Rashid Nezhmetdinov

Rashid Gibyatovich Nezhmetdinov (Раши́д Гибя́тович Нежметди́нов, Tatar: Рәшит Һибәт улы Нәҗметдинов, Räşit Hibät ulı Näcmetdinov; ; December 15, 1912 – June 3, 1974) was a Soviet chess player, chess writer, and checkers player.

Although he never attained the title of Grandmaster, he was a renowned tactician and created several brilliant games.

Biographer Alex Pishkin compares him to Chigorin, Réti and Spielmann.

Nezhmetdinov was born in Aktubinsk, Russian Empire, in what is now Aktobe, Kazakhstan, to a Tatar family.

His parents were "worked to death" when he was still very young, rendering him (and his two siblings) an orphan.

(His older brother Kavi Nadzhmi became a notable Tatar poet during Soviet Times ).

Nezhmetdinov was then sent to live with his uncle, in a small town on the banks of the Volga river.

From 1918-1923, the Russian Civil War devastated the region, particularly with the introduction of the Prodrazvyorstka policy, a system whereby peasants' foodgrain was confiscated at nominal prices, as per fixed quotas.

The ensuing famine killed over 2 million children.

But Nezhmetdinov endured, thanks in large part to his poet brother – – who secured him a place at a Kazan orphanage.

Nezhmetdinov later regarded this orphanage as paradise, his only prior happy memory being "the time he got to eat fish soup on the banks of the Volga."

In Kazan, Nezhmetdinov was well-fed for the first time in his life, learned the Tatar language, and was initiated into Islam.

During this time, Nezhmetdinov developed a keen interest in history, literature and mathematics.

Three years later, Nadzhmi brought Nezhmetdinov into his own home, also at Kazan.

Here, Nezhmetdinov was thoroughly engaged in the Kazan "Palace of Pioneers," which marked the beginning of his chess career.

Nezhmetdinov had a natural talent for both chess and checkers, games he had learned by watching others play; and was quickly invited to join the Kazan Chess Club.

At 15, he played in Kazan's Tournament of Pioneers, winning all 15 games.

He also learned to play checkers at this time.

During the same month, he won Kazan's checkers semi-final and placed second in the finals.

In the same year, he placed sixth in the Russian Checkers Championship.

Later, when he gave up checkers for chess, Nezhmetdinov commented, somewhat dismissively, that all checkers contests can be reduced to rook endgames.

It was around this time that Nadzhmi, now a poorly paid newspaper editor, could no longer afford Nezhmetdinov's upkeep.

Nezhmetdinov then joined the Communist Party and moved to Ukraine, in the hopes of making his own way in the world.

In Odessa, his Communist Party membership gave him good standing, and he worked as a stoker in a steel mill.

He spent all his free time playing at the Odessa Chess Club.

In 1933, Nezhmetdinov, now the Odessa Chess and Checkers Champion, and a Category I chess player, returned to Kazan.

He secured employment with the Standards Bureau, taught at the local Pedagogical Institute and ran an informal chess circle.

Over the next two years, Nezhmetdinov was primarily concerned with checkers and earned himself the title of Master at the game.

This was no small feat considering checkers was taken very seriously in the USSR at the time, and frequently reported in chess magazines.

However, it was only after receiving (by his own admission) a "thrashing" from "stronger Category I Chess Players" like Anatoly Ufimtsev and Pyotr Dubinin in 1936, that Nezhmetdinov began to take chess seriously.

He fell ill and was hospitalized for many months immediately thereafter.

However, in his characteristically optimistic fashion, Nezhmetdinov seized this opportunity to study endgames; typically by solving puzzles without a board.

And, in his very next Category I tournament, he won 9 out of 10 games, earning himself the Candidate Master title in 1939.

After graduating in 1940, he was called to military service the following year and here his chess development took a major setback.

He was deployed in Baikala, 5000 kilometers away, on the border of Mongolia.

While Nezhmetdinov still competed in district level tournaments, even securing wins against players like Victor Baturinsky and Konstantin Klaman, his appearances were rare.

The war eventually created a five-and half-year period in which Nezhmetdinov did not participate in any tournament.

There was a silver lining though – Nezhmetdinov was consistently deployed or recalled before a major conflict.

He arrived in Baikala soon after the Red Army had fought a brutal battle with Japan's Kwantung Army, before then being sent to Berlin immediately after the Soviets had stormed it.

Nezhmetdinov successfully avoided all major combat zones in a war that killed over 11 million Soviet soldiers.