His next Candidates ' match was against Portisch at Geneva 1977, and Spassky won by 8½ – 6½, to qualify for the final.

Spassky, as losing finalist, was seeded into the 1980 Candidates ' matches, and faced Portisch again, with this match held in Mexico.

After fourteen games, the match was 7 – 7, but Portisch advanced since he had won more games with the black pieces.

At Las Palmas 1972, he was second equal with Larsen, behind Portisch and in 1973, topped The Capablanca Memorial in Cienfuegos.

In 2004, Portisch was awarded the ' Nemzet Sportoloja ', Hungary's highest national sports achievement award.

Portisch entered the World Championship cycle for the first time with the Madrid 1960 Zonal, where he tied for second / third place, on 13. 5 / 21, along with Arturo Pomar ; the winner was Svetozar Gligorić, as all three advanced.

Portisch was awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE in 1961.

Portisch and Smyslov played a drawn match ( 3-3 ) at Portorož 1971 for a reserve place, with Portisch declared the winner, as his tiebreak score from Palma was superior, though this proved unnecessary.

Portisch qualified from the Petropolis Interzonal 1973, scoring 11. 5 / 17 for a shared second / fourth place ( the winner was Henrique Mecking ), then surviving a further three-man playoff for two berths against Lev Polugaevsky and Efim Geller, at Portorož 1973, by winning outright with 5. 5 / 8 ; however, Portisch lost his first-round Candidates ' match to Tigran Petrosian in 1974, by 6-7 at Palma de Mallorca.

Portisch was very active on the international tournament scene from the late 1950s through the early 1990s, and was one of the top performers for over thirty years, with many titles against elite fields.

By 1972, Portisch was a major contender to win any tournament he entered.

In 1968 he was second at Keszthely + 7 = 3 − 1 behind Portisch.

Spassky missed qualification from the 1982 Toluca Interzonal with 8 / 13, finishing half a point short, in third place behind Portisch and Eugenio Torre ,< ref >< http :// www. 365chess. com / tournaments / Toluca_Interzonal_1982 / 22359 </ ref > both of whom thus qualified.

The sixties drew to a close with victory at Monte Carlo 1969 ( shared with Portisch ) and a share of third place at Skopje 1969 ( with Uhlmann and Kholmov, after Hort and Matulovic ).

Portisch tied for first through third places in a master event at Budapest 1956, along with Joszef Szily and Bela Sandor, ahead of Pal Benko ; the three winners scored 7 / 11.

At the 1987 Szirak Interzonal, Portisch scored 12 / 17 to tie for third / fourth places, along with John Nunn ; he then defeated John Nunn by 4-2 in a playoff match at Budapest to advance to the Candidates '.

With six of the world's top 25 in the field at Zagreb 1965, Portisch scored 12 / 19 for a shared third / fourth place, as Borislav Ivkov and Uhlmann won.

Portisch shared first / third places at San Antonio 1972 ( with eight of the top 25 ), on 10. 5 / 15, with Anatoly Karpov and Tigran Petrosian.

Portisch shared third / fourth places at Palma de Mallorca 1972 on 10 / 15, with Oscar Panno and Ljubomir Ljubojević winning.

Some of his late successes included victories at Lone Pine 1976 and in the 1979 Paul Keres Memorial tournament in Tallinn ( 12 / 16 without a loss, ahead of Tal, Bronstein and others ), shared first place ( with Portisch and Hübner ) in the Rio de Janeiro Interzonal the same year, and second place in Tilburg in 1981, half a point behind the winner Beliavsky.

He placed 5th at San Antonio 1972 on 9. 5 / 15, as Petrosian, Lajos Portisch, and Anatoly Karpov won.

Svetozar Gligorić and Lajos Portisch made great contributions to the theory and practice of this line at top level during their careers.

He finished 2nd at the 1963 Halle Zonal with 13 / 19, behind winner Lajos Portisch, to advance to the Interzonal the next year.

He then won his first-round match against Lajos Portisch by 5½ – 4½ at Porec 1968.

In 1976 he won the Biel Interzonal, but lost his 1977 Candidates ' match, a rematch of their 1968 encounter, to Lajos Portisch by 3½ – 6½ at Rotterdam.

He won at Palma de Mallorca 1967 with 13 / 17, ahead of Smyslov, Mikhail Botvinnik, Portisch, Gligoric, and Borislav Ivkov.

Larsen won at Monte Carlo 1968 with 9½ / 13, ahead of Botvinnik, Smyslov, Vlastimil Hort, Robert Byrne, Portisch, and Pal Benko.

Larsen shared 8th – 9th places at San Antonio 1972 on 8½ / 15 ( Portisch, Petrosian, and Anatoly Karpov triumphed ).

He won at Teesside 1972 with 11 / 15, ahead of Ljubojević and Portisch.

Among his best results in other important tournaments were: clear first at Iwonicz Zdroj 1957, equal first with Taimanov at Dresden 1959, equal first with Lajos Portisch at Beverwijk 1965, clear first at Kislovodsk 1966, clear first at Gothenburg 1967, clear first at Kislovodsk 1968, equal first with Mikhail Botvinnik at Wijk aan Zee 1969 ( ahead of Keres ), equal first at Havana 1971 with Vlastimil Hort, equal first at Hilversum 1973 with Laszlo Szabo, clear first at Budapest 1973 ahead of Anatoly Karpov, clear first at Teesside 1975, clear first at Moscow 1975 ( ahead of Boris Spassky, Viktor Korchnoi, and Petrosian ), clear first at Las Palmas 1976, equal first with Gennadi Sosonko at Wijk aan Zee 1977, clear first at Bogotá 1978, equal first at Bern 1987 with Daniel Campora, clear first at Dortmund ' A ' 1989, and equal first at New York Manhattan 1990 with Gregory Kaidanov, at age 65.

Portisch placed fourth at Palma de Mallorca 1967, where seven of the top 30 played, with 11. 5 / 17 ; Larsen won.

de: Lajos Portisch

Unzicker also shared fourth place (+ 2 − 1 = 14 ) with Lajos Portisch in the 1966 Piatigorsky Cup in Santa Monica, California.

Portisch shared the title at Kecskemét 1966 on 6. 5 / 9, along with Vlastimil Hort.

At Amsterdam, he tied for first place, along with Mikhail Tal, Vasily Smyslov and Bent Larsen on 17 / 23, with all four, along with Borislav Ivkov and Lajos Portisch thus qualifying for the newly created Candidates ' Matches the next year.

At Las Palmas 1972, he shared 2nd – 3rd places on 11 / 15 ( Portisch won ).

Their comments on two short draws follow ( Spassky versus Petrosian and Reshevsky versus Portisch ), followed by comments on some other short draws.

Portisch shared first / second places at Monte Carlo 1969 with Vasily Smyslov on 8 / 11.

At Madrid 1973, Portisch shared sixth / seventh places on 9 / 15, with Anatoly Karpov winning.

In a second master event at Budapest 1956, Portisch made 7. 5 / 11.

Portisch won the Halle Zonal 1963 with 14 / 19 to advance to the next Interzonal.

Portisch qualified from the Amsterdam Interzonal 1964, with 14. 5 / 23, in a tied eighth / ninth place ( the winners were Mikhail Tal, Spassky, Vasily Smyslov, and Bent Larsen ).

Portisch won the 1967 Halle Zonal with 15. 5 / 19, to advance.