Trump, Kramnik, Botvinnik, Junge, Benko

Trump, Kramnik, Botvinnik, Junge, Benko

By Pal Benko

Donald Trump – nowadays we can frequently meet with this name quite often in the media. During a New York City chess event in 1994 I had the opportunity to talk to him in person.

The 1994 Candidates Tournament in the Trump Tower with Short, Kamsky and Kramnik in the foreground | Photo: Chess Life Dec. 2016

A Kramnik–Kamsky World Championship Candidates match was held in the Trump Tower. Trump gave a reception for the guests, in the company of his secretary and a beautiful model. I was also introduced as "Chess Grandmaster Pal Benko". Mr. Trump turned to his secretary and asked: "Don’t you think I could also be a GM if I put in one or two year on chess?"

I couldn’t believe it. I said: "You need to be born again for that. I have never known anyone who started with chess after the age of 20 and became a grandmaster." Presumably he had no idea of the serious fight for titles in chess. One thing is sure: had he started with chess he could have never been a billionaire.

However, nowadays in hope of increasing popularity of chess FIDE award titles much easier than it had been before. Usually a young talent starts being taught at the age of 4-5, and the best of them usually need about ten years to become a GM.

By the way, I was able to talk to Kramnik too before the match. Amongst others I said to him: "I think you will not use the sharp lines of the Botvinnik Variation this time [which was one of his favourites then], since Kamsky will clearly be well prepared against it.” But let’s see the game:

The Botvinnik and Moscow variation

In this DVD, Dutch top grandmaster Loek Van Wely presents both the Botvinnik Variation and the Moscow Variation of the Slav Defence, two extraordinary opening systems excelling by extreme sharpness and complexity.

The Botvinnik Variation leads to tactically explosive positions beyond any routine, has been played on highest level with the black pieces by Kasparov, Shirov and Kramnik. Van Wely explains the ideas of this system mainly by means of his own white games, supplemented by games of Ivanchuk, Piket and Bacrot. Also in the Moscow Variation, tactical complications are always on the agenda.

Running time: 5 h 30 min

But why is it called the “Botvinnik System?? Let’s go back in time…

Thus it was a quick surprising loss. No wonder that the game became world famous soon, since such a radio-chess team match had also a political angle. It is interesting that I played the system just some weeks before during my first master level tournament. The game was published later in the Magyar Sakkvilag 1946 Nr. 4.

Klaus Junge (1924-1945) was a great hope of German chess, but unfortunately died tragically during the last month of World War II, serving a a soldier. During the years 1941-42 he was equal opponent to Aljechin, Keres and Bogoljubov. Let’s see another interesting game by him:

There is another addition to this line from even earlier time played by an ex-World Champion against a Hungarian GM.

After all these to whom should we give the trophy? It is really hard to establish who had played it first. A Russian book by V.A. Csapusin “Dance at the Edge of a Volcano” (1993) which contains 90 games of K. Junge. It is claimed in the book that the system should be named after Junge since he played it earlier and more times than Botvinnik. It is also true that Junge methodized it and played it both at board and in correspondence chess too. His analysis about it appeared in chess magazines.

Aljechin once complained that a system played by him was named the Kecskemet Variation, where it was first played (1927), and not named after him. As he wrote: "It is not important who played a system first, and where. The most important is who made it well-known and popular."

It reminds me of the Benko (Volga) gambit. I had played it about 40 times at tournaments and also against grandmasters. I published a lot of analysis and wrote a book about it. The Benko Gambit was published in New York in 1972 and everyone in the West named the system like that. But not in the East. I may write more about that next time…

The above article appeared in the December 2016 issue of USCF Chess Life. We reprint it with the kind permission of the author.

About the author

Pál Benkö, 88 (born July 14, 1928), is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster, openings theoretician, author and problemist. He became Hungarian champion when he was twenty and finished in first place (or tied for first place) in a record of eight US Championships: 1961, 1964 (in that year he also won the Canadian Open Chess Championship), 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1975. Benko's highest achievements were playing in the Candidates Tournament with eight of the world's top players in 1959 and 1962. He qualified for the 1970 Interzonal tournament, the leaders of which advance to the Candidates. However, he gave up his spot in the Interzonal to Bobby Fischer, who went on to win the World Championship in 1972.

In addition to his success as a player, Benko is a noted authority on the chess endgame and a composer of endgame studies and chess problems. He is an over-the-board GM and also a FIDE IM of chess composition. The only other person we know who has these two titles is Jan Timman of the Netherlands. Pal Benko is also a dear friend who keeps in touch with us regularly, sending problems and puzzles for the ChessBase news page on special occasions.

Some earlier ChessBase articles by and about Pal Benko

12/25/2016 – Christmas puzzles with Pal Benko
Another year passes, and we end it with our traditional Christmas puzzles – this year for the seventeenth time. Over the holidays we try to give you something unusual: puzzles that cannot be easily solved with a computer, tasks which require you to think all by yourself. And once again, as happened frequently in the past, we received three wonderfully entertaining problems from the great composer Pal Benko, who wished us and our readers a Happy Christmas.

6/16/2016 – Can computers compose artistic problems? (2)
Earlier this week we brought you part one of Pal Benko's critique of machine composed chess problems. In part two this world famous problem composer shows us further examples and how they can be improved. He also gives us an example of composing together with a computer, "the first time in my life I did not create a chess problem fully in my own mind," and tells us why he has decided to drop out of problem competitions.

6/14/2016 – Can computers compose artistic problems? (1)
Some time ago Dr Azlan Iqbal presented a program, Chesthetica, that was composing chess problems. We published ten examples of three-movers by the machine. Now a leading expert in the subject, Pal Benko, who is one of the finest problem composers in the world, tells us what he thinks about the quality of the computer compositions – and also what are the criteria that make a chess problem valuable.

4/1/2016 – Pal Benko's April entertainment
Our loyal friend, Hungarian GM and problemist Pal Benkö, who at the age of 87 is still composing wonderfully imaginative problems and studies, has sent us four very unusual (and tricky!) puzzles to solve on this auspicious day. We present them to you without solutions, so you have a few days to try and find the hidden subtleties and traps. One thing is certain: Benko never ceases to delight.

12/30/2015 – ChessBase Christmas Puzzles 2015 (6)
This year was the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Musing over the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, three years before, Pal Benko found a well-known chess problem that reflects the retreat of the French forces and the attacks by Cossack Hussards. It was composed by Alexander Petrov in 1824, but is somewhat flawed. Our problemist friend could not resist improving on it.

7/18/2015 – Pal Benko's birthday problems
On July 14 Hungarian problem componist GM Pal Benkö turned 87. His wife Gisela is 78, his daughter Palma 45, son David 44 and his grandson Adam 12. Why are we telling you this so specifically? Because Pal is celebrating with some wonderful number problems: positions shaped like digits, to share with his family and with problem lovers all over the world. Now with solutions!

7/12/2015 – Pal Benko: Variations on a Kubbel study (2)
Our good and faithful friend, GM Pal Benko, recently explained to us why one of the most famous studies of all time, composed in 1922 by Leonid Kubbel, was not completely flawless – and indeed worthy of improvement. He showed us how the process works, and in today's second part you can watch one of the greatest composers of our generation polishing flawed studies.

6/23/2015 – Valuation: variations on a famous Kubbel study
One of the greatest chess composers in history was Leonid Ivanovich Kubbel, born in 1891 in St. Petersburg, Russia. One of the greatest contempory composers is GM Pal Benkö, born in 1928. One of the most famous studies of all time is a 1922 composition by Kubbel. It is, however, not completely flawless, and so Benkö set out to polish it. He gives us a unique insight into the process.

12/31/2014 – Happy New Year 2015 from Pal Benko
Our friend, famous chess composer GM Pal Benko, got into the New Year spirit by sending us seven little problems to solve. They are all miniatures, requiring mate in three moves. And together they spell out HNY-2015. The positions look deceptively easy, but some have very clever solutions that are not easy to find. All are cook free. With Pal we wish our readers a Happy New Year 2015!

4/4/2014 – Benko: Fun problems to celebrate April 1st
Our friend and world famous chess composer GM Pal Benko got into the spirit of the day and sent us three problems to solve. They look deceptively easy, but you must consider the day of publication and not be fooled by the guile of the composer. We will leave you to work things out for a few days, and then give you the answers which may come as a surprise to some.

3/29/2014 – Pal Benko on Richard Réti’s endgames (2)
125 years ago a boy was born in the Austro-Hungarian part of what is today Slovakia. Richard Reti was a mathematician and world class chess master. Reti was also an endgame specialist who composed some of the most original endgame studies ever devised. Some were flawed, and now, almost a century later, his compatriot GM Pal Benko provides revisions to these studies.

3/26/2014 – Pal Benko on Richard Réti’s endgames (1)
At the turn of the last century an Austro-Hungarian mathematician shook up the chess world with revolutionary new ideas ("hypermodernism"), and with some of the most original endgame studies ever devised. To celebrate his upcoming 125th birthday another great chessplayer and endgame specialist, GM Pal Benko, has sent us some examples of Reti's works.

12/23/2013 – Pal Benko: Secrets of Study Composition (2)
One of the greatest study composers – as well as a former world championship candidate – is our friend Pal Benko, who never fails to send us a special Christmas gift. This year it was an article that offers unique insight into the process of chess composition. We brought you the first part a week ago. Today it is about breaking the pin and avoiding stalemate. And there is a remarkable study for you to solve.

12/17/2013 – Pal Benko: Secrets of Study Composition (1)
There is more to chess than tournament games. The area of chess studies and problems is equally creative and breathtakingly imaginative. One of its greatest composers is grandmaster (and world championship candidate 1959 + 1962) Pal Benko. The 85-year-old author of some of the most famous studies of all time has sent us an essay on the remarkable process of chess composition.

7/15/2013 – The Life Gambit à la Benko
Pal Benko (Hungarian: Benkö Pál) is, as 99% of our readers probably know, a legendary chess grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and problems. He was born on July 15 1928, which made him 85 today. Diana Mihajlova met the fit and active octogenarian, who has been a "pal" of our company for a decade, in his home town of Budapest. Here is part one of her birthday report.

7/18/2013 – The Life Gambit à la Benko – Part two
On Monday Pal Benko, legendary grandmaster, author, and problem composer, turned 85. Diana Mihajlova, who recently met with the fit and active octogenarian in his home town of Budapest, sent us a birthday report in two parts. Today we learn of Benkos escape from Communist Hungary to the US, and his relationship with Bobby Fischer. And we get to solve two highly entertaining problems.

5/20/2011 – Greetings from Pál Benkö for 25 years of ChessBase
"Congratulations to ChessBase on your 25th anniversary! Your news page is the the first thing I look at every day when I go on the Internet. You do such wonderful work. Keep up your great service for the whole chess world." Heartening words from legendary great chess player, theorist, author and problem composer – who in addition sent six anniversary puzzles for our readers.

4/24/2011 – Easter puzzles by Benko – a World Champion challenge
Pál Benkö, 82 and still going strong, is a world class grandmaster, author and problem composer. He is also a faithful friend who periodically sends us puzzles for our newspage. This time, for Easter, he has selected four problems which stumped a World Champion. It is a challenge for you to do better, and win a special prize in the process. Enjoy.

12/30/2009 – Pal Benko improves on Troitzky
In 1856 the great Sam Loyd composed a chess problem, which 75 years later inspired Alexey Troitsky, one of the greatest composers of endgame studies, to create a puzzle with a similar theme. It proved to be flawed. 75 years after Troitzky another great composer, Pal Benko, took up his problem, improved on it and submitted it for our Christmas Puzzle page.