Stepan Popel

Stephan Anton Popel (Ukrainian Степан Антон Михайлович Попель / Stepan Popel Anton Mychailowytsch / Polish Stefan Popiel; born 15 August 1907 in Komarniki, Austria - Hungary, † December 27, 1987 in Fargo, North Dakota ) was a Polish- American chess master in Lemberg (now Lviv ), Paris, and finally in North America (USA and Canada).

Life

Stephan Popel was born in 1907 and grew up in the city of Lviv in the former eastern Poland. In 1931 he completed his studies of studying French and Latin language and literature at the University Lvov. He served until 1944 also as a personal secretary to the Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Andrej Scheptyzkyj.

Popel was the nephew of the chess master of Ignatz Popiel (1863-1941) and was already at a young age even pleasure in chess. His first tournament he played at the age of twelve years. He soon became the best chess player in the region and is now considered one of the most important masterpieces of the period before the Second World War in Europe.

In 1929, Popel won the championship in Lviv. He was also in the years 1929 and 1934 a member of the Lviv team at the 1st and 2nd Polish team championships. In 1934 he was also a member of the Polish team in the Correspondence Chess Olympiad. 1935 and 1936 he took part in the Polish Championship in correspondence chess.

In 1939 his native Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Booger moved to Kraków, where he later became his "Introductory Guide to Chess " wrote. When the Second World War progressed, Stephan Popel and his relatives, however, were forced to flee to the West to escape deportation to Siberia. In 1944 he moved to Paris, where he ran a clothing store. He played casually continue chess, took 1946-1955 of eighteen international chess tournaments in Western Europe and arrived there 14 times the first place.

In the years 1950 and 1951 Popel won at the Hastings Premier Reserves Major. He also won the Paris Championship in 1951, 1953 and 1954. He finished 1954 fourth in the championships in Saarbrücken and 1955/56, the second place in the Hastings Premier Reserves Major.

Immigration to the USA

In 1956, Popel was given permission to migrate to the United States. He dominated at this time eight languages ​​( Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, French, German, Greek, Latin and English). His living he earned with this ability as a translator for the U.S. and Russia.

Popel and his wife Valentina Szapowa moved to Detroit, where he taught several languages. He quickly gained a far reaching reputation as an American chess champion and won the Michigan State Championships in 1957, 1958 and 1959. He also won the North Central Open in Wisconsin in 1957, where his biggest rival Bobby Fischer finished only sixth place. This was the last time that Fischer ever lost in the U.S.. 1958 Popel fourth at the North Central Open and sixth at the Western Open, both of which were won by Pal Benko.

Around the year 1960 the family moved again, this time to Fargo, where Popel Professor of French Language and Literature at North Dakota State University was. He continued to compete in tournaments to supplement the financial circumstances of the family, and it was in the years 1965 to 1980 eleven North Dakota Champion. In 1983 he was admitted for the North Dakota Chess Hall of Fame. Master, he was also in Ohio, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

The Polish scholar Kazimierz Krawiarz came in 1981 for research purposes at the NDSU and it developed a close friendship with Popel, who was already 76 years old. Krawiarz said booger had got up every morning at 6 clock and have worked every day to 19 clock, with no time for meals or to take a break themselves. Krawiarz further said Popel was modest and have, for example, refused to make a driver's license because he was of the opinion that cars dominated American life too much. Visually similar to the now grizzled Popel Einstein in a way, and himself made jokes about it. If someone told him he looked like Einstein, he only answered " no Einstein, but two stone."

In 1987, Popel died at the age of 80 and was buried in Fargo. His hometown today Ukrainian Lviv organized in memory of Stephan Popel in 1996, the first international chess tournament.