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While Vishwanathan Anand is well known through out India for being India`s first world chess champion,very few people know that India had produced world dominating chess players before him.One such chess champion who has faded away from public memory is Mir Sultan Khan. Here I post a few autobiographical articles about him and some of his chess games.
Mir Sultan Khan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mir Sultan Khan was one of the most interesting elite chess players in the history of the game. A manservant of Colonel Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan from British India, he surprised the chess world when he travelled to Britain and immediately established himself as one of the world's great players.
Amazingly, Khan actually learned how to play Indian chess as a child - a version of the game when, at the time, several rules were different and pawns could only move one square on the first move. By 1926, at age 21, he was considered the strongest player in Punjab, and Sir Umar had taken him into his household with the goal of teaching him European Chess.
In 1928, he took clear first in the All-India Championship (+8 =1), and it was decided to bring him to London to see how he would fare in international competition. At first, Khan's inexperience showed, as he struggled in the first event he played in. But with help from a few of London's best players, he was able to quickly gain the theoretical knowledge he had been missing. By that summer, he had won his first British Chess Championship.
Though Khan's international chess career lasted only five years, he won the British Championship three times, and posted several other impressive results during that time. According to the Chessmetrics website, Khan's strength was rated as high as sixth in the world in 1933, making him a truly elite player. His results included wins against virtually all of the top players, including Jose Raul Capablanca. After playing one last match in India in 1935, Khan had retired from chess, living out his life on a small farm in Punjab.
Notable Accomplishments:
Three-Time British Champion (1929, 1932, 1933)
Defeated Savielly Tartakower in 1931 match (+4 =5 -3)
Played first board for England at three Chess Olympiads (1930, 1931, 1933)
Mir Sultan Khan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mir Sultan Khan was one of the most interesting elite chess players in the history of the game. A manservant of Colonel Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan from British India, he surprised the chess world when he travelled to Britain and immediately established himself as one of the world's great players.
Amazingly, Khan actually learned how to play Indian chess as a child - a version of the game when, at the time, several rules were different and pawns could only move one square on the first move. By 1926, at age 21, he was considered the strongest player in Punjab, and Sir Umar had taken him into his household with the goal of teaching him European Chess.
In 1928, he took clear first in the All-India Championship (+8 =1), and it was decided to bring him to London to see how he would fare in international competition. At first, Khan's inexperience showed, as he struggled in the first event he played in. But with help from a few of London's best players, he was able to quickly gain the theoretical knowledge he had been missing. By that summer, he had won his first British Chess Championship.
Though Khan's international chess career lasted only five years, he won the British Championship three times, and posted several other impressive results during that time. According to the Chessmetrics website, Khan's strength was rated as high as sixth in the world in 1933, making him a truly elite player. His results included wins against virtually all of the top players, including Jose Raul Capablanca. After playing one last match in India in 1935, Khan had retired from chess, living out his life on a small farm in Punjab.
Notable Accomplishments:
Three-Time British Champion (1929, 1932, 1933)
Defeated Savielly Tartakower in 1931 match (+4 =5 -3)
Played first board for England at three Chess Olympiads (1930, 1931, 1933)
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).He spent his remaining life away from the public gaze and from his favourite sport chess. 
