Francisko Benko

Francisco (Franz) Benkö (Benkő, Benko) ( * Berlin, June 24, 1910  –  † January 11, 2010)  was a German-Argentiner chess master, chess composer and study composer

He was born in Berlin to a Jewish family. His father, Richard Wilhelm Benkö, was from Hungary, and his mother, Alice Josephine Helene Pick, was from Austria. In 1928 and 1929, he played simultaneous games against Alexander Alekhine in Berlin, drawing ties. In 1935, Franz Benkö was the first Jewish chess master in Berlin. In the spring of 1936, he emigrated from Germany via Holland to Argentina due to Nazi policies.

Francisco Benkö participated in the Argentine Chess Championship many times from 1937 to 2004 (at the age of 94). Among other finishes, he finished 11th in the 1937 Torneo Mayor (Jacobo Bolbochán won), 20th in 1938 (Roberto Grau won), 11th in 1939 (Juan Traian Iliesco won), 12th in 1940 (Carlos Guimard won), tied 9th–10th in 1941 (Markas Luckis won), 13th in 1945 (Herman Pilnik won), tied 5th in 1947 (Héctor Rossetto won), 5th in 1948 (Julio Bolbochán won), tied 5th–6th in 1949 and tied 5th–7th in 1953. Finally, he participated in the 2004 Argentine Championship, finishing in 91st place. 

In other tournaments, he finished 9th-10th in Buenos Aires in 1939 (Círculo de Ajedrez, Miguel Najdorf and Paul Keres won), finished 13th in Buenos Aires in 1941 (Najdorf won), finished 8th in Buenos Aires in 1945 (Círculo de Ajedrez, Najdorf won), finished 6th in Remedios de Escalada in 1949 (Julio Bolbochán won), finished 15th-16th in the Mar del Plata Chess Tournament in 1949. 

Chess Composition and Friends
Benkö was the longest-living member of the Schwalbe (he joined in 1928) and was an honorary member from 2009 until his death on January 11, 2010, in Buenos Aires. He amassed a collection of 30,000 chess compositions. While living in Germany, Benkö knew several famous composers, including Ado Kraemer, Erich Zepler, and Eduard Birgfeld. He was also friends with Wolfgang Heidenfeld. Benkö also knew several players in Berlin, but was only able to win against Friedrich Sämisch and Jacques Mieses, losing to Carl Ahues, Kurt Richter, and Willi Schlage. In 1939, Benkö met Alexander Alekhine in Buenos Aires, who solved some of Benkö's problems. In 1992, Benkö met Mikhail Tal, who also attempted to solve a chess problem (see below) but failed twice, but later solved it anyway. When the problem was first published, more than 500 people attempted to solve it. Half of them were wrong in their guess.