Head to Head
Peter Leko
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- Born:
- Sep 8, 1979 (Age 44) Szabadka, Hungary
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- FIDE Title:
- Grandmaster
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- FIDE ID:
- 703303
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- Federation:
- Hungary
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- Peak Rating:
- 2763 (April 2005)
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- Rating:
- 2666 (October 2023)
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- Rank:
- 80 (October 2023)
- Links:
Peter with his wife Sophie, who is the daughter of Armenian GM Arshak Petrosian, at the 2008 Corus Tournament in Wijk ann Zee | photo: Macauley Peterson
Following that match the Hungarian grandmaster scored one of his best results to finish clear first ahead of Kramnik, Anand and Veselin Topalov in Wijk aan Zee 2005, and his other top tournament victories include Linares (2003) and the Tal Memorial (2006), but he’s never since come close to the title. He suffered from an image problem – perhaps because of the self-preservation instincts of a youth thrown into the supergrandmaster bear pit, or simply because of his preferred positional style of play, he gained a reputation for drawing too many games. A real crisis ensued in 2009-10, when he began to alternate draws mainly with losses. After finishing bottom in Dortmund 2010 he took a nine-month break from chess, but has since returned and continues to be a formidable opponent.
Leko first played for Hungary in the World Chess Olympiad as a 15-year-old in 1994 and went on to help his country to silver medals in 2002 and 2014.
In recent years he's been active as a chess commentator as well as a coach of German prodigy Vincent Keymer, who stunned the chess world in 2018 as a 13-year-old by winning the GRENKE Chess Open ahead of almost 800 players.
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Comments 5
lol
"Peter Leko" -- What a name! LOL
Brilliant real-time commentary on the Carlsen Chess Tour Finals! Thank you Peter.
Brilliant player and perhaps even more brilliant commentator - would love to see a Leko & Hess combo covering the next World Championship match... simply the best!
Excellent chest player and decent man.