Evgeny Ivanovich Sadovsky was born August 30, 1911 in Mariupol, Yekaterinoslav Province, Russian Empire. In 1932 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of New Languages with a degree in German literary translation, later studying at the Moscow Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics. He translated literary works by Heinrich Mann, Friedrich Hölderlin and Rainer Maria Rilke, and also translated work by the German communist Johannes Becher. He was a keen chess enthusiast and became a member of a writer's chess club.1
He is remembered as a chess player primarily for his participation in the Meerbeck 1946 Displaced Persons tournament, held in the American Zone of Occupation after World War II.2 He participated under the pseudonym of "Saltovski," presumably because he did not want to be discovered by Soviet authorities.3 During the war, he had been drafted by the Soviet Army and later fled to join the Nazi forces. Soviet authorities believed he had been killed in combat, and included his name on a memorial plaque "Moscow Writers who Died on the Fronts of World War II" in the Moscow Central House of Writers.4 In fact, Sadovsky was alive and residing in Orel, where he was translating front line German reports into Russian for the "Rech" newspaper, now run by the Nazis. As the Soviet Army overrode Orel and points westward, Sadovsky made it to Frankfurt, Germany, where he worked for the "Der Welt-Dienst," an international Anti-Semitic propaganda organization headed by Alfred Rosenberg. 1,4,5
After Germany surrendered in 1945, Sadovsky made his way to Meerbeck in the American Occupation Zone in Germany. Here he competed against a strong international chess field in the Meerbeck 1946 tournament.3 The Ukranian Master Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk finished 1st, followed by Latvian Master Lucius Endzelins and Lithuanian Master Romanas Arlauskas. The untitled Sadovsky made a strong showing, sharing 5th place with Josef Repecka and Kazys Skema, scoring +7-6=0
Game Collection: Meerbeck 1946 Displaced Persons tournament .
According to the tournament bulletin, Sadovsky "...played very aggressively, scorning draws and having his share of luck."3
In 1948 or 1949 Sadovsky emigrated to the United States, settling in Maryland. In 1955 Sadovsky was invited to Washington, D.C. to work on a scientific project. Here he met V.P. Marenchko, who attempted to enlist him in an emigree anti-Communist organization. Sadovsky had apparently confided in Marenchko that he regarded F.D. Roosevelt, not Hitler, as an enabler of communism, since Hitler had fought against Stalin, whilst Roosevelt had supported Stalin during the war.6 Marenchko eventually gave up on his attempt to recruit Sadovsky, citing his "laziness" to commit to any real effort to American anti-communist work.6
By 1963 Sadovsky had moved to Florida, where he secured a position as a mathematics professor at the University of Miami. He became a member of the American Mathematical Society in 1964, and played in a number of Florida State chess competitions. Some time later he moved to Bedford, Texas, though he died in Florida in 1987.1
Sources
1 Russian Wikipedia article: Садовский, Евгений Иванович
2 Game Collection: Meerbeck 1946 Displaced Persons tournament
3 AJ Gillam, "Meerbeck 1946" (The Chess player, 2009) pp.2-5
4 Igor Petrov, "Three lives of the translator Sadovsky" https://web.archive.org/web/2013012...
5 "Der Welt-Dienst: International Anti-Semitic Propaganda" in Jewish Quarterly Review Volume 103, Number 4, Fall 2013 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/526034
6 Igor Petrov, "New Information About E.I. Sadovsky" https://labas.livejournal.com/10737...
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