Fedor Bogatyrchuk

Infobox chess player
playername = Fedor Bogatyrchuk


birthname = Fedor Parfen'evych Bogatyrchuk
country = UKR CAN
datebirth = birth date|1892|11|14
placebirth = Kiev Ukraine
datedeath = death date and age|1984|9|4|1892|11|14
placedeath = Ottawa Canada
title =
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating =
peakrating =

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 International Master of chess, and an International Master of correspondence chess. He also was a doctor of medicine, a political activist, and a chess writer.

Russian-Ukraınıan and Soviet Chess

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 (the 19th DSB Congress, Hauptturnier A). Bogatyrchuk, along with 10 other "Russian" players from the interrupted Mannheım 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.

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, and had 11 of the world's top 16 players, based on ratings from chessmetrics.com. Bogatyrchuk scored a 2628 performance, according to chessmetrics.

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.). His peak chessmetrics.com rating was in October 1927 at 2629, good for 15th place in the world (http://www.chessmetrics.com, the Fedor Bohatirchuk player file). In 1929, he won at Kiev.

In November 1931, he tied for 3rd–6th at Moscow (7th USSR Ch.), with 10/17, as Mikhail Botvinnik won. In 1933, he won at Moscow (Quadrangular), with 4.5/6. In September 1933, he took 8th at Leningrad (8th USSR Ch.), with 10.5/19, as Botvinnik won again. In December 1934 /January 1935, he tied for 3rd–4th at Leningrad (9th USSR Ch.), with 11.5/19, just half a point behind the joint winners Grigory Levenfish and Ilya Rabinovich.

In March 1935, he tied for 16th–17th at Moscow (2nd IT), with 8/19. The event, which had 8 of the world's top 18 players, according to chessmetrics, 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!" [ [http://www.correspondencechess.com/marconi/bohat.htm Ralph Marconi's Chess Page:Fedor Bohatirchuk ] ] 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.), with 11.5/17. In July 1937, he won at Kiev (the 9th Ukrainian Chess Championship), with 12.5/17. In 1938, he took 2nd at Kiev (USSR Ch. semi-final), with 11/17, behind only winner Vasily Panov, but he did not play at the 11th USSR Championship in 1939.

Medical career, World War II Activities

Bogatyrchuk completed his high school studies in 1912, and entered the University of Kiev later that year to study medicine. During the Russian Civil War, he was employed by a military hospital, and was a professor of anatomy at the Institute of Physical Education and Sport in Kiev.

As a radiologist and medical doctor 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 Andrey 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.

Chess in western Europe

In February 1944, he took 2nd, behind Efim Bogoljubow, at Radom (the 5th General Government chess tournament). 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 Elmars Zemgalis, Wolfgang Unzicker, etc. at Regensburg (Klaus Junge Memorial), with 7/9. In February 1947, he took 3rd at Kirchheim-Teck. In September 1947, he took 4th at Stuttgart.

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), with 7/9, ahead of Daniel Yanofsky, Frank Anderson, and Povilas Vaitonis. In 1951, he tied for 3rd-4th places at Vancouver (winner was Povilas Vaitonis), with 8.5/12. 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, and played correspondence chess until age 85.

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.

The site http://www.chessbase.com has 216 Bogatyrchuk games from 1923-1958. The site http://www.mychess.com has 227 Bogatyrchuk games from 1923-1977. The site http://www.chessgames.com has 208 Bogatyrchuk games from 1923-1977. His many tournament and match games from before 1923 seem to be missing. The search must be done with the spelling 'Bohatirchuk'. Many of these games would be duplicated between sites.

Notable chess games

* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1289647 Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Moscow 1924, 3rd USSR ch, Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense, C62, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1031689 Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1927, 5th USSR ch, French Defense, Winawer Advance Variation, C17, 1-0]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1031811 Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Leningrad 1933, 8th USSR ch, Sicilian, Dragon, B72, 1-0]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1240065 Vsevolod Rauzer vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Leningrad 1934, 9th USSR ch, Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, Fianchetto Variation, C76, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1031876 Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1935, 2nd it, Four Knights, C49, 1-0]
* [http://www.chesslive.de/scripts/server.dll?setplayer?white&Pachman,Ludek Ludek Pachman vs Fedor Bohatirchuk, Prague 1944, Sicilian Defense, B95, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1273368 Elmars Zemgalis vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Regensburg 1946, Klaus Junge Memorial, English, A21, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1295114 Povilas Vaitonis vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Arvida 1949, CAN-ch, Grünfeld Defense, D93, 0-1]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1261472 Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Frank Ross Anderson, Vancouver 1951, CAN-ch, Bird's Opening, A03, 1-0]
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1261460 Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Federico Norcia, Amsterdam 1954, 11th Olympiad, Ruy Lopez, Classical, C64, 1-0]

References