Lajos Portisch was born in Zalaegerszeg, in 4 April 1937. He is one of the greatest Hungarian chess players, Chess Olympiad winner, Chess World Championship silver medalled in team, silver and bronze medalled in the European Championship, nine times Hungarian Champion, one of the ten best chess players in the world at the 70s and 80s.

At first he took part in the national championship at the age of 15. In 1955, in the World Junior Chess Championship he finished fourth place. He is a chess Grandmaster from 1961.

Portisch took part many times in World Champion Candidate competitions in the course of his career. In 1963 he won the Zonal competition in Halle then he qualified from the Amsterdam Interzonal 1964 where he finished in a tied eighth/ninth place. After he won the tie (defetaed Samuel Reshevsky), he advanced to the Candidates series for the first time. However, he lost his match against Mikhail Tal in 1965, by 2,5-5,5.

At the Sousse Interzonal 1967 he finished fifth place. He lost in the best eight against Bent Larsen, by 4,5-5,5.

At the Biel Interzonal, he tied for second/fourth places with Petrosian and Tal, following Larsen. With the winning of the tie he got into the quarterfinal. Then, in 1977, in Rotterdam he beat Larsen by 6,5-3,5 in the first match and got into the best four at first. After this, in Geneva he lost against Boris Spassky (6,5-8,5).

In 1979 he advanced from the Rio de Janeiro Interzonal, sharing first/third places, and got a revenge game against Spassky in 1980. Altough their match ended with a 7-7 draw, Portisch scored more with the black pieces and advanced to the semifinal second time in the course of his career. There he lost against Hübner, by 4,5-6,5.

Following this, he could still get into the semifinal. In 1988, he won against Rafael Vaganyan then he lost in the same proportion against Jan Timman.

Considering his team chess results, between 1956 and 1959 he played in the Hungarian college chess team at Chess World Championship, and in 1956, he got a silver medal then in 1959, he got a bronze.

He represented Hungary eight times in European Team Championships, and he always finished in the top three with the Hungarian team.

Portisch keeps some records concerning the Chess Olympiad: he participated in a record (20) at Chess Olympiads in the national team; he played a record 260 games; and he scored the most points (176,5) in the history of Chess Olympiads.

His greatest success is first place in the Chess Olympiad 1978, in Buenos Aires as a member of the Hungarian national team. His personal score was 10/14. In 1988 and 1994 he got the second best achievement on his board. Portisch took part in 20 Chess Olympiads and won 11 medals.

According to Chessmetrics historical rating he stood third place of the world rating list between February 1980 and February 1984, his highest Rating is 2757.

Portisch’s favourite activity, apart from chess, is singing especially operas. He has a fine baritone voice and he can sing two octave arias.

Sources: https://hu.wikipedia.org;https://en.wikipedia.org; 

http://www.chessmetrics.com; http://hvg.hu