Sultan Khan: The Indian Servant Who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire

by Daniel King

Overview

Hardly anyone paid attention when Sultan Khan arrived in London on April 26, 1929. A humble servant from a village in the Punjab, Khan had little formal education and barely spoke English. He had learned the rules of Western chess only three years earlier, yet within a few months he created a sensation by becoming the British Empire champion. Sultan Khan was taken to England by Sir Umar Hayat Khan, an Indian nobleman and politician who used his servant’s successes to promote his own interests in the turbulent years before India gained independence. Sultan Khan remained in Europe for the best part of five years, competing with the leading chess players of the era, including World Champion Alexander Alekhine and former World Champion Jose Raoul Capablanca. His unorthodox style often stunned his opponents, as Daniel King explains in his examination of the key games and tournaments in Khan’s career. Daniel King has uncovered a wealth of new facts about Khan, as well as dozens of previously unknown games. For the first time he tells the full story of how Khan, a Muslim outsider, was received in Europe, of his successes in the chess world and his return to obscurity after his departure for India in 1933.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789056918743
Publisher:	New in Chess
Publication date:	07/07/2020
Pages:	372
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Daniel King (1963) is an English chess grandmaster, coach, journalist and broadcaster. He has written 16 chess books on topics ranging from opening preparation to the self-tutoring ow Good is your Chess? and Test Your Chess.

Table of Contents

Foreword Viswanathan Anand 7

London, 28th April 1929 9

Part I India 15

1 Sultan and his Master 16

2 Indian Rules 29

3 All-India Championship 1928 35

Part II England 59

4 A Passage to England 60

5 British Championship, Ramsgate 1929 74

6 On Parade 99

7 Tedious Play - Scarborough 1930 105

Part III Europe 129

8 Hamburg International Team Tournament 1930 130

9 Liège 1930 143

10 Club Matches and a Conference 157

11 Hastings Congress 1930/1931 165

12 Tartakower versus Khan 189

13 Gone to the Dogs 200

14 Insull Trophy Cable Match, London-Philadelphia 202

15 A Soirée with Capablanca 207

16 Prague International Team Tournament 1931 209

Part IV Fall and Rise 223

17 British Championship, Worcester 1931 224

18 Gandhi, Menchik and Alekhine 234

19 Hastings Congress 1931/1932 243

20 Sound Opening, Sound Game 251

21 The Sunday Referee Tournament 1932 255

22 Langford Club Match 1932 268

23 Cambridge Easter Congress 1932 271

24 An Adjudication 279

25 Bern International Tournament 1932 281

26 British Championship, London 1932 298

27 On Tour - Autumn 1932 311

Part V The Endgame 317

28 F.D.Yates: 1884-1932 318

29 Hastings Congress 1932/1933 321

30 Moving Away 328

31 Folkestone International Team Tournament 1933 331

32 British Championship, Hastings 1933 342

33 The Long Goodbye - Autumn 1933 350

34 Back Home 356

Epilogue 363

Acknowledgements 366

Endnotes 368

Bibliography 379

Index of names 381

Editorial Reviews

"King offers a lot more than just the games. He also sketches in the political background behind Sultan Khan's time in England: the discussions concerning the future of the Indian subcontinent which would eventually lead to independence and the partition in 1947. I thought these sections of the book were written with sensitivity and impartiality."

British Chess News - Richard James

"Sultan Khan's life makes for an extraordinary story, and it is one without parallel. Daniel King is an excellent writer. This is his most interesting work to date. King has done a simply wonderful job of reanimating the life, times and games of the mysterious Sultan Kahn."

CHESS Magazine - Sean Mars

"I am enjoying Daniel King's new book on Sultan Khan enormously."

Malcolm Pein

"A wonderful book. It's clear that the key to understanding Sultan Khan's games and achievements is in context, both on a historical level and on a chess level. King provides a lot of historical background for growing tensions between Great Britain and India in the 1930's. A fantastic addition to chess literature!"

Game Changer - Matthew Sadler

"A magnificent book, which is a fine tribute to someone who seemingly emerged from nowhere to win the British Championship three times, take on the world's best players and seemingly disappear from the chess world. The games are annotated in a high-class manner as you would expect from the English grandmaster and there is always a lot of prose to give a background to the event. There are plenty of photos to remind us of another era. A remarkable chess career captured in the style of a gripping novel."

Chess Moves Magazine - Gary Lane