Andor Lilienthal (born 5 May 1911) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. In his long career, he played against ten world champions, beating Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, and Vasily Smyslov. Lilienthal, who celebrated his 94th birthday in Budapest on May 5, 2005, is still active, in good health, driving his car, and writing articles for chess magazines.

Lilienthal was born in Moscow to Hungarian parents and moved to Hungary at age two. He played for Hungary in three Chess Olympiads, 1933, 1935, and 1937. Emigrating to the Soviet Union in 1935, he became a Soviet citizen in 1939. Lilienthal played in the USSR Chess Championship eight times, with his best result being a first place tie with Boleslavsky in 1940. From 1951 until 1960 he was Tigran Petrosian's trainer. Lilienthal began a friendship with Vasily Smyslov in 1938, and was Smyslov's second in his world championship matches against Botvinnik. He retired from tournament play in 1965 and returned to Hungary in 1976.

Lilienthal is one of a few players who have an even record against Capablanca. Here's his win against Capablanca in Hastings in 1935 (moves given in algebraic chess notation):

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 d5 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Ba6 9.e4 Bxc4 10.Bxc4 dxc4 11.Qa4+ Qd7 12.Qxc4 Qc6 13.Qd3 Nbd7 14.Ne2 Rd8 15.O-O a5 16.Qc2 Qc4 17.f4 Rc8 18.f5 e5 19.dxe5 Qxe4 20.exf6 Qxc2 21.fxg7 Rg8 22.Nd4 Qe4 23.Rae1 Nc5 24.Rxe4+ Nxe4 25.Re1 Rxg7 26.Rxe4+ Kd7 1-0

References

• Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion To Chess, Oxford University. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.

External links

• Gorodin, Dmitri (2002). Andor Lilienthal and His Contribution to the History of Modern Chess. Chesscafe.com.
• Adzic, Slobodan, He Has Beaten Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine as well as Old Age!, ChessBase News (May 30, 2005)