Pal Benko (July 15, 1928 – August 26, 2019) was a Hungarian and later American chess Grandmaster, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. He was a two-time candidate for the World Chess Championship and was instrumental in getting Bobby Fischer to return to chess. Benko played in eight Chess Olympiads from 1957 to 1978, and was also a major figure in World Chess Championship cycles, competing in every interzonal from 1948 to 1970.
Born in Amiens, France to Hungarian parents, he grew up in Hungary and learned chess aged 12. Benko was arrested in Czechoslovakia and served over a year in a concentration camp before being liberated, which was when he decided to become a professional chess player. He moved to America in 1958 where he gained citizenship and helped popularise chess.
Benko qualified for the Candidates Tournament (the last stage to determine the World Champion challenger) twice. His best competitive results were achieved in the mid-1950s to the early 1970s where he also earned an international reputation as an author and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. His perhaps most notable contribution to chess was the opening theory where he provided extensive analysis.
Benko won the US Open Chess Championship first in 1961 and then again in 1964. He was the first person, together with Bobby Fischer, to refuse participation in the Chess Olympiads due to conditions and regulations he found unsatisfactory, leading to institutional changes.
In the latter part of his life, he became an author of books about chess, focusing on endgame studies. He was also a renowned chess problem composer. Benko is also known for passing his invitation to the 1970 Interzonal to Fischer, who went on to win the World Championship.
Benko died on August 26, 2019, at the age of 91.