Fedor Bogatyrchuk

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Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Fedor Bogatyrchuk

Fedor Parfen'evych Bogatyrchuk (Bogatirchuk, Bohatirchuk, Bogatyrtschuk, Bohatyrchuk, Bohatyrczuk) (in Russian : Фёдор Парфеньевич Богатырчук, Fiodor Parfen'evitch Bogatyrchuk; in Ukrainian : Федір Парфенович Богатирчук, Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk) (born 14 November 1892 in Kiev, Ukraine - died 4 September 1984, Ottawa, Canada) was a Ukrainian-Canadian chess master. He also was a doctor of medicine and political activist.

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[edit] Biography

As a youth, Bogatyrchuk sometimes traveled to chess tournaments with the great Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908), who had earlier lost a match for the World Championship to Wilhelm Steinitz. Chigorin trained the young player, and influenced his style and openings.

In 1911, Bogatyrchuk won, followed by Izbinski, Efim Bogoljubov, etc., at Kiev. In February 1914, he lost an exhibition game against Jose Raul Capablanca at Kiev. In 1914, he took 3rd at Kiev. In July/August 1914, he tied for 6th–10th at Mannheim (Hauptturnier A). Bogatyrchuk, along with 10 other "Russian" players from the interrupted Mannheim tournament, was interned by Germany after the declaration of war against Russia, which began the First World War. In September 1914, four of them (Alexander Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman) were freed and allowed to return home.

During the Russian Civil War, he was employed by a military hospital, and was a teacher of anatomy at the Institute of Physical Education and Sport in Kiev.

Bogatyrchuk played in six Soviet Union (USSR) Championships: 1923, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1933, 1934. In July 1923, he tied for 3rd–5th at Petrograd (St Petersburg, Leningrad) at 2nd USSR Championship. In 1924, he took 2nd, behind Vilner, at Kiev (1st Ukrainian SSR Ch.). In August–September 1924, he tied for 3rd–4th at Moscow (3rd USSR Ch.). In December 1925, he took 11th of 21 at Moscow (1st IT). The event was won by Efim Bogoljubov, followed by Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Frank Marshall, etc. It was the first government sponsored tournament.

In 1926, Bogatyrchuk wrote the first chess book "Szachy" (Shakhy, Шахи) in Ukrainian. In 1927, he won at Kiev. In October 1927, he tied for 1st–2nd with Peter Romanovsky at Moscow (5th USSR Ch.). In 1929, he won at Kiev. In November 1931, he tied for 3rd–6th at Moscow (7th USSR Ch.). In 1933, he won at Moscow (Quadrangular). In September 1933, he took 8th at Leningrad (8th USSR Ch.). In December 1934 /January 1935, he tied for 3rd–4th at Leningrad (9th USSR Ch.). In March 1935, he tied for 16th–17th at Moscow (2nd IT). The event was won by Botvinnik and Salo Flohr, but Bogatyrchuk beat Mikhail Botvinnik in their individual game. Following this game, it is reported that a head of the Soviet Chess organisation, Minister of Justice Nikolai Krylenko approached Bogatyrchuk and said "You will never beat Botvinnik again!"[citation needed] That was indeed the case as Bogatyrchuk never played Botvinnik again, leaving him with a lifetime score of (+3 =2 –0) against Botvinnik.

In March 1936, he took 3rd at Kiev (8th Ukrainian SSR Ch.). In July 1937, he won at Kiev (9th Ukrainian SSR Ch.). In 1938, he took 2nd at Kiev (USSR Ch. semi-final), but did not play at the 11th USSR Championship in 1939.

[edit] Wartime Activities

Being a radiologist and doctor of medical sciences in 1940, Bogatyrchuk was seconded to a German medical research facility when Kiev fell to the Germans in September 1941. During World War II, he was a head of the Ukrainian Red Cross and the Institute of Experimental Medicine. When the Soviet army pushed the Germans from Kiev, Bogatyrchuk, together with his family migrated to Cracow, then Prague, in 1944. There he joined the Committee for Freedom of Peoples in Russia, an anti-Stalin, semi-military organisation headed by the Russian general Vlasov. He was also the leader of the Ukrainian National Council (Ukrainśka Narodna Rada). As a result of these activities, Bogatyrchuk was the number one "persona non grata" in Soviet Chess until the defection of Victor Korchnoi. The Soviets removed many of his games from their official records, but many of them were later reclaimed using outside sources.

In February 1944, he took 2nd, behind Efim Bogoljubow, at Radom (GG). In Spring 1944, he drew a match against Stepan Popel at Cracow (2 : 2). In May 1944, Bogatyrchuk played an 8-game training match against local players (Cenek Kottnauer, Ludek Pachman, Podgorny, Prucha, etc.) at Prague (+7 =1 –0).

At the end of WW II, Bogatyrchuk moved to a number of cities including Berlin and Potsdam, and finally ended up in the American controlled city of Bayreuth in May 1945. For a time he lived in Munich, playing in German chess events under the name of 'Bogenhols' ('Bogenko'), so as to avoid repatriation to the USSR. In 1946, he won, followed by Zemgalis, Wolfgang Unzicker, etc. at Regensburg (Klaus Junge Memorial). In February 1947, he took 3rd at Kirchheim-Teck. In September 1947, he took 4th at Stuttgart.

[edit] Settles in Canada

In 1948, Bogatyrchuk emigrated to Canada, and became a professor at the University of Ottawa, and the author of many scientific studies and recollection books. At the congress of the Ukrainian federalists in Niagara Falls in 1952, he was elected Chairman of the association of the Ukrainian federalist Democrats and chief editor of the last press organs "Skhidnyak" and the "federalist Democrat". He is the author of many newspaper and periodical articles on the history of ODNR (Liberation Movement of Peoples of Russia), and books like "My living way with Vlasov and Manifesto of Prague" (San Francisco, 1978) (in Russian : Мой жизненный путь к Власову и Пражскому Манифесту, Moy zhiznenny put' k Vlasovu i Prazhskomu Manifestu).

Besides this, he played in three Closed Canadian Chess Championships. In 1949, he took 2nd at Arvida (winner was Maurice Fox). In 1951, he took 3rd at Vancouver (winner was Paul Vaitonis). In 1955, he tied for 3rd–5th at Ottawa (winner was Frank Anderson, ahead of Daniel Yanofsky). Bogatyrchuk also represented Canada at the 11th Chess Olympiad at Amsterdam 1954, playing board four (+7 =3 –5). Since 1954 he was a FIDE International Master. His earlier achievements, particularly in USSR Championships, may have been sufficient for the higher Grandmaster title, but the Soviets blocked this for political reasons. In his seventies he took up Correspondence chess, becoming Canadian Correspondence Chess Champion (1963, 1964) and playing 1st board for Canada at the Correspondence Chess Olympiad (1962-1965). Since 1967 he was ICCF International Master. Bogatyrchuk stayed active in local Ottawa chess into his early eighties.

While living in Ottawa, Bogatyrchuk helped to train the young Lawrence Day (born 1949), who himself became a FIDE International Master in 1972, and who went on to represent Canada a record 13 times at Chess Olympiads. Day's chess style has been influenced significantly by Bogatyrchuk.

[edit] Notable chess games

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