Laszlo Witt, Forgotten Champion

     Laszlo (aka Leslie) Witt was born in Hungary and passed away from pneumonia at the age of 72 at Sunnybrook Medical Center, Toronto on Tuesday, December 27, 2005. 

     As a youth, he was considered a chess prodigy having begun playing at the age of eight and by 17 he was the top junior player in Hungary. Witt was part of a talented group of young Hungarian players that included Levente Lengyel, Gyozo Forintos, Istvan Bilek, Egon Varnusz and Lajos Portisch. 

     In 1956, Witt emigrated to Canada following the failed Hungarian Revolution. He was competing in a tournament in Vienna, Austria at that time. Witt's wife Viola and young daughter Sylvia fled Hungary and joined him in an Austrian refugee camp; by early 1957 the Witts, a Jewish family, had reached Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Viola had a relative. The Witts made their new home in Montreal. Witt made his career in the electronics industry. 

     Witt was one of four very strong Hungarian chess players who emigrated to Canada around that time: Geza Fuster, Dr. Elod Macskasy and Andrew Kalotay. The latter, Andrew Kalotay. is a Hungarian-born finance professor. In 1968, he received a PhD in statistics from the University of Toronto. He represented Canada as alternate in the 1966 Olympiad and accumulated 4 points in 10 team games. He apparently abandoned OTB chess in favor of problem composing. He composed mostly helpmates and one of his best known works was in collaboration with Pal Benko. 

     Witt represented Canada at the Chess Olympiad in 1964 at Tel Aviv on the second reserve board and scored 4-6; 1966 at Havana on board 3 where he scored 10.5-7.5 and 1970 at Siegen on 4th board where he scored 4-7. 

     Witt won the Canadian Open Championship in 1962 with a perfect score. 

     He competed in the Canadian Championship three times. He placed 7th at Winnipeg 1963 (Zonal) with 8.5-6.5. 

     In the 1969 Canadian Championship he tied for 4-5th with 11.5-5.5 and earned the IM title. 

     At Toronto 1972 (also a Zonal), he placed 6th with 9.5-7.5. 

     Witt moved to Toronto in the early 1980s, and lived there the rest of his life. He gradually withdrew from serious chess competition, with his last strong event in 1987. 

     In later years, he enjoyed playing backgammon and painting in water colors, where he was considered a gifted amateur by his teachers. 

     In the following game played in the 1969 Canadian Championship Witt absolutely crushes his opponent, Lawrence Day. The tournament ended in a tie between Duncan Suttles and Zvonko Vranesic; Suttle won the playoff.

     International Master Lawrence Alexander Day was born in Kitchener Ontario on February 1, 1949. He participated in the 1967 World Junior Championship and won the Canadian championship in 1991. He is a member of the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame. 

 

[Event "Canadian Championship"] [Site "Pointe-Claire CAN"] [Date "1969.08.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Lawrence Day"] [Black "Laszlo Witt"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B77"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "1969.08.10"] {Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Be3 d6 7. Bc4 Nf6 8. f3 O-O 9. Qd2 a6 10. O-O-O Na5 11. Bb3 b5 ( 11... Nxb3+ 12. cxb3 b5 13. Kb1 Bd7 14. h4 b4 15. Nce2 a5 16. h5 a4 17. hxg6 axb3 18. gxh7+ {White had what proved to be a winning attack. Jakovenko,D (2564)-Evdokimov,A (2432) Krasnoyarsk 2003}) 12. Bh6 (12. h4 Nc4 13. Bxc4 bxc4 14. Kb1 Re8 15. g4 Bd7 16. h5 {White has the beginnnings of a dangerous attack. Velikanov,A (2067)-Yee,M (2142) Las Vegas 2008}) 12... Bxh6 (12... b4 {is not quite satisfactory.} 13. Nd5 Nxb3+ 14. cxb3 Nxd5 15. exd5 Qa5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nc6 {White is better. Djurasevic,B-Arnlind,E Munich 1958}) (12... Bb7 {also proved unsatisfactory.} 13. h4 Nxb3+ 14. axb3 Rc8 15. h5 e5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nde2 {White has the better position. Thorsteinsson,B (2219)-Olafsson,D (2304) Reykjavik ISL 2004}) (12... Bd7 {is solid.} 13. h4 Nxb3+ 14. cxb3 b4 15. Nce2 a5 16. h5 Bxh6 17. Qxh6 a4 {with equal chances. Crosa,M (2242)-Ricardi,P (2488) Buenos Aires 2000}) 13. Qxh6 e5 {This drives the N back and gains time for a Q-side attack. The backward d-Pawn is not an issue because it is only a potential target that white will find difficut to exploit.} 14. Nde2 b4 15. Nd5 {This is wrong because after the exchange on d5 white's possibilities are severly limited.} (15. Na4 {This move is better.} Nxb3+ 16. axb3 Be6 {with about equal chances.}) 15... Nxb3+ 16. axb3 Nxd5 17. exd5 {After this white's position is devoid of counterplay. Somewhat better was capturing with the R when at least he can hopefully put pressur eon the d-Pawn.} Qc7 {This threatens to win with ...Bf5 and so forces white to withdraw the Q. Note that white has quickly managed to reduce his attacking chances to zero.} 18. Qd2 a5 19. g4 {This is little kre than a gesture and it's as far as white "attack" gets.} Qb6 20. Kb1 a4 21. bxa4 Rxa4 22. b3 Ra5 23. Kb2 Ba6 24. Ng3 Ra8 25. Ne4 {This allows black a mate in 13 moves, but it was too late to save the game anyway.} (25. Ra1 Bb7 26. Ne4 Qa7 27. Rxa5 Qxa5 {and the game is over.}) 25... Ra2+ {[%mdl 512] A nice touch.} 26. Kc1 (26. Kxa2 Qa5+ 27. Kb2 Qa3+ 28. Kb1 Bd3 {and mate cannot be prevented.}) 26... Rc8 (26... Qa5 27. Qf2 Rc8 28. Nf6+ Kh8 29. Ne4 Qa3+ 30. Kd2 Rcxc2+ 31. Ke1 Rxf2 32. Rb1 Rfe2+ 33. Kd1 Qxb3+ {[%mdl 512]} 34. Rxb3 Ra1+ 35. Rb1 Rxb1#) 27. Qg2 Qa5 28. Rdg1 Ra1+ 29. Kd2 Rxc2+ { [%mdl 512] Prettier than mating in 2!} (29... Qxd5+ 30. Ke3 Qd4#) 30. Kxc2 (30. Ke3 Qb6+ 31. Nc5 Qxc5+ 32. Ke4 Qd4#) 30... Qa2# 0-1