Peter Romanovsky
Encyclopedia
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Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n 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...
International Master, International Arbiter
International Arbiter
In chess, International Arbiter is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important chess matches . The title was established in 1951....
, and author.
Biography
At the beginning of his career in Sankt Petersburg, he shared fourth place in 1908 (Sergey von FreymannSergey von Freymann
Sergey von Freymann was a Russian-Uzbekistani chess master.In 1906, von Freymann took 2nd, behind Semyon Alapin, in Sankt Petersburg. In 1907, he tied for 6-7th in St Petersburg . In 1907/08, he took 5th in Lodz . The event was won by Akiba Rubinstein...
and Karl Wilhelm Rosenkrantz
Karl Wilhelm Rosenkrantz
Karl Wilhelm Rosenkrantz was a Russian and Soviet chess master.Rosenkrantz was born in Libava , then in the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire...
won), tied for 10-11th in 1909 (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...
won), took second place behind Smorodsky in 1913, and shared first with von Freymann in 1914 (Hexagonal).
Romanovsky participated in the Mannheim 1914 chess 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...
(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...
), began on 20 July and stopped on 1 August 1914 when World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out. He tied for second/fourth in Hauptturnier B. After the declaration of war by the German Empire on the Russian Empire, eleven Russian players (Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubow
Efim 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:...
, Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk was a Ukrainian-Canadian International Master of chess, and an...
, Alexander Flamberg
Alexander Flamberg
Alexander Flamberg was a Polish chess master.-Biography:Alexander Davidovich Flamberg born in Warsaw , spent his early years in England, where he learnt to play chess. After return to Warsaw, he became one of the strongest Polish chess players. In 1900, he took 2nd, behind Salomon Langleben, in...
, N. Koppelman, B.E. Maljutin, I.A. Rabinovich, Romanovsky, P.P. Saburov, Alexander Selezniev and S.O. Weinstein) were interned in Rastatt
Rastatt
Rastatt is a city and baroque residence in the District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50'000...
, Germany. On September 14, 17, and 29, 1914, four of them (Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman) were freed and allowed to return home via Switzerland. As an internee, he played in three tournaments. In 1914, he tied for fourth/fifth in Baden-Baden, as Flamberg won. He took third in the Triberg chess tournament
Triberg chess tournament
The Triberg chess tournament constitutes a series of chess tournaments, held in Triberg im Schwarzwald during World War I.Eleven players from the Russian Empire, who participated in the interrupted Mannheim 1914 chess tournament, were interned in Rastatt, Germany, after the declaration of war...
1914/15, and tied for fifth/sixth at Triberg 1915 (both won by Bogoljubow). After being released from internment by the Red Cross in spring 1915, due to his poor health (heart illness), he returned to Petrograd. When Romanovsky returned to Russia, he immediately helped raise money to aid the Russian chess players who were still interned in Germany by giving a simultaneous exhibition
Simultaneous exhibition
A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition in which one player plays multiple games at a time with a number of other players. Such an exhibition is often referred to simply as a "simul".In a regular simul, no chess clocks are used...
at the St. Petersburg Politechnical Institute.
1920-1935
After the war, he took second, behind Alekhine, at Moscow 1920 (the first USSR Chess ChampionshipUSSR 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...
). He was the Soviet Champion
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...
in 1923 (second USSR-ch in Petrograd) and 1927 (with Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk was a Ukrainian-Canadian International Master of chess, and an...
, fifth 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...
, in Moscow). He tied for first with 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...
, Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky 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 the 1925 Leningrad City Chess Championship
Leningrad City Chess Championship
The Leningrad City Chess Championship is a chess tournament held officially in the city of Leningrad, Russia starting from 1920. The city was called Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, then Leningrad until 1991, and Saint Petersburg afterwards...
. In December 1925, he tied for seventh/eighth in the Moscow 1925 chess tournament
Moscow 1925 chess tournament
This international super-tournament, organised by Nikolai Krylenko, was held in Moscow, the Soviet Union, from 10 November to 8 December 1925. It was the world's first state-sponsored chess tournament. There were eleven foreign stars and ten Soviet masters. World champion José Raúl Capablanca and...
. In 1927, he won in Leningrad. His best international result was in Leningrad 1934, finishing tied for second place with Nikolai Riumin
Nikolai Riumin
Nikolai Nikolaevich Riumin was a Russian chess master, one of the strongest Soviet players of the 1930s.Riumin was Moscow Champion in 1931, 1933/34, and 1935. He played in four Soviet Championships. In 1929, he took 5th in a quarter final group in Odessa...
, behind 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 1935, he was the first Soviet chess player to be awarded Honored Master of Sport
Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR
Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for athletes. The classification was established in 1935 and was based on separate classifications, which existed for several sports disciplines before...
.
Last years
During the worst period of the Siege of LeningradSiege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
in winter of 1941-42, a rescue party reached his home. They found Romanovsky half-conscious from starvation and cold. The rest of his family had frozen to death. All the furniture in the house had been used for firewood. A chess manuscript which had been in preparation by Romanovsky was also lost at this time.
He was awarded the International Master title in 1950 and the International Arbiter
International Arbiter
In chess, International Arbiter is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed capable of acting as arbiter in important chess matches . The title was established in 1951....
title in 1951.
In 1954, the Soviets withdrew their application for Romanovsky to receive the Grandmaster title, which had been based on his first place in the 1927 USSR championship. But because anti-Stalinist Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk was a Ukrainian-Canadian International Master of chess, and an...
(Bohatirchuk) had shared the title in 1927, and he was no longer recognized in the USSR as the result of his having defected, the USSR Chess Federation did not want to give the GM title to Bohatirchuk, so they withdrew the application for Romanovsky as well.
Before his death, Romanovsky eventually published two books on chess middlegames, which were translated into English in 1990. These are Chess Middlegames: Combinations, and Chess Middlegames: Strategy, both published by American Chess Promotions.