Description Hardly anyone paid attention when Sultan Khan arrived in London on April 26, 1929. A humble servant from a village in the Punjab, Khan had little formal education and barely spoke English. He had learned the rules of Western chess only three years earlier, yet within a few months he created a sensation by becoming the British Empire champion.
Sultan Khan was taken to England by Sir Umar Hayat Khan, an Indian nobleman and politician who used his servant’s successes to promote his own interests in the turbulent years before India gained independence.
Sultan Khan remained in Europe for the best part of five years, competing with the leading chess players of the era, including World Champion Alexander Alekhine and former World Champion Jose Raoul Capablanca. His unorthodox style often stunned his opponents, as Daniel King explains in his examination of the key games and tournaments in Khan’s career.
Daniel King has uncovered a wealth of new facts about Khan, as well as dozens of previously unknown games. For the first time he tells the full story of how Khan, a Muslim outsider, was received in Europe, of his successes in the chess world and his return to obscurity after his departure for India in 1933.
Daniel King (1963) is an English chess grandmaster, coach, journalist and broadcaster. He has written 16 chess books on topics ranging from opening preparation to the self-tutoring How Good is your Chess? and How to Win at Chess. This book is also available in a Hardcover edition.
Content: 007 Foreword by Viswanathan Anand 009 London, 28th April 1929 015 Part I - India 15 016 1) Sultan and his Master 029 2) Indian Rules 035 3) All-India Championship 1928 059 Part II - England 060 4) A Passage to England 074 5) British Championship, Ramsgate 1929 099 6) On Parade 105 7) Tedious Play – Scarborough 129 Part III - Europe 130 8) Hamburg International Team Tournament 1930 143 9) Liège 1930 157 10) Club Matches and a Conference 165 11) Hastings Congress 1930/1931 189 12) Tartakower versus Khan 200 13) Gone to the Dogs 202 14) Insull Trophy Cable Match, London-Philadelphia 207 15) A Soirée with Capablanca 209 16) Prague International Team Tournament 1931 223 Part IV - Fall and Rise 224 17) British Championship, Worcester 1931 234 18) Gandhi, Menchik and Alekhine 243 19) Hastings Congress 1931/1932 251 20) Sound Opening, Sound Game 255 21) The Sunday Referee Tournament 1932 268 22) Langford Club Match 1932 271 23) Cambridge Easter Congress 1932 279 24) An Adjudication 281 25) Bern International Tournament 1932 298 26) British Championship, London 1932 311 27) On Tour – Autumn 1932 317 Part V - The Endgame 318 28) F.D.Yates: 1884-1932 321 29) Hastings Congress 1932/1933 328 30) Moving Away 331 31) Folkestone International Team Tournament 1933 342 32) British Championship, Hastings 1933 350 33) The Long Goodbye – Autumn 1933 356 34) Back Home 363 Epilogue 366 Acknowledgements 368 Endnotes 379 Bibliography 381 Index of names
