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Sultan Khan
S Khan 
Illustrated London News, 3 September 1932, p. 332. 

Number of games in database: 208
Years covered: 1928 to 1935
Overall record: +112 -48 =37 (66.2%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 11 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Queen's Pawn Game (29) 
    D05 D02 D04 A46 E10
 Queen's Indian (7) 
    E18 E16 E12 E15 E17
 French Defense (7) 
    C01 C00 C13 C11
 Caro-Kann (5) 
    B13 B18
 Center Game (5) 
    C22 C21
 Sicilian (5) 
    B20 B29 B83
With the Black pieces:
 Nimzo Indian (13) 
    E23 E24 E38 E44 E41
 Ruy Lopez (11) 
    C79 C88 C78 C71 C74
 Queen's Pawn Game (11) 
    A46 D02 D00 A40
 Orthodox Defense (10) 
    D50 D55 D51 D57
 Caro-Kann (9) 
    B15 B12 B13 B10
 Sicilian (9) 
    B32 B46 B33 B30
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Sultan Khan vs Capablanca, 1930 1-0
   Sultan Khan vs H Mattison, 1931 1-0
   Sultan Khan vs Flohr, 1932 1-0
   T H Tylor vs Sultan Khan, 1933 0-1
   Sultan Khan vs Marshall, 1930 1-0
   Ahues vs Sultan Khan, 1930 0-1
   Alekhine vs Sultan Khan, 1931 1/2-1/2
   Sultan Khan vs Rubinstein, 1931 1-0
   Euwe vs Sultan Khan, 1932 1/2-1/2
   Rubinstein vs Sultan Khan, 1930 1/2-1/2

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   British Championship (1931)
   Sultan Khan - Tartakower (1931)
   British Championship (1932)
   British Championship (1933)
   British Championship (1929)
   Liege (1930)
   Hastings 1930/31 (1930)
   Hastings 1932/33 (1932)
   Hastings 1931/32 (1931)
   London (1932)
   Berne (1932)
   Hamburg Olympiad (1930)
   Scarborough (1930)
   Prague Olympiad (1931)
   Folkestone Olympiad (1933)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Mir Sultan Khan by samsloan
   Sultan Khan: Chess Biography by Dhamal Goda
   Sultan Khan: Chess Biography by jessicafischerqueen
   Berne 1932 by Tabanus
   Mir Sultan Khan - the unsung Grandmaster by MTuraga
   Sultan Khan - Tartakower by Chessical
   London International Chess Congress, 1932 by Resignation Trap
   Liege 1930 by suenteus po 147
   Hastings 1932/33 by Phony Benoni
   When Sultans played Chess by Open Defence


Search Sacrifice Explorer for Sultan Khan
Search Google for Sultan Khan

SULTAN KHAN
(born 1903, died Apr-25-1966, 62 years old) Pakistan

[what is this?]

Sultan Khan (also called Mir Sultan Khan or Mian Sultan Khan) was born in 1903 in Mittha in the Punjab, British India. His prowess at the Indian variety of chess brought him to the notice of Colonel Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan, who taught him the European game.

After winning the All-India Championship in 1928 (+8 =1 -0) he went to England with Sir Umar. The English masters William Winter and Fred Dewhirst Yates tutored him and helped overcome his lack of theoretical knowledge. He won the British Championship (1929), British Championship (1932), and British Championship (1933).

He played for the British team at the Hamburg Olympiad (1930), Prague Olympiad (1931), and Folkestone Olympiad (1933). In international tournaments, he finished 2nd at Liege (1930), 3rd at Hastings (1930/31) (behind Euwe and Capablanca), and 3rd= at London (1932). In matches, he won Sultan Khan - Tartakower (1931) (+4 =5 -3), but lost Flohr - Sultan Khan (1932) (+1 =3 -2). Chessmetrics ranked him sixth in the world in May 1933, behind only Alekhine, Kashdan, Flohr, Capablanca, and Euwe.

He returned to India with Sir Umar in December 1933 and played very little serious chess again. He died in Sargodha, Pakistan in 1966. On February 2, 2024, over 120 years after his birth, FIDE posthumously awarded him the title of Honorary Grandmaster.

Wikipedia article: Mir Sultan Khan

Last updated: 2025-07-08 19:50:31

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 9; games 1-25 of 208  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. S Khan vs Gurubaksh Rai 1-0331928Ch-All IndiaC22 Center Game
2. Ramsukh Kaka vs S Khan  0-1451928Ch-All IndiaD51 Queen's Gambit Declined
3. S Khan vs V N Gadre 1-0241928Ch-All IndiaC44 King's Pawn Game
4. S Khan vs Morbhat Mehendale  1-0771928Ch-All IndiaC44 King's Pawn Game
5. S Khan vs N Roughton 1-0381928Ch-All IndiaD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
6. Manzur Hassan vs S Khan  0-1361928Ch-All IndiaC00 French Defense
7. V K Khadilkar vs S Khan 0-1511928Ch-All IndiaD37 Queen's Gambit Declined
8. S Khan vs N R Joshi 1-0251928Ch-All IndiaC21 Center Game
9. S Khan vs S V Bodas  ½-½441928Ch-All IndiaC49 Four Knights
10. B Siegheim vs S Khan 0-1371929MatchD57 Queen's Gambit Declined, Lasker Defense
11. Capablanca vs S Khan 0-1241929Simul, 35bD50 Queen's Gambit Declined
12. S Khan vs Yates  0-1681929Quadrangular tE30 Nimzo-Indian, Leningrad
13. A G Conde vs S Khan 0-1551929Quadrangular tD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
14. S Khan vs W Winter  0-1381929Quadrangular tB20 Sicilian
15. Yates vs S Khan 1-0461929Quadrangular tC17 French, Winawer, Advance
16. F Hamond vs S Khan 1-0431929British ChampionshipD45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
17. S Khan vs G Abrahams 1-0371929British ChampionshipC01 French, Exchange
18. W Fairhurst vs S Khan 0-1401929British ChampionshipD37 Queen's Gambit Declined
19. H Price vs S Khan 0-1381929British ChampionshipB12 Caro-Kann Defense
20. R Michell vs S Khan 0-1561929British ChampionshipD15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
21. S Khan vs W Winter ½-½731929British ChampionshipB20 Sicilian
22. A Eva vs S Khan ½-½411929British ChampionshipD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
23. S Khan vs E Irving 0-1281929Simul, 33bB01 Scandinavian
24. S Khan vs C Wreford-Brown 0-1291929Simul, 33bA41 Queen's Pawn Game (with ...d6)
25. S Khan vs R N Coles 1-0351929SimulD85 Grunfeld
 page 1 of 9; games 1-25 of 208  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Khan wins | Khan loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 5 OF 11 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-01-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  chancho: <Is it just me or does Sultan Khan look exactly like the midget in 'Me, Myself & Irene'?>

There IS a slight resemblance to that actor (Tony Cox). Tony, also played Billy Bob Thornton's sidekick, in the movie: Bad Santa.

Feb-07-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: <WTHarvey: Here are some puzzles>

You seem to have an endless supply of these combinations from the games of everyone who ever played at the GM level. Did you compile these puzzles yourself? Are they from a book or for one?

Feb-16-06  sagahelten: According to Chessmetrics Mir Sultan Khan was the world #6 in 1933. His highest rating was 2699 (1932) and his best individual performance was 2713 (Ol Prague 1931). Let's just say that he played with grandmaster strength ;-) What a strange fate: Being a servant, playing in Europe for four years and then never again on top level!
Aug-20-06  saturn: <His highest rating was 2699 (1932)> By these norms, he would only be behind Vishy as the second best player India has ever produced but yet ahead of Harikrishna and Sasikiran (so far).
Aug-20-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  OlimpBase: Allegedly he was illiterate.
Aug-20-06  mahmoudkubba: I am thinking that he was Indian in the time as far as I know India was the Jewelry of the crown and part of the British Commonwealth or the British Empire. I also ask if there is any connection to MIR Galaxy Institute in the Soviets ?. I also ask if that is his real picture or there r better pictures. Yet this is as far my knowledge and memory helps me the first time for me to notice this Ch. Player.

Did he have any real blitzes if for the British side or others?

Aug-20-06  mahmoudkubba: Also his name MSK is a look like to my name in a similarity or something: MHSK, but as it sems only the initials. WAWWWWW.
Sep-15-06  saturn: <Allegedly he was illiterate> Inspite of that he accomplished whatever he did. All the more glory to him!
Sep-28-06  hitman84: I gathered some info on Sultan Khan.

In 1926, Sir Umar Hayat Khan who later was A.D.C to his majesty King George V taught him the modern chess.

In 1929, Sultan joined the Imperial chess club where he beat B.E Sieghiem a top player in the club who played for Middlesex.

in the same year, just a few months prior to the british Ch., a small round robin quadrangular tnt. was organised for him in Ramsgate at the Gambit chess room by the proprietress and former lady champion Miss Price.

Competitors,
1.F.D Yates, British Champion
2.Winter W, IM
3.Conde A G, strong Mexican player.

Khan lost, 0-2 to Yates,0-2 to Winter and scored 1.5 against Conde.

This was a disastrous tourney for Sulatan Khan but managed to win the British Ch which made many think that the tourney was'nt strong enough as neither Yates nor Sir George Thomas were playing in it.

In the first round he lost to Hamond FE
but recovered thereafter to score 8 poits but was lucky against Winter who allowed a stalemate.

Harry Golombek, a famous chess writer who participated in the British Championship along with Khan at Ramsgate said that Khan loved to play quick games and discovered that he was uneducated and had a friend as an interpreter.

He died of Tuberculosis on 25th April, 1966.

Sep-28-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: thanks, hitman84, very interesting. Where did you find this information?
Sep-28-06  hitman84: <keypusher>I found it in our national chess monthly mag(AICF) spread over 4 issues(feb-jun 2000) now defunct.
Sep-28-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  ray keene: sultan khan learned fast-he went on to defeat tartakower-rubinstein and capablanca-see the book on him by coles at www.hardingesimpole.co.uk the best games of mir sultan khan
Oct-07-06  Maatalkko: Sultan Khan makes me smile. Watching him play simplistic openings and then beat grandmasters has a cheering effect.

His play reminds me of a young Capablanca, although somewhat less aggressive. One building move after another, and eventually his erudite European competition would make a mistake.

Oct-28-06  Octavia: <Chap's got a very oddly proportioned head and a rather petery haircut> reminds me to the time my husband had a haircut in India - when he came back, his head was shaped just like many Indian's!!! lol
Mar-14-07  drik: <Kriegspiel: Chap's got a very oddly proportioned head>

Here we have one of the greatest natural talents to ever play the game ... and a major topic of interest appears to be his oddly proportioned head. Sigh! It is not as if Anatoly Karpov could have posed for Rodin's The Thinker.

Apr-02-07  itsaworry: "...Col. Sir Nawab Umar Hayat Khan entertained the American chess team at his home one evening in 1933 the table waiter was Sultan Khan, to the embarrassment of all except the illustrious Colonel" (Harold C Schonberg, Grandmasters of Chess)
Feb-21-08  Knight13: You all know what Sultan Khan means in the once powerful Ottoman Empire right?
Aug-27-08  myschkin: . . .

Photographs:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2385...

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

(London, 1932. Theodore Tylor has white against Sultan Khan)

Nov-07-08  anandrulez: The legend , Mir Sulthan Khan is probably the best ever chess player ! He was no GM and he defeated Capablanca ...amazing player .
Mar-02-09  Dredge Rivers: khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn!!!
Mar-18-09  Augalv: <"Unable to read or write, he never studied any books on the game yet became one of the ten best players in the world.">

Impressive.

Apr-10-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: I wish the Indian Sub Continent would honour him
Apr-10-09  SamAtoms1980: No doubt about it, he was the Srinivasa Ramanujan of chess
May-17-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Domdaniel: <SamAtoms> Yes, there are clear similarities: both seemingly emerged from nowhere to become one of the best in the world at their discipline, both came from India in the early 20th century, flourished shortly before independence, and had a short career before death (Ramanujan) or retirement (Sultan Khan).

But there are important differences too. They came from opposite ends of India, and very different cultures. Ramanujan, using elementary sourcebooks, produced truly astonishing maths -- some of it is still bewildering. Sultan Khan, strong as he was, wasn't quite on this level.

I'd like to know more about the precise variety of Indian chess at which he was expert. How different from the standard game is it, do the skills normally transfer, etc.

And there's a certain amount of romantic 'mysterious exotic East' hype about the myth surrounding both Ramanujan and Sultan Khan -- what Edward Said called Orientalism, I think.

Just imagine a mathematician/chessplayer from the exotic West, named Windsor Bourbon King (after the European royals who 'sponsored' him) ... wearing an exotic 'tweed suit' with a charming ethnic 'hat', or a pair of 'traditional workingman's denims' ... coming from Moldova or Scotland, or is it Malta? ... and blowing away all the experts from civilized countries like China and India.

Worse yet, imagine an American Cowboy in Japan taking on the samurai. Oh, right -- Tom Cruise. Of course.

May-18-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: <Dom> I did do Shatranj puzzles in my forum and <TheMadHair> and I played a couple of Shatranj games too, I read somewhere that Sultan Khan was primarily a Shatranj player...
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