Bent Larsen, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Bent Larsen

Danish chess grandmaster and author

Date of Birth: 04-Mar-1935

Place of Birth: Thisted Municipality, North Denmark Region, Denmark

Date of Death: 09-Sep-2010

Profession: writer, chess player

Nationality: Denmark

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess grandmaster and author.
Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the first Western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance in chess.
He is considered to be the strongest player born in Denmark and the strongest from Scandinavia until the emergence of Magnus Carlsen. Larsen was a six-time Danish Champion and a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on four occasions, reaching the semifinal three times.
He had multiple wins over all seven World Champions who held the title from 1948 to 1985: Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, and Anatoly Karpov, but lifetime negative scores against them.
On a percentage basis, his best score against a World Champion was with Max Euwe.
Larsen and Euwe met over the board only once, at the Munich Olympiad in 1958; the game ended in a draw.
From the early 1970s, he divided his year between Las Palmas and Buenos Aires, with his Argentinian-born wife.
He suffered from diabetes and died in 2010 from a cerebral haemorrhage.