Victor Soultanbeieff
| Victor Soultanbéieff | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Victor Ivanovich Soultanbéieff |
| Country |
 Russian Empire  Belgium
|
| Born |
11 November 1895 Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire |
| Died | 9 February 1972 (aged 76) Liège, Belgium |
Victor Ivanovich Soultanbéieff (also spelled Sultanbajew, Sultanbaev, Sultanbeev, Sultanbejeff, Sultanbaieff, etc.; 11 November 1895 – 9 February 1972) was a Belgian chess master.
Born in Yekaterinoslav (Ukraine, then Russian Empire), Soultanbéieff learned to play chess rather late, but he improved fast. In 1914 he won the city championship. In World War I, he fought in the Russian army. In 1918 he won the city championship again. After the Bolshevik Revolution, in 1920, he moved to Gallipoli with the army of Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel. At the end of 1921 he sought asylum in Belgium. After a short stay in Brussels he moved to Liege, where he would stay for the rest of his life.
In 1923 he participated for the first time in the Belgian Chess Championship, a championship which he would win 5 times; in 1932 (jointly with Boruch Israel Dyner), 1934, 1943, 1957, and 1961. In 1923 he finished 4th, but impressed with his play. He had to combine chess with his work, which resulted in a low number of international tournaments and sometimes bad playing conditions. Nevertheless he participated in some important tournaments like Hastings International Chess Congress and the Hoogovens tournament.
Soultanbéieff was made a national master in 1931 and International Arbiter in 1964.
Soultanbéieff was known for his aggressive playing style, which sometimes resulted in short, brilliant games, but which sometimes led to unnecessary defeat. Some of his games are still famous like his games against Liubarski, 1928 or Borodin, 1943. Unlike many other players, Soultanbéieff stayed true to his attacking style when he grew old. He left his name to the Soultanbeieff Variation, a line in the Slav Defense which was introduced in the correspondence game Macht–Soultanbéieff, 1931–2: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6.
...
Wikipedia