Mr ‘First Saturday’

Mr ‘First Saturday’ – Laszlo Nagy in Budapest
By Diana Mihajlova

In many fields, the protagonists carry the fame at the expense and unjust neglect of side workers. The cinema industry is one typical example: actors enjoy utmost accolades while writers or producers are hardly ever mentioned. And yet without their efforts there would be no work for the actors. Similarly, the chess stars can only shine and pave their way to a successful career thanks to dedicated chess organisers that provide opportunities for them to show their skills.

The First Saturday tournaments that run in Budapest, Hungary are by now world-renowned. Their main attraction is that they run monthly and guarantee a necessary quota of international rated and titled players, which is a prerequisite for obtaining FIDE ratings, norms and titles. Chess players from all corners of the globe flock to Budapest in order to try their luck at advancing their chess careers.

Many of the grandees of today have passed through the grinding mill of the First Saturday including Magnus Carlsen, Emil Sutovsky, Vadim Milov, Teimour Radjabov, Sofia Polgar, Hikaru Nakamura… to name but a few. It would be amusing to know that both Carlsen and Nakamura made unsuccessful attempts at achieving a norm! Peter Leko got his second GM norm, in the 1993 April First Saturday, when he was 14 years old.

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