Henrique Mecking

Henrique Mecking
Full name	Henrique da Costa Mecking
Country	Brazil
Born	January 23, 1952 (1952-01-23) (age 59) Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2578 (September 2011)
Peak rating	2635 (January 1977)

Henrique Mecking (born 23 January 1952; first name spelled Enrique in some references, also known as "Mequinho" in Brazil) was a leading Brazilian chess Grandmaster in the 1970s. He was a very strong player at an early age (see sample game below), drawing comparisons to Bobby Fischer, although he did not achieve the International Grandmaster title until 1971. His highest FIDE (International Chess Federation) rating was 2635, achieved in 1977, when he was rated as the third best player on that year's rating list, behind Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi.^[1] He was the first Brazilian to reach the rank of Grandmaster. Despite winning his first national championship at the age of 13, he played in very few tournaments. He won at Vršac in 1971 and finished third with Robert Byrne (after the co-winners Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi) at Hastings in 1971/2. In 1975, he twice shared second place behind Ljubomir Ljubojević, firstly at Las Palmas with Ulf Andersson and Mikhail Tal and then at Manila with Lev Polugaevsky, Bent Larsen and Helmut Pfleger. Mecking played for Brazil in the Chess Olympiads of 1968, 1974, 2002 and 2004.^[2]

World Championship candidate

Mecking was however a regular participant in FIDE events to choose a challenger for the World Chess Championship. After unsuccessful attempts to qualify from the Interzonals of Sousse 1967 and Palma de Mallorca 1970, he had his first major triumph in 1973, when he won at the Petrópolis Interzonal (ahead of a very strong field that included such chess luminaries as Paul Keres, David Bronstein, et al). From this time until 1979, he was the strongest player born in the West in light of Bobby Fischer's effective retirement in 1972. He was subsequently eliminated from the Candidates Tournament in the quarterfinals, through losing his match against Korchnoi.

At his next attempt in 1976, he won the Manila Interzonal (ahead of Vlastimil Hort, Lev Polugaevsky, Vitaly Tseshkovsky, Ljubomir Ljubojević, Zoltán Ribli et al), thereby reaching a second successive Candidates match stage, but again lost in the quarterfinals, this time to Polugaevsky. Illness, believed to be myasthenia gravis, forced his withdrawal from the Interzonal in Rio de Janeiro 1979 after a first round draw with Borislav Ivkov. Indeed, his illness was so severe that it was widely believed he would soon die. He survived but did not play chess during the 1980s. While he was able to recover and to resume his chess career in 1991 with matches against Predrag Nikolić and (in 1992) Yasser Seirawan, followed by intermittent tournament appearances, his chance at the world title had passed and he did not reach the Candidates matches again.

Notable games

• Mecking v. Fischer 1970, Buenos Aires, Grunfeld 1/2-1/2
• Mecking v. Gipslis, Interzonal 1967 A game from Mecking's first Interzonal, played when he was only 15 years old.

References

1. ^ Chessgames.com
2. ^ "Men's Chess Olympiads: Henrique Mecking". OlimpBase. http://www.olimpbase.org/players/r7zrnj7h.html. Retrieved 3 May 2011. 

Bybliography

• Golombek, Harry (ed.) (1977). Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess. Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-517-53146-1. 
• Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion to Chess. Oxford University. ISBN 0-19-280049-3. 

External links

• FIDE rating card for Henrique Mecking
• Henrique Mecking player profile at ChessGames.com
• Biografia em clubedexadrez.com.br
• Happy Birthday Mequinho!

Persondata
Name	Mecking, Henrique
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 January 1952
Place of birth	Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil
Date of death
Place of death