Andor (André, Andre, Andrei) Arnoldovich LilienthalGeorge Négyesi (editor), Champions' Friend, Friendship's Champion: Lilienthal's Hundred Best Games, Caissa Chess Books, 2001, p. 18.Reuben Fine, The World's Great Chess Games, Dover Publications, 1983, p. 216. . (5 May 1911 – 8 May 2010) was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against ten male and female world champions, beating Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Vera Menchik.Slobodan Adzic, He Has Beaten Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine as well as Old Age!, ChessBase News, May 30, 2005.Lilienthal!. Chessgames.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.
At the time of his death, he was the oldest living grandmaster (since surpassed by Juraj Nikolac), and the last surviving person from the original group of grandmasters awarded the title by FIDE in 1950.
Biography Lilienthal, of Jewish origin, was born in Moscow, Russian Empire, and moved to Hungary at the age of two.David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed. 1992), Oxford University Press, p. 226. .Négyesi, p. 11. He played for Hungary in three Chess Olympiads: Folkestone 1933 (scoring +7−0=6 as the reserve, the fifth player on the team), Warsaw 1935 (scoring +11−0=8 on second board), and Stockholm 1937 (scoring +9−2=6 on , leading his team to the silver medal).Árpád Főldeák Chess Olympiads 1927–1968, Dover Publications, 1979, pp. 91, 110, 143. . He won the individual gold medal for his board (reserve and second board, respectively) at the 1933 and 1935 Olympiads, and had the fourth-best result on first board in 1937.B. M. Kažić, International Championship Chess: A Complete Record of FIDE Events, Pitman, 1974, pp. 24, 28, 31. . His total score in the Olympiads was 75.51%.Négyesi, p. 15.
Emigrating to the Soviet Union in 1935, Lilienthal became a Soviet citizen in 1939. He played in the USSR Chess Championship eight times.Bernard Cafferty and Mark Taimanov, The Soviet Championships, Cadogan Chess Books, 1998, pp. 41, 48, 52, 56, 59, 62, 67, 81. . His best result came in the 1940 championship, when he tied for first with Igor Bondarevsky, ahead of Smyslov, Paul Keres, Isaac Boleslavsky, Botvinnik, and 14 other players.Cafferty and Taimanov, p. 48. He qualified for the Candidates Tournament once, in 1948.
From 1951 until 1960 he was Tigran Petrosian's trainer. Lilienthal began a friendship with Vasily Smyslov in 1938, and was Smyslov's in his world championship matches against Botvinnik. He retired from tournament play in 1965 and returned to Hungary in 1976. His last tournament was Zamárdi 1980, where he finished sixth in the B group, scoring +3−1=11.Négyesi, p. 233.
Lilienthal remained actively involved in the chess world into his ninth decade. He died on 8 May 2010, at the age of 99. It was reported that he had been ill for some time. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living grandmaster.
According to Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer approved only three chess players who could carry his coffin at his funeral: Andor Lilienthal, Lajos Portisch, and Boris Spassky.
Notable games
Lilienthal was one of the few players with an even record against Capablanca.Capablanca vs. Lilienthal games. Chessgames.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.Chess historian Edward Winter remarks that "Capablanca was the most difficult chess master to beat the world has ever seen. In his adult career he lost a grand total of just thirty-four tournament and match games." E. G. Winter (editor), World Chess Champions, Pergamon Press, 1981, p. 64. . Many top-class players, including Ossip Bernstein, Efim Bogoljubow, Reuben Fine, Géza Maróczy, Jacques Mieses, Aron Nimzowitsch, Savielly Tartakower, and Milan Vidmar, never won a game against Capablanca. Id. at 63. Lilienthal's "most celebrated victory" is his win commanding the white pieces against Capablanca at Hastings 1934–35:
The game is famed, and Lilienthal relates, "wherever I went on an exhibition tour, both in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, chess players and fans always asked me to show them how I sacrificed the queen against the great Cuban." When Bobby Fischer noticed Lilienthal in the audience at his 1992 return match against Boris Spassky, Fischer greeted him with the remark "Pawn e5 takes f6."Négyesi, p. 5.
See also List of Jewish chess players
References
External links
Lilienthal! Collection of wins by Lilienthal against notable players. Gorodin, Dmitry (2002). Andor Lilienthal and His Contribution to the History of Modern Chess. Chesscafe.com. Anzikeev, Vladimir. The Last of the Chess Mohicans, 64, May 2006 Winter, Edward, Chess Note 6569, A. Lilienthal. Photographs of Lilienthal from the collection of Edward Winter. Chesshistory.com. Obituary Obituary in the New York Times Chessbase: He played ten World Champions!