Mir Sultan Khan

Mir Sultan Khan ( b. 1905 in Mittha Tawana in Punjab, † April 25, 1966 in Sargodha in Pakistan) was in the first half of the 20th century one of the strongest chess players in Asia and temporarily one of the ten best chess players in the world.

Mir Sultan Khan was born in a village that lies in the area of District Sargodha today's Pakistani province of Punjab. At the time of the Punjab as a province belonged to British India. The future of chess masters only knew the rules of the Indian chess game and could not read a European language when he Nawab Sir Malik Umar Hayat Khan (1875-1944) arrived in 1928 as a servant of the Indian Supreme to England.

Only here he became familiar with European rules of chess and learned the double step of farmers know. From the opening theory, he did not know anything. But he was a natural talent, his game was based only on intuition. Therefore, he was one of the most notable players in chess history. In England he was taught by the masters Winter and Yates. Already in 1929 he immediately won the English championship in Ramsgate. He could repeat this success in 1932 and 1933.

Between 1930 and 1933 he successfully participated in international master tournaments. In the strong field tournaments of Hastings in 1931 and 1933, he was the best English participants. On three Chess Olympiads, he scored on the first board of the England team good results. He beat José Raúl Capablanca, among other things, Akiba Rubinstein and Salo Flohr.

Counter Savielly Tartakower 1931 he won a competition with 6.5: 5.5. Counter Flohr he was defeated in 1932 2.5: 3.5.

His best historical Elo rating of 2699, he reached in November 1933. He was at that time one of the 10 best players in the world.

Sultan Khan returned in December 1933 with his colonel back to India. He was still wearing from a competition with the reigning Indian national champion W. Khaldikar he gained superior ( 9:0, = 1). He then disappeared just as quickly from the stage of chess, as he had appeared. In 1944 his patron died and left him a small estate in the District of Sargodha. His home was after the partition of India and the Punjab region in 1947 to the newly formed nation of Pakistan. His later years were apparently quiet life, and at the age of 61 years Mir Sultan Khan died on his property.