Gyula Sax

The native form of this personal name is Sax Gyula. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Gyula Sax
Gyula Sax in 1979
Full name	Gyula Sax
Country	Hungary
Born	(1951-06-18)18 June 1951 Budapest, Hungary
Died	25 January 2014(2014-01-25) (aged 62)
Title	Grandmaster (1974)
Peak rating	2610 (January 1988)

Gyula Sax (18 June 1951 – 25 January 2014) was a Hungarian chess grandmaster and International Arbiter (1995).

Sax was awarded the IM title in 1972 and the GM title in 1974. He was the Hungarian Chess Champion in 1976 and 1977 (jointly). In 1971-72, Sax was the European Junior Champion, and he placed first at Rovinj-Zagreb 1975, Vinkovci 1976, Las Palmas 1978 and Amsterdam 1979. He won the 1978 Canadian Open Chess Championship and the strong Lugano Open in 1984.

Gyula Sax participated twice in a row in the Candidates Tournament after qualifying at the Subotica Interzonal in 1987 and at the Manila Interzonal in 1990 respectively but was eliminated in the Candidates in 1988 by Nigel Short (+0=3−2) and in 1991 after extra-time by then sixty years old Viktor Korchnoi (+1=6-1; +0 =1-1 rapid chess). His highest Elo rating was 2610 in January 1988 and again in January 1989, with his best world ranking on position 12 shared in the (half-year-list) January to June 1989.

Judit Polgár paid tribute to him shortly after his death:

Gyula Sax was one of the greatest chess players of Hungary. He was the first GM who treated me as a fellow chess player when I was only 9 years old. He was ready to analyze positions with me, and shared ideas and by doing so he gave me a lot of self-confidence. Later I met him in many different occasions, we played against each other, and played in the national team together. He was also an Olympic gold medalist and a fantastically energetic attacking player!

Notable chess games

• Vasily Smyslov vs Gyula Sax, Tilburg 1979, King's Indian, Fianchetto Variation (A49), 0-1 A close and symmetrical endgame won by Sax against an endgame master and former world champion Smyslov.

External links

• Gyula Sax player profile and games at Chessgames.com