19th Hungarian Chess Championship — Budapest 1964

Portisch recovers the lead to claim his fifth national title
23 February – 21 March 1964 · Budapest, Hungary
Portisch won with 14½/19
190 GAMES

Lajos Portisch won the 19th Hungarian Chess Championship with 14½/19, one point ahead of László Szabó. The complete twenty-player final gave Portisch his fifth national title at age 27.

Dates
23 February – 21 March 1964
Location
Budapest, Hungary
Format
Twenty-player single round robin, 19 rounds
Winner
Lajos Portisch, 14½/19

◈A delayed start

Portisch arrived after tournaments at Beverwijk and Torremolinos. The Hungarian Chess Federation gave him rest at the beginning of the championship, so his first four scheduled games were made up on later adjournment days.

The unusual schedule did not change the format: all twenty finalists met once. The surviving archive contains all 190 games, one for every pairing in the 19-round field.

◈The lead changes hands

László Szabó moved ahead after round 14, but Portisch recovered in the closing phase and finished on 14½, a full point clear. Levente Lengyel took third on 13, half a point behind Szabó.

Portisch scored twelve wins, five draws and two losses. The victory was his fifth Hungarian championship and another milestone in the career of a player who would represent Hungary at twenty Chess Olympiads.

20
Players
19
Rounds
190
Games
14½
Portisch’s score

◈Final Standings

14½/19
Portisch won with 14½/19
# Player Score Record
1 Portisch, Lajos 14½/19 +12 -2 =5 games
2 Szabo, Laszlo 13½/19 +11 -3 =5 games
3 Lengyel, Levente 13/19 +10 -3 =6 games
4 Flesch, Janos 12½/19 +8 -2 =9 games
5 Forintos, Gyozo Victor 11½/19 +8 -4 =7 games
6 Barczay, Laszlo 11½/19 +6 -2 =11 games
7 Honfi, Karoly 10½/19 +7 -5 =7 games
8 Bilek, Istvan 10½/19 +4 -2 =13 games
9 Szily, Jozsef 10/19 +6 -5 =8 games
10 Pogats, Jozsef 9½/19 +4 -4 =11 games
11 Csom, Istvan 9/19 +7 -8 =4 games
12 Szilagyi, Peter 9/19 +6 -7 =6 games
13 Kluger, Gyula 9/19 +4 -5 =10 games
14 Haag, Ervin 8½/19 +4 -6 =9 games
15 Sapi, Laszlo 8/19 +5 -8 =6 games
16 Hajtun, Jozsef 8/19 +3 -6 =10 games
17 Kapu, Jeno 6½/19 +4 -10 =5 games
18 Gasztonyi, Endre 6½/19 +3 -9 =7 games
19 Prelovszky, Laszlo 4½/19 +2 -12 =5 games
20 Sallay, Roland 4/19 +2 -13 =4 games

Cross Table

Player 1234567891011121314151617181920
1 Portisch, Lajos ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Szabo, Laszlo ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1
3 Lengyel, Levente 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1
4 Flesch, Janos ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1
5 Forintos, Gyozo Victor 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 0 1 ½ 1
6 Barczay, Laszlo ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½
7 Honfi, Karoly 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 ½
8 Bilek, Istvan ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1
9 Szily, Jozsef 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1
10 Pogats, Jozsef ½ 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½
11 Csom, Istvan 0 1 1 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 1 1 1 1
12 Szilagyi, Peter 0 1 1 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0
13 Kluger, Gyula 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1
14 Haag, Ervin 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 0
15 Sapi, Laszlo 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 1
16 Hajtun, Jozsef 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1
17 Kapu, Jeno 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ 1
18 Gasztonyi, Endre 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1
19 Prelovszky, Laszlo 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½
20 Sallay, Roland 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 ½

Each cell shows the row player's per-game results against the column player (in round order). ● = same player.

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