Sultan Khan
CountryBritish India (1903–1947)
Pakistan (1947–1966)
Born1903
Mitha Tiwana, Khushab District, British India
Died25 April 1966(1966-04-25) (aged 62–63)
Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan
TitleGrandmaster (posthumous, 2024)

Sultan Khan (Punjabi and Urdu: میاں سلطان خان, 1903 – 25 April 1966; often given the erroneous honorific Mir Sultan Khan or Mir Malik Sultan Khan[1]) was a British Indian Punjabi chess player,[2][3][4] and later a citizen of Pakistan, who is thought to have been the strongest chess master of his time from Asia. The son of a Muslim landlord and preacher, he travelled with Colonel Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan (Sir Umar), to Britain, where he took the chess world by storm. In an international chess career of less than five years (1929–33), he won the British Championship three times in four tries (1929, 1932, 1933), and had tournament and match results that placed him among the top ten players in the world. Sir Umar then brought him back to his homeland, where he gave up chess and returned to cultivate his ancestral farmlands in the area which became Pakistan. He lived there before dying in his sixties in the city of Sargodha. David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld have called him "perhaps the greatest natural player of modern times".[5] In 2024 FIDE posthumously awarded him the title of Honorary Grandmaster.[6]

Chess career

Sultan Khan with his trophy after winning the British Chess Championship (1932)

Sultan Khan was born on 13 March 1903 in Mitha Tiwana, Khushab, Sargodha (then British India, today Pakistan), to a Muslim Awan family of pirs and landlords.[7] He learned Indian chess from his father at the age of nine.[5][8] By the time he was 21 he was considered the strongest player in Punjab.[8] At that time, Sir Umar took him into his household with the idea of teaching him the European version of the game and introducing him to European master chess .[5][8] In 1928, he won the all-India championship, scoring eight wins, one draw, and no losses.[5][8][9]

In the spring of 1929, Sir Umar took him to London, where a training tournament was organized for his benefit.[5][10] Due to his inexperience and lack of theoretical knowledge, he did poorly, tying for last place with H. G. Conde, behind William Winter and Frederick Yates. After the tournament, Winter and Yates trained with him to help prepare him for the British Chess Championship to be held that summer.[10] To everyone's surprise, he won.[5][10][11] Soon afterwards, he went back to India with Sir Umar.[5][10]

Returning to Europe in May 1930, Sultan Khan began an international chess career that included wins over many of the world's leading players.[5] His best results were second to Savielly Tartakower at Liège 1930; third at Hastings 1930–31 (+5−2=2) behind future World Champion Max Euwe and former World Champion José Raúl Capablanca; fourth at Hastings 1931–32; fourth at Bern 1932 (+10−3=2); and a tie for third with Isaac Kashdan at London 1932, behind World Champion Alexander Alekhine and Salo Flohr.[5] Sultan Khan again won the British Championship in 1932 and 1933.[5][12] In matches he narrowly defeated Tartakower in 1931 (+4−3=5) and narrowly lost to Flohr in 1932 (+1−2=3).[5][13]

Sultan Khan thrice played first board for England at Chess Olympiads. At Hamburg 1930, there was still no rule that teams must put their best player on the top board, and some teams, unconvinced of his strength, matched their second or even third-best player against him.[14] He scored nine wins, four draws, and four losses (64.7%).[15][16] At Prague 1931, he faced a much stronger field.[17] He had an outstanding result, scoring eight wins, seven draws, and two losses (67.6%).[16][18] This included wins against Flohr and Akiba Rubinstein and draws with Alekhine, Kashdan, Ernst Grünfeld, Gideon Ståhlberg, and Efim Bogolyubov.[17] At Folkestone 1933, he had his worst result, an even score, winning four games, drawing six, and losing four.[19][20] Once again, his opponents included the world's best players, such as Alekhine, Flohr, Kashdan, Tartakower, Grünfeld, Ståhlberg, and Lajos Steiner.[21]

Reuben Fine wrote of him:[22]

The story of the Indian Sultan Khan turned out to be a most unusual one. The "Sultan" was not the term of status that we supposed it to be; it was merely a first name. He spoke English poorly and kept score in Hindustani. It was said that he could not even read the European notations.

After the tournament [the 1933 Folkestone Olympiad] the American team was invited to the home of Sultan Khan's master in London. When we were ushered in we were greeted by the maharajah with the remark, "It is an honor for you to be here; ordinarily I converse only with my greyhounds." Although he was a Mohammedan, the maharajah had been granted special permission to drink intoxicating beverages, and he made liberal use of this dispensation. He presented us with a four-page printed biography telling of his life and exploits; so far as we could see his greatest achievement was to have been born a maharajah.

In December 1933, Sir Umar took him back to India.[5][10][23] In 1935, he won a match against V. K. Khadilkar, yielding just one draw in ten games.[10][24] The chess world never heard from him again.[5][10][23]

Later life

Miss Fatima, also a servant of Sir Umar, had won the British Ladies Championship in 1933 by a remarkable three-point margin, scoring ten wins, one draw, and no losses.[5][25] She said that Sultan Khan, upon his return to India, felt as though he had been freed from prison.[26] In the damp English climate, he had been continually afflicted with malaria, colds, influenza, and throat infections, often arriving to play with his neck swathed in bandages.[10][24][27][28] Sir Umar died in 1944. Sultan Khan lived for the rest of his life with his family in Sargodha.[10][24][27] Ather Sultan, his eldest son, recalled that he would not coach his children at chess, telling them that they should do something more useful with their lives.[27]

Sultan Khan died of tuberculosis in Sargodha, Pakistan (the same district where he had been born) on 25 April 1966.[10][24][29] Sultan Khan's son Ather Sultan is a graduate of the London School of Economics and retired as an Inspector General of Police from the Government of Pakistan.[citation needed] His granddaughter, Atiyab Sultan, holds a doctorate from the University of Cambridge.[citation needed]

Chess strength

In his brief but meteoric career, Sultan Khan rose to the top of the chess world, playing on even terms with the world's best players. By Arpad Elo's calculation, his playing strength during his five-year peak was equivalent to an Elo rating of 2530.[30]

In 1950, when FIDE first awarded the titles of International Grandmaster and International Master, Sultan Khan had not played for 15 years. However, FIDE made a practice of awarding titles to some long-retired players who had distinguished careers earlier in their lives, such as Rubinstein and Carlos Torre.[31]

Hooper and Whyld write of him:[27]

When Sultan Khan first travelled to Europe his English was so rudimentary that he needed an interpreter. Unable to read or write, he never studied any books on the game, and he was put into the hands of trainers who were also his rivals in play. He never mastered openings which, by nature empirical, cannot be learned by the application of common sense alone. Under these adverse circumstances, and having known international chess for a mere seven years, only half of which was spent in Europe, Sultan Khan nevertheless had few peers in the middlegame, was among the world's best two or three endgame players, and one of the world's best ten players. This achievement brought admiration from Capablanca who called him a genius, an accolade he rarely bestowed.

FIDE awarded the title of Honorary Grandmaster to Khan posthumously on February 2, 2024. FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich presented the award to Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwaar ul Haq Kakar.[32][33]

Notable games

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

References

  1. ^ King, Daniel (8 April 2020). Sultan Khan: The Indian Servant Who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire. New In Chess. ISBN 978-90-5691-876-7. Sultan Khan is often accorded two other names, Mir Malik, but these are honorific. Mir is akin to addressing someone as 'sir'
  2. ^ "How 'Sultan' of Indian chess won over Brits, beat Capablanca". How ‘Sultan’ of Indian chess won over Brits, beat Capablanca - The Times of India. Times of India. 21 April 2020. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021. He was born in Pakistan's side of the Punjab and died there as a Pakistan citizen due to tuberculosis in 1966.
  3. ^ Dr Atiyab Sultan and Ather Sultan (17 May 2020). "CHESS: THE WRATH OF KHAN". CHESS: THE WRATH OF KHAN - Newspaper - DAWN.COM. DAWN News. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021. Formally speaking, he was a British subject from 1903-1947 and then a proud Pakistani citizen till his demise in 1966. As such, he is a Pakistani asset and deserves an honourable mention in the sporting history of the country.
  4. ^ Dr Atiyab Sultan (30 April 2020). "' Sultan Khan by Daniel King'- A granddaughter's review". ' Sultan Khan by Daniel King'- A granddaughter's review - Chess.com. chess.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021. Formally speaking, Sultan Khan was a British subject for the first 44 years of his life (1903-47) and then a very proud Pakistani citizen from 1947 till his demise in 1966. He had no connection with the country that is now India other than for transit during travel or to play tournament matches, something that he also did in England, Czech republic, Switzerland, etc. That does not make him a citizen of these countries any more than it makes him an Indian. Moreover, given the tense political realities of the region, King should have been careful and sensitive before proclaiming him as such, as he has denied a dead man his conscious decision of statehood. Khan chose to be resident in Pakistan and contrary to King's assertion that he offered no political opinions, Khan was a patriot and believed firmly in Pakistan, a homeland created for South Asia's Muslim population in 1947.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed. 1992), Oxford University Press, p. 402. ISBN 0-19-866164-9.
  6. ^ Rehman, Zia Ur (2 February 2024). "Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar receives an award conferred upon Late Mir Sultan Khan, a Chess player, posthumously from the President of International Chess Federation Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich and President Asian Chess Federation Mr. Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan". Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  7. ^ Sultan, Ather; Sultan, Atiyab (17 May 2020). "CHESS:The Wrath of Khan". Dawn. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d Anne Sunnucks, The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martin's Press, 1970, p. 443.
  9. ^ Raymond Keene, writing in Harry Golombek (editor), Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown Publishing, 1977, p. 313. ISBN 0-517-53146-1.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sunnucks, p. 444.
  11. ^ Philip W. Sergeant, A Century of British Chess, David McKay, 1934, pp. 278–79, 331–32.
  12. ^ Sergeant, pp. 279–81, 331.
  13. ^ "Sultan Khan - Tartakower (1931)". www.chessgames.com.
  14. ^ Coles, pp. 42–43.
  15. ^ Árpád Földeák, Chess Olympiads 1927–1968, Dover Publications, 1979, p. 50. ISBN 0-486-23733-8.
  16. ^ a b Coles, p. 18.
  17. ^ a b Coles, p. 67.
  18. ^ Földeák, p. 72.
  19. ^ Földeák, p. 92.
  20. ^ Coles, pp. 18, 120.
  21. ^ Coles, p. 120.
  22. ^ Reuben Fine, Lessons From My Games, New York, 1958, pp. 24–25, quoted in Edward Winter, Sultan Khan (2003).
  23. ^ a b Reuben Fine, The World's Great Chess Games, Dover, 1983, p. 181. ISBN 0-486-24512-8.
  24. ^ a b c d Coles, p. 11.
  25. ^ Sergeant, pp. 281, 338.
  26. ^ Hooper & Whyld, pp. 402–03.
  27. ^ a b c d Hooper & Whyld, p. 403.
  28. ^ Coles, p. 8.
  29. ^ Jeremy Gaige, Chess Personalia: A Biobibliography, McFarland, 1987, p. 412. ISBN 0-7864-2353-6.
  30. ^ Arpad E. Elo, The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present, Arco Publishing, 1978, p. 195.
  31. ^ FIDE awarded Rubinstein the International Grandmaster title on its first title list in 1950. Elo, p. 65. It awarded Torre the International Master title in 1963 and the International Grandmaster title in 1977, and Khan the Grandmaster title in 2024. Sunnucks, p. 462; Elo, p. 189. Elo lists Sultan Khan on a list of "Untitled Chessmasters". Elo, p. 195.
  32. ^ Fawad, Fawad Hassan (2 February 2024). "PAKISTAN'S RECEIVES FIRST CHESS GRAND MASTER AWARD GIVEN TO LATE MIR SULTAN KHAN". Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024.
  33. ^ FIDE delegation meets with Pakistan's President and PM, 5 February 2024
  34. ^ "This is Sultan Khan - the Servant who Defeated Champions". YouTube.
  35. ^ "Sultan Khan vs. Capablanca, Hastings 1930–31". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
  36. ^ "Soultanbeieff vs. Sultan Khan, Liege 1930". ChessGames.com. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
  37. ^ "Sultan Khan vs. Marshall, Liege 1930". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  38. ^ a b c d e f g R. N. Coles, Mir Sultan Khan (2nd ed. 1977), British Chess Magazine, p. 52.
  39. ^ Coles, p. 51.

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