The first Triennial Cup
Budapest hosted the first meeting of the Triennial Cup in January 1954. Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland entered eight-board national teams, and Hungary added a reserve team. Thirty-six players took part in a three-round single round robin. The Hungarian federation history dates the rounds to 22–24 January; OlimpBase identifies the venue as the Steel Industry Workers Trade Union’s hall.
Hungary led the Budapest leg’s official Cup standings on 11 board points, ahead of Czechoslovakia on 7½ and Poland on 5½. Matches against Hungary B were excluded from that competition. Across all six matches, Hungary A scored 15, Hungary B 13½, Czechoslovakia 11 and Poland 8½. The table below includes every match and marks the reserve team unranked.
The original 26 January newspaper report says that the event ended on 25 January, when Śliwa and Makarczyk resigned their already-adjourned games against Hungary A without resuming play. Those were played games, not unplayed defaults. Their final results completed Hungary’s 6½–1½ win over Poland.
The surviving record
All 48 played games are preserved as legal native scores, covering every published board pairing and result. The source label “Budapest Team-ch” is retained as metadata; this was an international national-team meeting. The later annual meetings in Prague and Warsaw are separate events.
The native files give only the year and unknown rounds, which remain unchanged. The published historical rounds and dates describe the occasion without supplying new game headers. Native Branicki, Ignacy is retained for the Polish player whom the contemporary tables call Izaak Grynfeld; the Polish biographical archive documents his later name change. The federation’s four roster tables also list four unused reserves. No moves or names have been replaced from external scores.
Final standings
This table counts all 48 played games. Hungary B is unranked because its matches did not count toward the official Cup: Hungary A 11, Czechoslovakia 7½, Poland 5½. The all-event totals shown here include those reserve-team matches.
| # | Team | Points | MP | Match record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hungary A | 15 | 5 | +2 =1 -0 |
| 2 | Czechoslovakia | 11 | 1 | +0 =1 -2 |
| 3 | Poland | 8½ | 1 | +0 =1 -2 |
| — | Hungary B | 13½ | 5 | +2 =1 -0 |
Cross Table
| Rank | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hungary A | 4½ | 6½ | 4 | |
| 2 | Czechoslovakia | 3½ | 4 | 3½ | |
| 3 | Poland | 1½ | 4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Hungary B | 4 | 4½ | 5 |
Each cell shows the row team's board (game) points in its match against the column team, out of the boards played. ● = same team. Ranking is by total board points; match points (2 for a match win, 1 for a draw) are the secondary column.