 Rg8+ 57. Kh3 e3 0-1

External links

* [http://www.lekochess.com/ Official homepage]
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* [http://www.worldchesschampionship.com/com/index.php Classical World Championship 2004]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqlCWCPeHJ0&eurl= Kramnik vs Leko 2004 Multimedia annotated game]
* [http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2590 Interview ahead of the 2005 Championship]