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Sultan Khan: A True Story
One of the most romantic and mysterious figures in the history of twentieth century chess, Mir Sultan Khan was a lowly and illiterate servant from the Punjab who worked in the household of a wealthy Indian Maharaja, Sir Umar Hayat Khan.
As a young boy, Sultan Khan showed promise as a player of Indian chess. It was for this reason that Sir Umar took him under his wing, becoming his master and his patron.
In 1929, Sir Umar, an equerry to King George V, travelled to England and brough Sultan Khan with him. A few months after arriving, Sultan Khan entered the British Championship, his participation most likely having been arranged by his chess-loving master. He won in convincing style, and given that period's less-than-progressive attitudes toward issues of race and class, Sultan Khan's victory was a bombshell on the English chess scene.
His win was all the more amazing as he had only learned the rules of Western chess three years previously. Before then, Sultan Khan had been a champion of Indian chess, in which pawns can't move 2 squares forward on the first move, castling is restricted, and pawn promotion is subject to different rules. (The pawn becomes the piece that sits on the promotion square at the beginning of the game.)
Sultan Khan was not an impressive physical specimen. Period reports describe him as short and skinny, with a perpetually dripping nose from the colds that plagued him during his time in England. But his unprepossessing exterior hid a chess character of solid rock. Sultan Khan's games are marked by his patience, and his deep positional understanding of the middle and endgame. He was less likely to crush an opponent with a stunning sacrifice, than to slowly suffocate him over 50 or 60 moves, carefully snuffing out his counter-chances with clever piece manoevering.
Since he was illiterate, Sultan Khan knew little of the published opening theory of his day, a disadvantage that makes his accomplishments all the more remarkable. He even was unable to mark his own game scores, requiring someone else to keep track of his moves when he played.
Despite this, Sultan Khan played, and beat, some of the greatest names in chess, including Raul Jose Capablanca, Akiba Rubinstein, and Saviely Tartakover. But to say he was of World Champion calibre is probably stretching a point. Sultan Khan never beat champions Max Euwe or Alexander Alekhine, although his one draw against the latter is often featured in compilations of great games.
With work and study, could he have made it to the top? Quite possibly, as he certainly had prodigious amounts of natural talent. There is, however, no sure way to answer this question since as suddenly as he appeared, Sultan Khan disappeared from chess forever in 1933.
After 4 years in the West Sir Umar decided to return to India, and as his servant Sultan Khan was bound to follow. From that year on there are no reliable reports of what happened to this remarkable chess phenomenon. As far as anyone can tell, he appears to have played little or no serious chess after his time in Europe.
After living a quiet life as a servant and modest farmer, Sultan Khan died in 1966 in Pubjab province. He left behind a lingering legacy of speculation as to what might have been had he continued to hone his considerable natural ability at the game that for a few years transformed his life.
Sultan Khan Chess Links
There are very few web pages dedicated to Sultan Khan. Here's what is out there:
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