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A chess prodigy who narrowly missed the title of World Chess Championship, Peter Leko has emerged to be the strongest player to play and win against. His strong defense and strategic moves make it almost impossible for any player to defeat him in simplest of matches. Renowned for his endgame skill, Leko has numerous draws recorded in his entire career. His Elo rating as per the FIDE rating list 2009, January, is 2751, which made him the 9th player in the world. However, his rating shot up in the year 2003 placing him on the rank 4. He holds rank one among all the Hungarian chess players.
Peter Leko was born in the year 1979 on the 8th September in Subotica, Yugoslavia. He is married to Sofya Petrosian, the daughter of famous Armenian Grandmaster Arshak Petrosian. Besides chess he is also passionate about other sports like tennis, football and bowling. He is also fond of listening to music. Leko was the youngest Grandmaster of his time. The title was awarded to him by FIDE in the year 1994 when he was just 14 years old.
Candidates’ Tournament:
Leko was a contender for the title of World Chess Championship on three different occasions in the years 2004, 2005 and 2007. He won the Candidates’ Tournament for the first time in the year 2002 to play the World Chess Championship against the reigning champion Vladimir Kramnik. Leko qualified for the World Chess Championship in the year 2007 by winning the Candidates tournament against Mikhail Gurevich and Evgeny Bareev in the same year.
World Chess Championship:
Year 2004:
The World Chess Championship 2004 was held in Brissago, Switzerland. The match was played between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko. It was after the fifth game that Leko took a lead over Kramnik. After 13 games, Leko was a point ahead of Kramnik and had a game left to beat Kramnik. Leko just needed a draw in the 14th game to win the World Chess Championship but Kramnik scored a draw and ended the match with a score of 7 to 7 thus, defending the title of World Chess Championship successfully. |
