Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Encyclopedia
Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk (also Bogatirchuk, Bohatirchuk, Bogatyrtschuk) (in Ukrainian
: Федір Парфенович Богатирчук, Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk; in Russian
: Фёдор Парфеньевич Богатырчук, Fiodor Parfen'evitch Bogatyrchuk) (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
(radiologist), a political activist, and a chess writer.
(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, Bohatyrchuk won, followed by Stefan Izbinsky
, Efim Bogoljubov, etc., at Kiev. In February 1914, he lost an exhibition game against José Raúl 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). Bohatyrchuk, along with 10 other "Russian" players from the interrupted Mannheım tournament
, was interned by Germany after the declaration of war against Russia, which began World War I. In September 1914, Bohatyrchuk and three others (Alexander Alekhine
, Peter Petrovich Saburov
, and N. Koppelman) were freed and allowed to return home.
Bohatyrchuk played in six USSR Chess Championship
s: 1923, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1933, and 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 Soviet government-sponsored tournament, and had 11 of the world's top 16 players, based on ratings from chessmetrics
.com. Bohatyrchuk achieved a 2628 performance, according to the Chessmetrics website, which calculates historical ratings.
In 1926, Bohatyrchuk wrote the first chess book "Шахи" (Szachy, Shakhy, Chess) 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. 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 Bohatyrchuk beat Mikhail Botvinnik
in their individual game. Bohatyrchuk has mentioned in his autobiography (printed in Russian in San Francisco in 1978) that just after this game the head of the Soviet chess delegation, Minister of Justice Nikolai Krylenko
, approached him and said: "You will never beat Botvinnik again!" That was indeed the case as Bohatyrchuk never played Botvinnik again, leaving him with a lifetime score of (+3 =1 –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.
. 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, Bohatyrchuk was seconded to a German medical research facility when Kiev fell to the Nazi armies in September 1941. During World War II, he was a head of the Ukrainian Red Cross, and the Institute of Experimental Medicine. While working with the Red Cross, Bohatyrchuk did a lot to help the Soviet prisoners of war kept in the German camps in extremely harsh conditions. These activities irritated the Germans, and in February 1942 Bohatyrchuk was arrested and spent about a month in a Gestapo
detention centre in Kiev. There also exists information that, while working at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Bohatyrchuk provided a cover to a Jewish female employee (a sister of the Kiev chess player Boris Ratner), thereby saving her from execution or deportation to a ghetto. At a later stage of the War, though, Bohatyrchuk became a Nazi collaborator. When the Soviet army pushed the Germans from Kiev, Bohatyrchuk, together with his family, migrated to Cracow, then Prague
, in 1944. There he joined the Committee for Freedom of Peoples in Russia, a Nazi-sponsored, semi-military organization headed by the Nazi collaborationist Russian general Andrey Vlasov
. (Vlasov's troops participated in the hostilities, on the German side.) Bohatyrchuk was also the leader of the Ukrainian National Council (Ukrainśka Narodna Rada), another Nazi-sponsored project. As a result of these activities, Bohatyrchuk was the number one "persona non grata
" in Soviet chess until the defection of Viktor Korchnoi
. The Soviets removed many of his games from their official records, but many of them were later reclaimed using outside sources.
, 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, Bohatyrchuk played an 8-game training series against local players (Čeněk Kottnauer
, Ludek Pachman
, Podgorný, Průcha, etc.) at Prague
(+7 =1 –0).
At the end of World War II, as the German armies were retreating, Bohatyrchuk 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 Elmārs 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
.
to numerous Nazi collaborators from Eastern Europe. Canada became a safe heaven for many Ukrainian collaborators. These policies were dictated by the exigencies of the Cold War, specifically by a hope to use some of these people in case the Cold War were to switch into a hot phase. Also, many of the immigrants had advanced scientific knowledge, which was of interest to the western powers.
These policies enabled Bohatyrchuk to emigrate to Canada in 1948, where he 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 zhiznennyi put' k Vlasovu i Prazhskomu Manifestu). In his publications, Bohatyrchuk never apologized for his collaboration with the Nazis, and tried to expose the Nazi-sponsored "Vlasov movement" merely as an alternative to Stalinism
.
s. 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
). Bohatyrchuk also represented Canada at the 11th Chess Olympiad
at Amsterdam
1954, playing board four (+7 =3 –5). In 1954 FIDE granted him the title of 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. Bohatyrchuk stayed active in local Ottawa chess into his early eighties, and played correspondence chess until age 85.
While living in Ottawa, Bohatyrchuk 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 Bohatyrchuk.
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
: Федір Парфенович Богатирчук, Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk; in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Фёдор Парфеньевич Богатырчук, Fiodor Parfen'evitch Bogatyrchuk) (born 14 November 1892 in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
- died 4 September 1984, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Canada) was a Ukrainian-Canadian International Master of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, and an International Master of correspondence chess
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
. He also was a doctor of medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
(radiologist), a political activist, and a chess writer.
Russian-Ukrainian and Soviet chess
As a youth, Bohatyrchuk sometimes traveled to chess tournaments with the great Mikhail ChigorinMikhail Chigorin
Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin also was a leading Russian chess player...
(1850–1908), who had earlier lost a match for the World Championship to Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm Steinitz was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier...
. Chigorin trained the young player, and influenced his style and openings.
In 1911, Bohatyrchuk won, followed by Stefan Izbinsky
Stefan Izbinsky
Stefan Konstantinovich Izbinsky was a Ukrainian chess master.He tied for 9-10th in the Kiev 1903 chess tournament , tied for 8-10th at St. Petersburg 1905/06 , took 13th at St...
, Efim Bogoljubov, etc., at Kiev. In February 1914, he lost an exhibition game against José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
at Kiev. In 1914, he took 3rd at Kiev. In July/August 1914, he tied for 6th–10th at Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
(the 19th DSB Congress
DSB Congress
The Deutschen Schachbund had been founded in Leipzig on 18 July 1877. When the next meeting took place in the Schützenhaus on 15 July 1879, sixty-two clubs had become member of the chess federation. Hofrat Rudolf von Gottschall became Chairman and Hermann Zwanziger the General Secretary...
, Hauptturnier A). Bohatyrchuk, along with 10 other "Russian" players from the interrupted Mannheım tournament
Mannheim 1914 chess tournament
The 19th DSB Congress , comprising several tournaments, began on20 July 1914 in Mannheim. Germany declared war on Russia and on France , Britain joining in the next day...
, was interned by Germany after the declaration of war against Russia, which began World War I. In September 1914, Bohatyrchuk and three others (Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...
, Peter Petrovich Saburov
Peter Petrovich Saburov
Peter Petrovich Saburov was a Russian chess master and organizer.He was a son of Peter Alexandrovich Saburov, a diplomat and chess organizer. The November 1911 American Chess Bulletin wrote: "Peter Petrovich Saburov, President of the far-famed St Petersburg Chess Club was born in St Petersburg on...
, and N. Koppelman) were freed and allowed to return home.
Bohatyrchuk played in six USSR Chess Championship
USSR Chess Championship
This is a list of all the winners of the USSR Chess Championship. It was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winners...
s: 1923, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1933, and 1934. In July 1923, he tied for 3rd–5th at Petrograd (St Petersburg, Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
) 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
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years...
, José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play...
, Frank Marshall, etc. It was the first Soviet government-sponsored tournament, and had 11 of the world's top 16 players, based on ratings from chessmetrics
Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...
.com. Bohatyrchuk achieved a 2628 performance, according to the Chessmetrics website, which calculates historical ratings.
In 1926, Bohatyrchuk wrote the first chess book "Шахи" (Szachy, Shakhy, Chess) in Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
. In 1927, he won at Kiev. In October 1927, he tied for 1st–2nd with Peter Romanovsky
Peter Romanovsky
Peter Arsenievich Romanovsky was a Russian chess International Master, International Arbiter, and author.-Biography:At the beginning of his career in Sankt Petersburg, he shared fourth place in 1908 , tied for 10-11th in 1909 , took second place behind Smorodsky in 1913, and shared first with...
at Moscow (5th USSR Ch.). His peak Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics
Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...
.com rating was in October 1927 at 2629, good for 15th place in the world. 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
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
won. In 1933, he won at Moscow (Quadrangular), with 4.5/6. In September 1933, he took 8th at Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
(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
Grigory Levenfish
Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish was a leading Jewish Russian chess grandmaster of the 1920s and 1930s. He was twice Soviet champion - in 1934 and 1937. In 1937 he tied a match against future world champion Mikhail Botvinnik...
and Ilya Rabinovich
Ilya Rabinovich
Ilya Rabinovich was a Russian chess master.-Biography:In 1911 Ilya Leontievich Rabinovich tied for 1st with Platz in Saint Petersburg...
.
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
Salo Flohr
Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr was a leading Czech and later Soviet chess grandmaster of the mid-20th century, who became a national hero in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s. His name was used to sell many of the luxury products of the time, including Salo Flohr cigarettes, slippers and eau-de-cologne...
, but Bohatyrchuk beat Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
in their individual game. Bohatyrchuk has mentioned in his autobiography (printed in Russian in San Francisco in 1978) that just after this game the head of the Soviet chess delegation, Minister of Justice Nikolai Krylenko
Nikolai Krylenko
Nikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. Krylenko served in a variety of posts in the Soviet legal system, rising to become People's Commissar for Justice and Prosecutor General of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.Krylenko was an...
, approached him and said: "You will never beat Botvinnik again!" That was indeed the case as Bohatyrchuk never played Botvinnik again, leaving him with a lifetime score of (+3 =1 –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
Ukrainian Chess Championship
This is a list of all the winners of the Ukrainian Chess Championship, including those held when Ukraine was a Soviet republic and those held after Ukraine became independent. Players' names listed in parentheses indicate that the player won the tournament but did not receive the title since he...
), with 12.5/17. In 1938, he took 2nd at Kiev (USSR Ch. semi-final), with 11/17, behind only winner Vasily Panov
Vasily Panov
Vasily Nikolayevich Panov was a Soviet chess player, author, and journalist. Winner of the Moscow City Championship in 1929, he also played in five USSR Chess Championships from 1935 to 1948. His greatest tournament victory was Kiev, 1938...
, but he did not play at the 11th USSR Championship in 1939.
Medical career, Collaboration with the Nazis during World War II
Bohatyrchuk completed his high school studies in 1912, and entered the University of Kiev later that year to study medicineMedicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
. During the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, he was employed by a military hospital, and was a professor of anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
at the Institute of Physical Education and Sport in Kiev.
As a radiologist and medical doctor in 1940, Bohatyrchuk was seconded to a German medical research facility when Kiev fell to the Nazi armies in September 1941. During World War II, he was a head of the Ukrainian Red Cross, and the Institute of Experimental Medicine. While working with the Red Cross, Bohatyrchuk did a lot to help the Soviet prisoners of war kept in the German camps in extremely harsh conditions. These activities irritated the Germans, and in February 1942 Bohatyrchuk was arrested and spent about a month in a Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
detention centre in Kiev. There also exists information that, while working at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Bohatyrchuk provided a cover to a Jewish female employee (a sister of the Kiev chess player Boris Ratner), thereby saving her from execution or deportation to a ghetto. At a later stage of the War, though, Bohatyrchuk became a Nazi collaborator. When the Soviet army pushed the Germans from Kiev, Bohatyrchuk, together with his family, migrated to Cracow, then Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, in 1944. There he joined the Committee for Freedom of Peoples in Russia, a Nazi-sponsored, semi-military organization headed by the Nazi collaborationist Russian general Andrey Vlasov
Andrey Vlasov
Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov or Wlassow was a Russian Red Army general who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.-Early career:...
. (Vlasov's troops participated in the hostilities, on the German side.) Bohatyrchuk was also the leader of the Ukrainian National Council (Ukrainśka Narodna Rada), another Nazi-sponsored project. As a result of these activities, Bohatyrchuk was the number one "persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
" in Soviet chess until the defection of Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...
. The Soviets removed many of his games from their official records, but many of them were later reclaimed using outside sources.
Chess in Nazi-occupied Europe and American Zone of Occupation
In February 1944, he took 2nd, behind Efim BogoljubowEfim Bogoljubow
Efim Dmitriyevich Bogolyubov was a Russo-German chess grandmaster who won numerous events and played two matches with Alexander Alekhine for the world championship.-Early career:...
, at Radom
Radom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
(the 5th General Government chess tournament
General Government chess tournament
General Government chess championships were held during World War II:- Participants :*Alexander Alekhine /*Efim Bogoljubow /*Paul Felix Schmidt /*Klaus Junge /*Karl Gilg /*Josef Lokvenc /*Hans Müller /...
). In Spring 1944, he drew a match against Stepan Popel
Stepan Popel
Stepan Popel was a multiple chess champion of Lviv, Paris and eventually, of the Ukrainians in North America .-Biography:Stepan Popel was the nephew of an early master, Ignatz von Popiel , and took...
at Cracow (2 : 2). In May 1944, Bohatyrchuk played an 8-game training series against local players (Čeněk Kottnauer
Cenek Kottnauer
Čeněk Kottnauer was a Czech British chess master.At the beginning of his career, he tied for 11-12th at Prague 1933 , and took 7th at Prague 1939 .During World War II, he took 6th at Prague 1942 , tied for 7-8th...
, Ludek Pachman
Ludek Pachman
Luděk Pachman was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist. In 1972, after being imprisoned and tortured almost to death by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, he was allowed to emigrate to West Germany...
, Podgorný, Průcha, etc.) at Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(+7 =1 –0).
At the end of World War II, as the German armies were retreating, Bohatyrchuk moved to a number of cities including Berlin and Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
, and finally ended up in the American-controlled city of Bayreuth in May 1945. For a time he lived in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, 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 Elmārs Zemgalis
Elmars Zemgalis
Elmārs Zemgalis , is a Latvian-American chess master and mathematics professor. He was awarded an Honorary Grandmaster title in 2003.- Biography :...
, Wolfgang Unzicker
Wolfgang Unzicker
Wolfgang Unzicker was one of the strongest German chess Grandmasters from 1945 to about 1970.He decided against making chess his profession, choosing law instead....
, etc. at Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
(Klaus Junge Memorial), with 7/9. In February 1947, he took 3rd at Kirchheim-Teck. In September 1947, he took 4th at Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
.
Settles in Canada
After the end of World War II, the US, UK, and Canada chose to give asylumRight of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
to numerous Nazi collaborators from Eastern Europe. Canada became a safe heaven for many Ukrainian collaborators. These policies were dictated by the exigencies of the Cold War, specifically by a hope to use some of these people in case the Cold War were to switch into a hot phase. Also, many of the immigrants had advanced scientific knowledge, which was of interest to the western powers.
These policies enabled Bohatyrchuk to emigrate to Canada in 1948, where he became a professor at the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
, and the author of many scientific studies and recollection books. At the congress of the Ukrainian federalists in Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
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
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Мой жизненный путь к Власову и Пражскому Манифесту, Moy zhiznennyi put' k Vlasovu i Prazhskomu Manifestu). In his publications, Bohatyrchuk never apologized for his collaboration with the Nazis, and tried to expose the Nazi-sponsored "Vlasov movement" merely as an alternative to Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
.
Chess in Canada
He played in three Closed Canadian Chess ChampionshipCanadian Chess Championship
This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the next stage of the FIDE World Chess Championship cycle...
s. In 1949, he took 2nd at Arvida (winner was Maurice Fox
Maurice Fox
Maurice Fox was a Canadian chess master. He won the Canadian Chess Championship eight times; this is tied for the most Canadian titles with Daniel Yanofsky.-Biography:...
), with 7/9, ahead of Daniel Yanofsky
Daniel Yanofsky
Daniel Abraham Yanofsky, OC, QC was Canada's first chess grandmaster, an eight-time Canadian Chess Champion, a chess writer, a chess arbiter, and a lawyer.-Life in chess:...
, Frank Anderson
Frank Anderson (chess player)
Frank Ross Anderson was a Canadian International Master of chess, and a chess writer. He twice won gold medals at the chess Olympiads, for the best scores on his board...
, and Povilas Vaitonis
Povilas Vaitonis
Povilas Vaitonis was a Lithuanian–Canadian International Master of chess. He was a five-time Lithuanian champion, and was twice Canadian champion...
. In 1951, he tied for 3rd-4th places at Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
(winner was Povilas Vaitonis
Povilas Vaitonis
Povilas Vaitonis was a Lithuanian–Canadian International Master of chess. He was a five-time Lithuanian champion, and was twice Canadian champion...
), with 8.5/12. In 1955, he tied for 3rd–5th at Ottawa (winner was Frank Anderson, ahead of Daniel Yanofsky
Daniel Yanofsky
Daniel Abraham Yanofsky, OC, QC was Canada's first chess grandmaster, an eight-time Canadian Chess Champion, a chess writer, a chess arbiter, and a lawyer.-Life in chess:...
). Bohatyrchuk also represented Canada at the 11th Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
at Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
1954, playing board four (+7 =3 –5). In 1954 FIDE granted him the title of 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
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
, 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 Correspondence Chess Federation
International Correspondence Chess Federation was founded in 1951 as a new appearance of the ICCA , which was founded in 1945, as successor of the IFSB , founded in 1928....
International Master. Bohatyrchuk stayed active in local Ottawa chess into his early eighties, and played correspondence chess until age 85.
While living in Ottawa, Bohatyrchuk helped to train the young Lawrence Day
Lawrence Day
Lawrence Day is a Canadian chess International Master, author, and journalist. He has represented Canada at 13 Chess Olympiads.- Early life :...
(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 Bohatyrchuk.
Notable chess games
- Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Moscow 1924, 3rd USSR ch, Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense, C62, 0-1
- Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1927, 5th USSR ch, French Defense, Winawer Advance Variation, C17, 1-0
- Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Leningrad 1933, 8th USSR ch, Sicilian, Dragon, B72, 1-0
- Vsevolod Rauzer vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Leningrad 1934, 9th USSR ch, Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, Fianchetto Variation, C76, 0-1
- Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1935, 2nd it, Four Knights, C49, 1-0
- Ludek Pachman vs Fedor Bohatirchuk, Prague 1944, Sicilian Defense, B95, 0-1
- Elmars Zemgalis vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Regensburg 1946, Klaus Junge Memorial, English, A21, 0-1
- Povilas Vaitonis vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk, Canadian Championship, Arvida 1949, CAN-ch, Grünfeld Defense, D93, 0-1
- Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Frank Ross Anderson, Canadian Championship, Vancouver 1951, CAN-ch, Bird's Opening, A03, 1-0
- Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk vs Federico Norcia, Amsterdam 1954, 11th Olympiad, Ruy Lopez, Classical, C64, 1-0