Eugene Znosko-Borovsky (russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Зноско-Боро́вский, Yevgeny Alexandrovich Znosko-Borovsky; 16 August 1884 – 31 December 1954) was a Russian

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player,

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

and

drama critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

, teacher and author. Born in Pavlovsk,

Saint Petersburg Governorate Saint Petersburg Governorate (russian: Санкт-Петербу́ргская губе́рния, ''Sankt-Peterburgskaya guberniya''), or Government of Saint Petersburg, was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia ...

, he settled in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1920, and lived there for the rest of his life.

Biography

Znosko-Borovsky learned to play chess as a young boy. He won prizes in local and regional tournaments, whilst progressing to a first-class education at the

Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum The Imperial Lyceum (Императорский Царскосельский лицей, ''Imperatorskiy Tsarskosel'skiy litsey'') in Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg, also known historically as the Imperial Alexander Lyceum after its founde ...

. Making his international chess tournament debut at

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

in 1906, where he won the brilliancy prize for his game against

Amos Burn Amos Burn (1848–1925) was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer. Burn was born on New Year's Eve, 1848, in Hull.Richard Forster, ''Amos Burn: A Chess Biography'', McFar ...

, Znosko-Borovsky's playing career was frequently interrupted by other events in his life. Between 1909 and 1912 he was a prominent critic of the

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

''Apollo'' magazine, befriended many Russian poets and writers of the Silver Age, and was

Nikolay Gumilev Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Гумилёв, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ɡʊmʲɪˈlʲɵf, a=Nikolay Styepanovich Gumilyov.ru.vorb.oga; April 15 NS 1886 – August 26, 1921) was a poe ...

's second in his 1909 duel against

Maximilian Voloshin Maximilian Alexandrovich Kirienko-Voloshin (russian: Максимилиа́н Алекса́ндрович Кирие́нко-Воло́шин; May 28, ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. May 161877 – November 8, 1932), commonly known as Max ...

. Decorated and wounded in military conflicts, he first served as a volunteer in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

of 1904 and 1905 and was again called into service during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Following evacuation, he was taken by a British ship to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and from there proceeded to Paris, which remained his home from 1920 onwards. As a player, Znosko-Borovsky fell short of the very highest level. He did have some notable results in international competition, including Paris 1930, where he finished first without loss, ahead of

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish and French chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grand ...

Andor Lilienthal Andor (André, Andre, Andrei) Arnoldovich LilienthalReuben Fine, ''The World's Great Chess Games'', Dover Publications, 1983, p. 216. . (5 May 1911 – 8 May 2010) was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against ten ...

and

Jacques Mieses Jacques Mieses (born Jacob Mieses; 27 February 1865 – 23 February 1954) was a German-born British chess player. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. He became a naturalized British ci ...

, and first prize in the premier tournament at Folkestone 1933. Success often came in individual encounters with his more distinguished peers; he won impressive games against

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Capablanc ...

Akiba Rubinstein Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1 December 1880 – 14 March 1961) was a Polish chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Rubinstein was granted the title Grandmaster (chess), ...

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...

and

Efim Bogoljubov Efim Bogoljubow ( or ), also known as Ewfim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow, ( (); also Romanized ''Bogoljubov'', ''Bogolyubov''; uk, Юхим Дмитрович Боголюбов, Yukhym Dmytrovych Boholiubov; April 14, 1889 – June 18, 1952) ...

as well as a short match with

Edgard Colle Edgard Colle (18 May 1897 – 19 April 1932) was a Belgian chess master. He scored excellent results in major international tournaments, including first at Amsterdam 1926, ahead of Savielly Tartakower and future world champion Max Euwe; fir ...

in 1922. He was also highly skilled at simultaneous exhibition play. In conversation and as a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

, teacher or writer of chess, his abilities were widely acknowledged, particularly in Russia and France where he contributed regular articles and columns to magazines and newspapers. Indeed, it was in the field of writing that he excelled, penning many popular books including ''The Evolution of Chess'' (1910), ''Capablanca'' and ''The Muzio Gambit'' (both 1911). ''Capablanca and Alekhine'' followed

and most of his later offerings were translated into English, principally ''The Middle Game in Chess'', ''How Not to Play Chess'', ''How to Play the Chess Openings'', ''How to Play Chess Endings'' (1940), and ''The Art of Chess Combination''.

Tribute

After hearing of his death,

Gerald Abrahams Gerald Abrahams (15 April 1907 – 15 March 1980) was an English chess player, author, and barrister. Chess career He is best known for the Abrahams Defence of the Semi-Slav, also known as the Abrahams– Noteboom Variation, or the Noteboom ...

wrote a personal tribute:

British Chess Magazine ''British Chess Magazine'' is the world's oldest chess journal in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as ''BCM''. The founder and ...

, March 1955 :The death of Znosko-Borovsky deprives the chess world of one of the few survivors of an intellectually rich generation, the Russian Masters of the old regime ... My own memories of Znosko go back to 1923–24. I found him then, and at all times later, a stimulating friend and a delightful conversationalist in many subjects. His reputation as a dramatic and literary critic was, at one time considerable in Europe, though England knew little of this. Those who have read his chess works, however, must be aware that their writer was a ''kultur mensch'' in the best sense. Withal, he was stoical in adversity (adversity was always his lot) and possessed of great humour and resilience ... As a player, he suffered from the demands of a professionalism that is incompatible with great performance: but he leaves records of many games which reveal, if not genius, then a great talent ... those who knew him will all agree that his life enriched, and in a degree inspired, the chess world.

Famous quotations

* "It is not a move, even the best move, that you must seek, but a realisable plan." * "Chess is a game of understanding and not of memory."

Books

* * * * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Znosko-Borovsky, Eugene 1884 births 1954 deaths People from Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg People from Tsarskoselsky Uyezd Chess players from the Russian Empire Chess writers French chess players Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Russian military personnel of World War I People of the Russian Civil War White Russian emigrants to France Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery Writers from the Russian Empire