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Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second-strongest non-Soviet player, behind only Bobby Fischer, for much of the 1960s and 1970s. He is considered to be the strongest player born in Denmark and the strongest from Scandinavia until the emergence of Magnus Carlsen.
Larsen was a six-time Danish Champion and a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on four occasions, reaching the semifinal three times. He had multiple wins over all seven World Champions who held the title from 1948 to 1985: Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and Anatoly Karpov, but lifetime negative scores against them.
From the early 1970s onward, he divided his years between Las Palmas and Buenos Aires with his Argentinian-born wife Laura Beatriz Benedini. He suffered from diabetes, and he died in 2010 from a cerebral haemorrhage.
Larsen was born in Tilsted, near Thisted in Denmark, and was educated at Aalborg Cathedral School. In January 1942, he contracted a number of childhood diseases. Although none had any permanent effects, it was during this period that he discovered chess. Larsen went on to represent Denmark twice in the World Junior Championship, in 1951 at Birmingham (placing fifth) and in 1953 at Copenhagen (placing eighth). He began playing seriously at the age of 17 when he moved to Copenhagen to study civil engineering, but he never graduated, choosing instead to play chess professionally. Furthermore, during his military service he studied Russian, which was instrumental in assisting him to understand Russian-language chess literature[citation needed] (something Bobby Fischer was also known to have done). Larsen became an International Master at the age of 19 in 1954, from his bronze-medal performance on board one at the Amsterdam Olympiad. He won his first of six Danish Championships in 1954, repeating this feat in 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963 and 1964.
Larsen defeated Friðrik Ólafsson in an exhibition match at Oslo in 1955 by 4½–3½. He took first prize at the Gijón International Chess Tournament in 1956, ahead of Klaus Darga and Jan Hein Donner, and in the same year won at Copenhagen with 8/9.
Larsen became an International Grandmaster in 1956 with his gold-medal performance on board one at the Moscow Olympiad, where he drew with World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. He tied for 1st–2nd places at Hastings 1956–57 on 6½/9 with Svetozar Gligorić. At Dallas 1957, he scored 7½/14 for a shared 3rd–4th place; the winners were Gligorić and Samuel Reshevsky.
At the 1957 Wageningen Zonal, he and Donner tied for 3rd–4th places, with 12½/17. There were only three qualifying berths, so Larsen and Donner had to play off; this match Larsen won by 3–1 at The Hague 1958, thus qualifying for his first Interzonal, at Portorož 1958. He scored only 8½/20 for 16th place, and was not close to qualifying. However, he scored his first major individual international success by winning Mar del Plata 1958 with 12/15, ahead of William Lombardy, Erich Eliskases, Oscar Panno, and Hermann Pilnik.
Larsen went into a slump beginning with the 1958 Interzonal. He tied 5th–6th in a strong field at Zürich 1959 with 9½/15 – behind winner Tal, Gligorić, Paul Keres, and Bobby Fischer – but placed only 4th in a middle-range field at the 1960 Berg en Dal Zonal 1960 with 5½/9, and did not advance to the Interzonal. He recovered by sharing 1st–2nd places at Beverwijk 1961 on 7½/9 with Borislav Ivkov. At Zürich 1961, he tied for 6th–7th places with 6/11, as Keres won ahead of Tigran Petrosian. At Moscow 1962, he shared 7th–11th places with 7½/15 (Yuri Averbakh won).
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Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second-strongest non-Soviet player, behind only Bobby Fischer, for much of the 1960s and 1970s. He is considered to be the strongest player born in Denmark and the strongest from Scandinavia until the emergence of Magnus Carlsen.
Larsen was a six-time Danish Champion and a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on four occasions, reaching the semifinal three times. He had multiple wins over all seven World Champions who held the title from 1948 to 1985: Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and Anatoly Karpov, but lifetime negative scores against them.
From the early 1970s onward, he divided his years between Las Palmas and Buenos Aires with his Argentinian-born wife Laura Beatriz Benedini. He suffered from diabetes, and he died in 2010 from a cerebral haemorrhage.
Larsen was born in Tilsted, near Thisted in Denmark, and was educated at Aalborg Cathedral School. In January 1942, he contracted a number of childhood diseases. Although none had any permanent effects, it was during this period that he discovered chess. Larsen went on to represent Denmark twice in the World Junior Championship, in 1951 at Birmingham (placing fifth) and in 1953 at Copenhagen (placing eighth). He began playing seriously at the age of 17 when he moved to Copenhagen to study civil engineering, but he never graduated, choosing instead to play chess professionally. Furthermore, during his military service he studied Russian, which was instrumental in assisting him to understand Russian-language chess literature[citation needed] (something Bobby Fischer was also known to have done). Larsen became an International Master at the age of 19 in 1954, from his bronze-medal performance on board one at the Amsterdam Olympiad. He won his first of six Danish Championships in 1954, repeating this feat in 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963 and 1964.
Larsen defeated Friðrik Ólafsson in an exhibition match at Oslo in 1955 by 4½–3½. He took first prize at the Gijón International Chess Tournament in 1956, ahead of Klaus Darga and Jan Hein Donner, and in the same year won at Copenhagen with 8/9.
Larsen became an International Grandmaster in 1956 with his gold-medal performance on board one at the Moscow Olympiad, where he drew with World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. He tied for 1st–2nd places at Hastings 1956–57 on 6½/9 with Svetozar Gligorić. At Dallas 1957, he scored 7½/14 for a shared 3rd–4th place; the winners were Gligorić and Samuel Reshevsky.
At the 1957 Wageningen Zonal, he and Donner tied for 3rd–4th places, with 12½/17. There were only three qualifying berths, so Larsen and Donner had to play off; this match Larsen won by 3–1 at The Hague 1958, thus qualifying for his first Interzonal, at Portorož 1958. He scored only 8½/20 for 16th place, and was not close to qualifying. However, he scored his first major individual international success by winning Mar del Plata 1958 with 12/15, ahead of William Lombardy, Erich Eliskases, Oscar Panno, and Hermann Pilnik.
Larsen went into a slump beginning with the 1958 Interzonal. He tied 5th–6th in a strong field at Zürich 1959 with 9½/15 – behind winner Tal, Gligorić, Paul Keres, and Bobby Fischer – but placed only 4th in a middle-range field at the 1960 Berg en Dal Zonal 1960 with 5½/9, and did not advance to the Interzonal. He recovered by sharing 1st–2nd places at Beverwijk 1961 on 7½/9 with Borislav Ivkov. At Zürich 1961, he tied for 6th–7th places with 6/11, as Keres won ahead of Tigran Petrosian. At Moscow 1962, he shared 7th–11th places with 7½/15 (Yuri Averbakh won).
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