Benko was born on July 15, 1928, in
Amiens, France, where his Hungarian parents were on vacation. He was raised in
Hungary.[1] Benko learned to play chess aged eight from his father, but he did not compete in tournaments until age 17 due to World War II.[1] During the war, he dug ditches for the Hungarian army before being captured by the Soviet army, which forced him to be a laborer.[2] He eventually escaped to his home, only to find that his brother and father had been sent to Russia as laborers, and his mother died as the war neared its conclusion.[1]
Benko made rapid progress once he began tournament play and became
Hungarian champion by age 20.[1] He was awarded the title of
International Master in 1950.[3] He qualified for the
1952 Interzonal tournament but was unable to compete as he was sent to a concentration camp in March 1952 for attempting to
defect to the American embassy in West Berlin during a chess tournament in East Berlin.[1][4] He starved and saw others around him die.[5][2] He remained imprisoned for 16 months, attaining release after Stalin's death.[1] He emigrated to the United States in 1958 after defecting following the World Student Team Championship in
Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1957.[1]FIDE awarded him the title of
Grandmaster in 1958.[6]
World title candidate
Benko's highest achievement was qualifying and competing in the
Candidates Tournament—the tournament to decide the challenger for the
World Championship—in
1959 and
1962. Both tournaments had eight of the world's top players.[1][7] He finished eighth in 1959 and sixth in 1962. In the next world championship cycle, he qualified for the
1964 Interzonal but failed to progress to the Candidates.
Benko finished in first place (or tied for first place) in eight
U.S. Open Chess Championships, a record. His titles were: 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1974, and 1975.[8] He won the 1964
Canadian Open Chess Championship.[9] He represented Hungary at the 1957 Student Olympiad in
Reykjavík on
board one, scoring 7½/12, and Hungary was fourth as a team. He had earlier played for the Hungarian national team at the
Moscow 1956 Olympiad, on board three, scoring 10/15, and helping Hungary to team bronze.[10] He moved to the United States, but it was not until 1962 that he appeared on the U.S. team. He would wind up on six teams in a row. At
Varna 1962, Benko played board two, scored 8/12 for the silver medal on his board, and the U.S. finished fourth.[11] At
Tel Aviv 1964, he was again on board two, scored 9½/14, and the U.S. ended up sixth.[12] At
Havana 1966, Benko was on board three, scored 8/12, and the Americans won team silver.[13] At
Lugano 1968, he made 6/12 on board three, and the U.S. finished fourth.[14] At
Siegen 1970, Benko was on board four, scoring 8½/12, and the Americans again finished fourth.[15] His last Olympiad was
Skopje 1972, where he played on board three, made 9½/16, and the U.S. ended up ninth.[16]
Benko defeated four players who held the World Champion title at some point. They are
Bobby Fischer,[17]Mikhail Tal,[18]Tigran Petrosian,[19] and
Vassily Smyslov.[20] His career score against Fischer was three wins, eight losses and seven draws.[17] After Fischer retired, Benko was one of the few players with whom he maintained contact; reportedly, the two corresponded every week.[1] According to
Chessmetrics, at his best, Benko was ranked 17th in the world, with a peak rating of 2687.[21]
Later life and death
In later life, Benko was a tutor to many up-and-coming players from his native Hungary; his students included the Polgár sisters (
Susan,
Sofia,
Judit Polgár) and
Peter Leko.[1] Benko had a column on
chess endgames in Chess Life magazine, which is published by the
United States Chess Federation, for decades: "In the Arena" (1972–1981), "Endgame Lab" (1981–2013), and chess problem column "Benko's Bafflers".[6] In 2003 he revised
Reuben Fine's book Basic Chess Endings. Benko died in Budapest on August 25, 2019, at the age of 91.[1][22][a]
^
abcThe New York Times states that Benko died "on Monday" (in other words, August 26).[1] However, according to ChessBase, Benko's wife wrote to
Frederic Friedel: "Dear Frederic, sorry, my husband could not write to you, because he died on 25 of August."[22]