The amazing chess career of Mir Sultan Khan becomes even more amazing once you get the facts right.
Born in humble circumstances in what is now Pakistan’s Punjab region, Khan has always had an unfortunate reputation as a kind of chess idiot savant, a servant in his Indian master’s London household who somehow picked up the rules of the game and, in an astonishingly brief period became one of the world’s best players, with three British Empire titles, a match win over the great Austro-Hungarian GM Savielly Tartakower and a slew of fine international tournament and Olympiad results.
And then, five years after first arriving in London, Khan (the “Sultan” was part of his name, not a title), boarded a steamship in 1933 back to Mumbai, playing just one recorded match against a local Indian rival before his death in Pakistan in 1966.
That’s the Hollywood version, at least.
The real story, as told by the fine English GM and writer Daniel King in his new “Sultan Khan: The Indian Servant who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire” (New in Chess, 384 pp., $32.95), is far less neat but far more interesting.
Khan was already a top player in India’s version of chess (among the differences: pawns can move only one square at a time, there’s no castling but the king gets one knightlike jump per game; and a position in which each player has just two pieces left is an automatic draw) when his colorful employer, Sir Umar Hayat Khan, basically ordered Khan to get good at the Western version and took him to London to show him off.
Speaking only broken English and not familiar with the Western body of chess theory, Khan played an unmistakably individual brand of chess, with an aversion to castling, a predilection for knight moves to the edge and rook-pawn advances, and a terribly constricted opening repertoire favoring solid pawn structures such as the Stonewall and the Colle.
(That Khan did so well with such an atrocious opening repertoire, King notes, is a minor miracle. Imagine a tennis player winning Wimbledon with the first serve of a half-decent local club player.) But just get Khan to a playable middle game and he might have been as strong as any other player in the world.
Happily, one of Khan’s most famous games is also one of his best: a defeat of the brilliant former world champion Jose Raul Capablanca at the 1930-31 Hastings Premier Tournament, a game that generated worldwide headlines. For once, Khan gets the better of the opening battle (his very Khan-like 5. a3, new at the time, is now a standard Queen’s Indian line) after 11. Qc2 f5 (Ndf6?! 12. Bxc7! Qxc7 13. Nxe4 Qxc2 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15. Bxc2 wins a pawn) 12. Nb5! Bd6 (a wild debate raged over 12…a6 here, but King says White keeps the edge on 13. Qxc7! axb5 14. Qxb7 Ndc5 15. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Bc7! Nxb7 18. Bxd8, and Black’s b- and f-pawns are hanging) 13. Nxd6 cxd6 14. h4!, and Black’s d-pawns are terminally weak and White dominates both sides of the board.
But Capablanca proves himself a street fighter here. With his bishop and knight shunted out of play, he sacrifices two rooks for the queen and sends his own queen on harassing raids inside the White position.
Khan’s control of the position in the face of such distractions is truly magnificent, finally paying off on 52. Rg1 (setting up the threat of 53. Bg4) Bc8 53. Rc6!, invading via the square the bishop just abandoned. Black’s queenside finally cracks on 60. Kd2 Qh5 61. Rxb6 Ke7 62. Rb7+ Ke6 63. b6 Nf6 64. Bb5 Qh3 65. Rb8, and the b-pawn can’t be stopped. Capabalanca, who lost only a handful of games over his great career, resigned.
Khan had a particular affinity for rook-and-pawn endings, which employ the same ideas and motifs in both the Western and Indian games. Today’s diagram picks up Khan’s win over rising Czech star Salo Flohr from their hard-fought 1932 match, after Flohr as Black has just played 55…Kc8-d7.
White’s winning technique is a pleasure to behold: 56. Rxf7+!! Kxc6 57. Rxf8 Kxc7 58. Rf7+ Kd8 59. Rxh7 (for the lost passer on c7, White harvests a slew of kingside pawns) g5 60. Rg7 Rh3 61. Rxg5 Rxh2 62. Rg8+ Kc7 63. Rg6 a5 64. Rxe6 Kb7 65. Rf6 Rg2 66. e6 Rxg4+ 67. Kd5 Kc7 68. Rf7+ Kd8 69. Rxa7 Rh4 70. Kc5, and the White pawn advance wins easily; Flohr resigned.
Khan-Capablanca, Hastings Premier, Hastings, England, 1930-31
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 b6 3. c4 Bb7 4. Nc3 e6 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bg5 Be7 8. e3 O-O 9. Bd3 Ne4 10. Bf4 Nd7 11. Qc2 f5 12. Nb5 Bd6 13. Nxd6 cxd6 14. h4 Rc8 15. Qb3 Qe7 16. Nd2 Ndf6 17. Nxe4 fxe4 18. Be2 Rc6 19. g4 Rfc8 20. g5 Ne8 21. Bg4 Rc1+ 22. Kd2 R8c2+ 23. Qxc2 Rxc2+ 24. Kxc2 Qc7+ 25. Kd2 Qc4 26. Be2 Qb3 27. Rab1 Kf7 28. Rhc1 Ke7 29. Rc3 Qa4 30. b4 Qd7 31. Rbc1 a6 32. Rg1 Qa4 33. Rgc1 Qd7 34. h5 Kd8 35. R1c2 Qh3 36. Kc1 Qh4 37. Kb2 Qh3 38. Rc1 Qh4 39. R3c2 Qh3 40. a4 Qh4 41. Ka3 Qh3 42. Bg3 Qf5 43. Bh4 g6 44. h6 Qd7 45. b5 a5 46. Bg3 Qf5 47. Bf4 Qh3 48. Kb2 Qg2 49. Kb1 Qh3 50. Ka1 Qg2 51. Kb2 Qh3 52. Rg1 Bc8 53. Rc6 Qh4 54. Rgc1 Bg4 55. Bf1 Qh5 56. Re1 Qh1 57. Rec1 Qh5 58. Kc3 Qh4 59. Bg3 Qxg5 60. Kd2 Qh5 61. Rxb6 Ke7 62. Rb7+ Ke6 63. b6 Nf6 64. Bb5 Qh3 65. Rb8 Black resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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