Bent Larsen facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen (1961)
Full name	Jørgen Bent Larsen
Country	Denmark
Born	(1935-03-04)4 March 1935 Thisted, Denmark
Died	9 September 2010(2010-09-09) (aged 75) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Title	Grandmaster (1956)
Peak rating	2660 (July 1971)
Peak ranking	No. 4 (July 1971)

Jørgen Bent Larsen (born March 4, 1935 – died September 9, 2010) was a famous Danish chess grandmaster and author. He was known for his creative and unusual way of playing chess. For much of the 1960s and 1970s, he was considered the second strongest non-Soviet player, right after Bobby Fischer. Many people think he was the best chess player from Denmark and Scandinavia until Magnus Carlsen came along.

Larsen won the Danish Chess Championship six times. He also competed four times to become the World Chess Champion, reaching the semifinals three times. He managed to beat all seven World Champions from 1948 to 1985 at least once. These champions included Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and Anatoly Karpov.

From the early 1970s, he split his time between Las Palmas and Buenos Aires, where his wife was from. He had diabetes and passed away in 2010 from a brain hemorrhage.

Bent Larsen's Chess Journey
Larsen's Unique Chess Style
Famous Games by Bent Larsen
Images for kids
See also

Bent Larsen's Chess Journey

Early Years in Chess

Bent Larsen was born in Tilsted, near Thisted, Denmark. He discovered chess in 1942 when he was sick with childhood diseases. He started playing seriously at age 17 when he moved to Copenhagen to study civil engineering, but he chose to become a professional chess player instead.

In 1954, at just 19 years old, he became an International Master. This happened after he won a bronze medal playing on the top board for Denmark at the Amsterdam Chess Olympiad. He won his first of six Danish Championships in 1954, and then again in 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, and 1964. He also won the Gijón International Chess Tournament in 1956.

Becoming a Grandmaster

Larsen became an International Grandmaster in 1956. This was a big achievement, earned at the Moscow Olympiad where he even drew a game with the World Champion, Mikhail Botvinnik. He also tied for first place at the Hastings tournament in 1956–57.

In 1958, he won the Mar del Plata tournament, which was his first big international win. After a short period where his play wasn't as strong, he bounced back by sharing first place at the Beverwijk tournament in 1961.

Aiming for the World Title

Around this time, Larsen started using more risky and unusual chess openings. This helped him play better and develop his unique style. In 1964, he shared first place at the Amsterdam Interzonal tournament. This meant he qualified for the Candidates' matches, which are a series of games to decide who gets to challenge the World Champion.

In the 1965 Candidates' matches, he beat Borislav Ivkov. However, he lost a tough semifinal match to former World Champion Mikhail Tal. Later, in 1966, Larsen won a special playoff match against Efim Geller. This was the first time a Soviet grandmaster had been beaten by a non-Soviet player in such a match.

In 1967, he won the Sousse Interzonal tournament, finishing well ahead of other strong players. He then won his first match in the Candidates' tournament against Lajos Portisch in 1968. But he lost the semifinal to Boris Spassky, who later became World Champion.

In 1970, he finished second at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal, right behind Bobby Fischer. By early 1971, Larsen reached his highest ever rating of 2660, making him the third-best player in the world. He beat Wolfgang Uhlmann in 1971, but then lost his semifinal match to Bobby Fischer. Larsen later said that he lost so badly to Fischer because he was not feeling well due to the heat.

He tried to qualify for the World Championship again in 1973 and 1979 but did not succeed. In 1976, he won the Biel Interzonal, but lost his Candidates' match to Lajos Portisch in 1977.

Tournament Success (1965–1973)

From the mid-1960s, Larsen had a lot of success in major tournaments around the world. He and Bobby Fischer were the two strongest players outside of the Soviet Union. Larsen played in many big events and often finished ahead of top Soviet players.

He won tournaments in places like Le Havre (1966), Havana (1967), Winnipeg (1967), and Palma de Mallorca (1967). He was even given the first Chess Oscar award in 1967 for being the best player of the year.

Larsen also played in many large "Open" tournaments, which are open to many players and use a system called the Swiss system. He won the Canadian Open Chess Championship in 1968 and 1970, and the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1968 and 1970.

He won at Monte Carlo in 1968, which was his fifth major tournament win in a row – a very rare achievement in modern chess! He also won at Palma de Mallorca in 1969 and Buesum in 1969.

In 1970, Larsen played on the top board for the "Rest of the World" team against the Soviet Union team in Belgrade. He scored well against World Champion Boris Spassky and Leonid Stein. He continued his winning streak by taking first place at Vinkovci in 1970, Teesside in 1972, and Hastings in 1972–73. He also won the Nordic Championship in 1973 and the Manila tournament in 1973.

Playing for Denmark in Olympiads

Bent Larsen represented Denmark six times in the Chess Olympiad, which is a team chess tournament for countries. He always played on the first board, meaning he was the strongest player on his team. He played a lot of games and won three board medals: one gold and two bronze.

Amsterdam 1954: Board one, won a bronze medal.
Moscow 1956: Board one, won a gold medal.
Siegen 1970: Board one, won a bronze medal.

Later Chess Career

In 1988, Larsen played against a chess computer called Deep Thought and lost. This made him the first Grandmaster with a high rating to be beaten by a computer in a tournament. However, in 1993, Larsen won a return match against another supercomputer, Deep Blue, in Copenhagen.

Larsen continued to play in tournaments even as he got older. In 2000, he had to stop playing in the Danish Championship because he became very ill and needed brain surgery. After that, he only played a few tournaments in Buenos Aires. His last tournament was in 2008, where he did not play well. He passed away in Buenos Aires in September 2010.

Larsen's Unique Chess Style

Bent Larsen was known for being a very creative and imaginative chess player. He was willing to try unusual ideas and take more risks than most other top players. This was often seen in the chess openings he chose. He liked to surprise his opponents.

He was one of the few top grandmasters who regularly used Bird's Opening (1.f4). He also had a special connection with the move 1.b3, which is now often called Larsen's Opening or the Nimzo–Larsen Attack. He successfully used the Dutch Defence when it was not very popular among top players. He also helped bring back the Bishop's Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4) and explored new ideas for Black in the Philidor Defence. He even wrote a short book about the Philidor Defence called Why Not The Philidor Defense? in 1971.

Larsen was also the first top player to successfully use the Grand Prix Attack against the Sicilian Defence (1.e4 c5 2.f4), which made it much more popular. He also used Alekhine's Defence (1.e4 Nf6) and even beat World Champion Anatoly Karpov in 1979 using the rare Scandinavian Defence (1.e4 d5), which made many other players interested in it again.

Larsen wrote a book in 1969 called Larsen's Selected Games of Chess, 1948–69. In this book, he talked about chess psychology and how to use unusual openings effectively. He also wrote about his own style, saying he liked flank attacks and moving his rook's pawns more than other masters. He was happy to be called an aggressive player because he disliked drawing games.

He also co-authored a book about the Grünfeld Defence in 1979 called Zoom 001 Zero Hour for Operative Chess Opening Models.

Famous Games by Bent Larsen

Bent Larsen played many memorable games. Here are a few examples:

Bent Larsen vs Boris Spassky, Amsterdam Interzonal 1964: Larsen used an unusual opening to beat a top Soviet player.
David Bronstein vs Bent Larsen, Amsterdam Interzonal 1964: Larsen defended well and stopped Bronstein from becoming a World Championship Candidate.
Svetozar Gligorić vs Bent Larsen, Zagreb 1965: Larsen found a brilliant defense against a strong attack.
Bobby Fischer vs Bent Larsen, Santa Monica 1966: Fischer made a mistake, and Larsen used a strong counterattack to win.
Bent Larsen vs Tigran Petrosian, Santa Monica 1966: Larsen used a queen sacrifice to defeat the World Champion.
Mikhail Tal vs Bent Larsen, Eersel 1969: Larsen showed how dangerous he was with the Black pieces against a former World Champion.
Mikhail Botvinnik vs Bent Larsen, Leiden 1970: Larsen outplayed another former World Champion in a long game.
Bobby Fischer vs Bent Larsen, Palma de Mallorca Interzonal 1970: Larsen surprised Fischer with a new opening idea and played a nearly perfect game to win.
Anatoly Karpov vs Bent Larsen, Montreal 1979: Larsen used a rare opening against the World Champion and won.
Viswanathan Anand vs Bent Larsen, Roquebrune 1992: Larsen beat a future World Champion using one of his favorite openings.