According to Hans Kmoch who knew him,

Other scores:

pistyan 1922
karlsbad 1923
breslau 1925
moscow 1925
kissingen 1928

in my estimation that is enough to earn him a crack at alekhines title in 1929-those were colossal results!in the course of these events he either defeated or came ahead of lasker
capablanca
alekhine
euwe
nimzowitsch
rubinstein

Bogoljubow Explains His Defection

Documents of interest for chess history continue to surface in the Soviet press. Memoirs by the veteran organiser Yakov Rokhlin, born 1905, appeared in the October and November [1989] issues of Shakh­maty v SSSR. In the latter issue he dealt with the defection of Bogoljubow in 1926.

Rokhlin states that Bogoljubow re­sided in turn in Moscow and Leningrad in 1924-25 and occasionally met Ilyin-­Zhenevsky and Rokhlin, who noticed that after his long periods of residence in Germany he spoke Russian with a strong German accent. Departure from Soviet citizenship was, on Bogoljubow's part, a reasoned and polite action as may be judged from the letter he wrote to chess supremo Krylenko from Germany on 6 December 1926. The text ran:

"I hereby inform the Chess Section that I am compelled to relinquish Soviet citizen­ship, concerning which I will submit a for­mal declaration to the Soviet Representa­tive's Office in Berlin on 12 December 1926. The obstacles with which I have had con­stantly to contend would, if they were to continue, be ruinous for my family. With full respects, Ye. Bogoljubow, Triberg, 6 xii 1926."

Then followed this explanatory note: "As a Soviet citizen, l did not receive a visa to travel to Italy (i.e. the Merano tournament) and the same fate befell Verlinsky. Yet this was my last chance to reestablish my ma­terial position. It goes without saying that I do not intend to apply for assistance from the Chess Section and would not feel able to accept such help, since the USSR is a poor country.

In one way and another, through my citizenship I have been denied various opportunities to earn a living for my family despite the economies made by my wife.

The earnings which I have been denied this year amount to tens of thousands of roubles. The Berlin tournament gave me very little and the work on the Moscow (1925) tournament book which I have concentrated on for reasons of principle have finally only brought me a loss. My affairs are in a bad way and the only hope is that the New York committee will be obliged to accept my conditions. For the moment I cannot meet my debts, and can no longer hide from my wife that the moment has come to keep my word to her and start to look after my family by removing all obstacles to this course."

Bogoljubow continued by writing that it was a matter of indifference to him how his departure was explained by the Soviet bodies - no form of insulting reaction would induce him to respond. He closed:

Not quite what you are after, but this quote from Hans Kmoch might help.

Many writers from the ukranian scope wrote originally in Russian (somewhat same phenomenon whith the Irish that became famous writing in English) - here the confusion can be even greater because Ukr. an Rus. languages are very near

Before 1918 one could speak about a Ukranian identity in terms of ethnicity, but not on an organized State - the greater part was simply Russia, and a smaller South-West portion Austria-Hungary.

After 1918 the actual ukranian territory was divided between Poland (West) and the raising Soviet State (East) - In the immediatelly following Polish-Soviet War, the URSS lost an important slice to Poland - acc. to Riga's Treatise from 1920 or 21 (sorry quoted by memory)

1939-1945: After a series of vicissitudes (Ribbentropp-Molotov Entente; URSS occupying again his West portion, German invasion, Soviet counter-strike and finally end of WW II the ukranian State acquired the shape we are used to know

Chess players born in the ukranian territory:
- before 1918: Bogo, Tartakower, Bernstein, and surely some others: To assert if, for instance, Perlis or Flohr were from the ukranian portion of Austro-Hungarian or Russian Empire it's an interesting subject (be aware that many places and villages in that Region have similar names... So - Poland or Ukrania can become easily a doubt ...)