Vladimir Sournin was a Russian–American 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...

 master.

Born into a Russian family of an Army officer, he studied in Paris where he met Emmanuel Schiffers, and also learned about the Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

 preparations and decided to join the Volunteers and crossed the water to fight for the United States.

In 1896, he lost a match to Frank James Marshall (+2 –7 =2) in New York. He played at Ostend 1906 (elim.), took 19th at St Petersburg 1911 (Stepan Levitsky

Stepan Levitsky

Stepan Levitsky was a Russian chess master and national chess champion....

 won), and tied for 14-15th at Vilna 1912 (B tournament, Karel Hromádka

Karel Hromádka

Karel Hromádka was a Czech chess player, two-time Czech champion, 1913 and 1921 ....

 won).

After 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...

, he tied for 5-7th at Atlantic City 1921 (the Eighth American Chess Congress

American Chess Congress

The American Chess Congress was a series of chess tournaments held in the United States, a predecessor to the current U.S. Chess Championship. It had nine editions, the first played in 1857 and the last in 1923.-First American Chess Congress :...

, Dawid Janowski

Dawid Janowski

Dawid Markelowicz Janowski was a leading Polish chess master and subsequent French citizen....

 won), took 9th at Lake Hopatcong 1923 (the Ninth ACC, Marshall and Abraham Kupchik

Abraham Kupchik

Abraham Kupchik was an American chess master.Abraham Kupchik was born into a Jewish family in Brest . His family emigrated to the USA in 1903....

won), and took 7th at St Louis 1929 (Hahlbohm won).

He was the Washington D.C. champion in 1932 and 1933, with a comeback in 1938 when aged 63.