Fedor Bohatirchuk
By Bobby Ang
Last Friday I was talking about the 27 original grandmasters of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). This comprised of:
1) the world champion (Botvinnik)
2) 14 players who had played in the inaugural Candidates’ Tournament in 1950 (Boleslavsky, Bondarevsky, Bronstein, Euwe, Fine, Flohr, Keres, Kotov, Lilienthal, Najdorf, Reshevsky, Smyslov, Stahlberg and Szabo), and
3) 12 players still living who, though past their best in 1950, were recognized as having been world class at their peak (Bernstein, Duras, Gruenfeld, Kostic, Levenfish, Maroczy, Mieses, Ragozin, Rubinstein, Saemisch, Tartakower and Vidmar)
Item no. 3 was a bit controversial, as politics caused the names of several prominent players to be left out. For example, the Soviet bloc caused the exclusion of Efim Bogoljubow, Fedor Bohatirchuk and Peter Romanovsky from the GM list.
As most of you know Bogoljubow had won the powerful 1925 Moscow International Tournament 1.5 points ahead of a field which included Emanuel Lasker, Jose Capablanca, Frank James Marshall and Saviely Tartakower. In addition to that he played world championship matches with Alekhine in 1929 and 1934.
Peter Arsenievich Romanovsky (29 July 1892-1 March 1964) was a very prominent player, teacher and organizer from St. Petersburg. After the first world war he took second, behind Alekhine, at Moscow 1920 (the first USSR Chess Championship). He was the Soviet Champion in 1923 and 1927 (with Fedor Bogatyrchuk). He tied for first with Grigory Levenfish, Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky and Ilya Rabinovich in the 1925 Leningrad City Chess Championship. In December 1925, he tied for 7-8th in the Moscow 1925 chess tournament.
In 1927, he won in Leningrad. His best international result was in Leningrad 1934, finishing equal second with Nikolai Riumin, behind Mikhail Botvinnik. These results clearly indicate a player of grandmaster strength. In 1935, he was the first Soviet chess player to be awarded Honored Master of Sport.
The story of Fedor Bohatirchuk (born 14 Nov. 1892 in Kiev, Ukraine — died 4 Sept.1984, Ottawa, Canada) is a bit more tragic.
Bogatyrchuk played in six Soviet Union (USSR) Championships: 1923 (3rd-5th), 1924 (3rd-4th), 1927 (tied for 1st with Romanovsky), 1931 (3rd-6th), 1933 (8th), and 1934 (3rd-4th). As can be seen, in the 20s and 30s he was undoubtedly one of the very best players from the Soviet Union.
Here is the full article.
He was for sure one of the best Soviet players from that era.
Bohatirchuk appears in the silent film “Chess Fever” in footage that was shot at the Moscow 1925 international tournament. I believe there is also footage of Torre, Spielmann, Tartakower, and possibly a few other participants, some of whom look up in mild irritation as the camera focuses on them. It’s the only moving footage of the great prewar masters that I have ever seen.
Nice piece from the Philippine chess writer great Bobby Ang.
Where is this guy’s neck?
Chess politics hasn’t changed much over the years, has it?