Chess - The Scotsman 12/04/2012

IF, like me, you marvelled at Bubba Watson in winning the Masters in Augusta on Sunday, then you have to marvel even more at the fact that Bubba says he has never taken a golf lesson in his life: everything is pure natural talent.

The only parallel I can think of in chess was the illiterate serf from the Punjab, Mir Sultan Khan (1905-1966), the mystery player who became a sensation of the early 1930s. He arrived in London with no English, and only played during the period 1929-33, when he served in the household of his master, Sir Umar Hayat Khan, an equerry to King George V.

A few months after arriving, the wrath of Khan hit the Establishment like a bombshell as he won the first of his three victories at the British Championship – all the more impressive, as he’d only learned the rules of Western chess three years previously. Before then, he played Indian chess, where the pawns move only one square on the first move and can promote only to the piece square they land on, amongst other many subtle differences.

Khan never studied books on chess and constantly struggled in the opening – yet such was his talent, that in the next few years, he placed highly in a number of very strong international tournaments. But Khan loathed England, and he returned to India in 1933, never to play again. Yet despite his all-too short career, he was considered one of the best players in the world, beating many of the greats from that particular golden era, including Capablanca, who proclaimed him a genius.

S Khan – S Flohr

Prague Olympiad, 1931

King’s Indian Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 c4 Bg7 4 Nc3 d6 5 e4 0-0 6 Be3 Nbd7 7 Nd2 e5 8 d5 Ne8 9 Be2 f5 10 f3 f4 11 Bf2 a5 12 a3 Nef6 13 b4 b6 14 Na4 Re8 15 c5 dxc5 16 bxc5 Nxc5 17 Nxc5 bxc5 18 Bxc5 Nd7 19 Bf2 Ba6 20 Bxa6 Rxa6 21 Qc2 Ra8 22 0-0 Bf8 23 Rfc1 Bd6 24 Nc4 Qe7 25 Nxd6 cxd6 26 Rab1 Nf8 27 Qc6 Rab8 28 Rb6! Rxb6 29 Qxb6 Qd7 30 Rc6 Rc8 31 Be1 1-0