Leontxo García
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Leontxo García Olasagasti (born February 12, 1956, in
Irún Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Ancient Rome, Roma ...
,
Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantique ...
) is a Spanish lecturer, presenter, commentator and journalist specialized in chess.


Biography

Leontxo García got into chess relatively late: he learned to play at school, when he was 13, but he didn't start to play seriously until he was 17. In 1975, at age 19, he became the absolute champion of
Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantique ...
and six years later, in 1981, he achieved the
FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
title. Later he achieved two
International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
norms and everything suggested that he would remain devoted to playing chess when he was approached, in 1983, by the
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
newspaper ''Deia'' to be the special correspondent at the KasparovKorchnoi and SmyslovRibli matches (London). It was then when he discovered that his vocation as journalist was even stronger than his vocation as player, and shortly after he stopped participating in chess competitions. From ''Deia'' Leontxo went on to
Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...
, Spanish news agency
EFE Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major Spanish language, Spanish-language multimedia news agency and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was ...
and ''La Gaceta del Norte'', a former
Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...
newspaper; later he worked for the radio network
Cadena SER La Cadena SER (the SER Network) is a Spanish radio network established in 1924, with a regular listenership of 4,139,000 reported in 2018. The acronym SER stands for Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión (Spanish Broadcasting Company). Cadena SE ...
and, finally, for ''
El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' (in 1985 he was special correspondent for two and a half months for the second Kasparov-Karpov match, in Moscow, and now he has a daily column at this newspaper) and
Radio Nacional de España Radio Nacional de España (acronym RNE, branded rne, "National Radio of Spain") is the national Government-owned corporation, state-owned public service broadcasting, public service radio broadcaster in Spain. RNE is the radio division and T ...
(1986). During those years he also worked with other media such as
Radio Moscow Radio Moscow (), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993, when it was reorganized into Voice of Russia, which was subsequently reorga ...
, former magazine ''El Globo ''and, later, Argentine newspaper '' La Prensa''. During the World Match Kasparov–Karpov in
Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
1987 he presented 50 special programmes at
Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea. T ...
(TVE) on a daily basis. Leontxo ran ''Jaque'' magazine for ten years (1991–2001) and has lectured chess in many countries.Biografía de Leontxo García en ''Chessbase''
retrieved December 12, 2012
He ran and presented ''En Jaque'' (In Check), a 39 programmes series broadcast by TVE (1990–91), and produced, with Kasparov, the series ''La pasión del ajedrez'' (The passion for chess), containing 64 magazines and 25 videos, at Editorial Salvat (1998–99). As chess instructor for the
Basque Government The Basque Government (, ; ) is the governing body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain. The head of the Basque government is known as the '' Lehendakari''. The Lehendakari is appointed by the Basque Parliament every four years, after a re ...
(1985), he has experience coaching children and has taught postgraduate chess courses to school teachers. He's broadcast on several occasions the chess commentaries of the most important tournaments, such as the Ciudad de Linares, Grand Slam Masters Final (Bilbao, Shanghai and São Paulo),
World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
, etc. But his journalist effort goes beyond the game-science; he writes about other sports (suffice it to say that he was special correspondent for ''El País'' at the
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
; that he produced and presented the series ''Destino Atenas'' (Destination: Athens) about the 28 olympic sports at Radio Nacional in 2004 and that he wrote a book about
Radomir Antić Radomir Antić ( sr-Cyrl, Радомир Антић, ; 22 November 1948 – 6 April 2020) was a Serbian professional football manager and player. Following a 17-year playing career as a defender, most of which he spent playing at Partizan, wit ...
) and international politics. His second specialty sport is
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...
, and he has covered several World and Europe Championships for ''El País'', Radio Nacional and Agencia Colpisa. Since 2007 Leontxo has a regular section (Sundays at 09.20) at the popular programme ''No es un día cualquiera'', with Pepa Fernández, at
RNE Radio Nacional Radio Nacional is a Spanish free-to-air radio station owned and operated by Radio Nacional de España (RNE), the radio division of state-owned public broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE). It is the corporation's flagship radio station, an ...
. Tireless chess propagandist, Leontxo promotes the teaching of this game to both children (in Spanish schools and abroad) and adults. "Regular chess exercise improves brain aging and may even be useful in preventing Alzheimer's and other senile dementias", he says. Leontxo thinks Spain needs a
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
of chess: "It's the country with more international tournaments, about a hundred. In over a thousand schools chess is taught as an extracurricular activity... but it lacks a champion. Vallejo could have been it but he's lacked dedication. I'm confident about the Galician Iván Salgado, aged 19, junior world runner. We'll see.".P. Etxaniz. ''La vuelta al mundo en 64 casillas''
''
Diario Vasco ''El Diario Vasco'' ( English: ''The Basque Daily'') is a Spanish morning daily newspaper based in San Sebastián, Basque Country. History and profile ''El Diario Vasco'' was founded in 1934 by the Sociedad Vascongada de Publicaciones, led by ...
'', April 30, 2011, in Spanish; retrieved December 12, 2012
Leontxo considers that the best chess player of all time, "the most complete has been Kasparov, for his talent, work and energy. When he sat at the board, his rivals felt as though they were fighting against a force of nature".


Prizes and awards

* Medal of Sporting Merit (
Consejo Superior de Deportes The National Sports Council, also called Supreme Sports Council or High Council for Sports (, CSD) is a Spanish government autonomous agency responsible for the promotion, planning and development of physical culture and sports activities of any ...
) 2011 * I National Chess Prize 2008 for his effort in spreading chess in 2007 * Listed in 1999 in the FIDE Golden Book "for his outstanding contribution to the development of chess" * Awarded by the
University of Oviedo The University of Oviedo (, Asturian: ''Universidá d'Uviéu'') is a public university in Asturias (Spain). It is the only university in the region. It has three campus and research centres, located in Oviedo, Gijón and Mieres. History Th ...
for the 39 programmes of the series ''En Jaque'', broadcast by TVE (1990–91), "for his exceptional effort in spreading culture" * Awarded for the best coverage of the World Chess Championship 1986 in Leningrad (
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
), awarded by the Sports Committee of the
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
* Absolute champion of
Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantique ...
1975


Books

* ''Magistral Ciudad de León, 20 años de ajedrez'' (Magistral Ciudad de León, 20 years of chess), cowritten with Paraguayan Grand Master Zenón Franco Ocampos, Editorial MIC, 2008 * ''Radomir Antić: Jaque a la liga'' (
Radomir Antić Radomir Antić ( sr-Cyrl, Радомир Антић, ; 22 November 1948 – 6 April 2020) was a Serbian professional football manager and player. Following a 17-year playing career as a defender, most of which he spent playing at Partizan, wit ...
: Check to the league], Plaza y Janés, 1996. The football coach reveals his training methods, how he revolutionized Atlético de Madrid and he shows some of his action-packed life.


Quotes

*"Chess is a gold mine, as yet hardly explored by the press" *"In chess, beauty is the daughter of error" *His phrase "Outstanding move", has become a popular internet meme (it depicts a still of him in a video showing a winning chess move)


See also

*
Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...


References


External links


Culture section at ''El País'', where Leontxo García has his daily chess articleLeontxo García on FacebookDownloadable conference: ''El ajedrez es necesario''Website of ''No es un día cualquiera''''El ágora de Leontxo García''
article on his interactive radio programme
María Dolores Calderón. ''Magnus Carlsen: ¿Un nuevo Bobby Fischer?''
Interview with Leontxo García in ''Cambio de Michoacán'', February 24, 2007, posted at Ulises blog; retrieved December 12, 2012 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Leontxo 1956 births Living people Chess FIDE Masters Spanish chess players Spanish chess writers Sportspeople from Irun