Gyula Sax was awarded the IM title in 1972 and the GM title in 1974. He was the Hungarian Chess Champion in 1976 and 1977 (jointly). In 1971-72, Sax was the European Junior Champion, and he placed first at Rovinj-Zagreb 1975, Vinkovci 1976, Las Palmas 1978 and Amsterdam 1979.
Gyula won the 1978 Canadian Open Chess Championship. Sax participated in the Candidates Tournament after qualifying at the Subotica Interzonal in 1987, but was eliminated by Nigel Short (+0 =3 –2). His highest Elo rating was 2610.
Gyula Sax was on the winning team at the Buenos Aires Olympiad in 1978. There the Hungarian "Golden Team" stopped the total dominance of the USSR at the Olympiads: the Soviet team won 18 Gold medals in the years 1952-1990, with a single break, when Hungary took it in 1978.
The team consisted of Lajos Portisch, Zoltan Ribli, Gyula Sax, Andras Adorjan, István Csom and László Vadász (from left to right in the picture above). Sax scored +5 =7 –0 and won individual bronze on board three. Sax represented Hungary at ten Olympiads. His team won Silver twice and in all but one Olympiad was amongst the top six. At the 1980 Malta Olympiad his team led from start to finish, and lost Gold only on tiebreak points to the Soviet Union.
On her Facebook page Judit Polgar writes:
Gyula Sax was one of the greatest chess players of Hungary. He was the first GM who treated me as a fellow chess player when I was only 9 years old. He was ready to analyze positions with me, and shared ideas and by doing so he gave me a lot of self-confidence. Later I met him in many different occasions, we played against each other, and played in the national team together. He was also an Olympic gold medalist and a fantastically energetic attacking player!
I would like to remember him with a typical tactical combination of his style which was always inspiring:
John Nunn, who played Sax on numerous occasions, ruefully remembers how he was punished for a careless pawn-grab by the Hungarian tactician back in 1985:
On January 28 MNO Hungary reported that Gyula Sax had passed away. Over the last two decades the grandmaster had live in seclusion – in "quiet solitude" – sometimes playing in league matches, but no longer participating in world class events.
The magazine Femina reported on Gyula Sax death at 62 of a heart attack
