Franciszek (Frank) Sulik (1908– 16 July 1997) was a Polish-Australian

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 ...

master.

Career

1934–1938

Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he lived in Lviv. In 1934, he tied for 2nd-3rd with

Henryk Friedman Henryk Friedman (Friedmann) (1903–1942) was a Polish chess master. He lived in Lviv (Lwów, Lemberg). In 1926–1934, Friedman won seven times in succession the Championship of Lviv but 1930, when he took 2nd place behind Stepan Popel. Friedman ...

, behind

Stepan Popel Stepan (Stefan, Stephan, Stephen) Popel (Popiel) (born 15 August 1909, Komarniki, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine) – died 27 December 1987, Fargo, North Dakota, USA) was a multiple chess champion of Lviv, Paris and eventually, of th ...

, in the Lviv championship. In 1935, he tied for 8-9th in Warsaw (3rd POL-ch;

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 ...

won). In 1936, he took 2nd, behind Izak Schächter, in the Lviv-ch. In 1938, he won the Lviv championship. He played for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Chess Olympiads The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

, and won two team silver medals. * In 1936, at first reserve board in the unofficial Olympiad in Munich (+2 −3 =2); * In 1939, at reserve board in the 8th Olympiad in Buenos Aires (+4 −2 =1).

1939–1941

In September 1939, when

broke out, Sulik, along with many other participants of the 8th Chess Olympiad decided to stay in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. In 1940, he took 2nd place, behind

Aristide Gromer Aristide Gromer (Dunkirk, 11 April 1908 – ?) was a French chess master. Gromer was thrice French Champion (1933, 1937, and 1938). He tied for 5-6th at Paris 1923 ( Victor Kahn won), took 3rd at Biarritz 1926 (André Chéron and Frederic Lazard ...

, in Buenos Aires (Bodas de Plata). In 1941, he tied for 10-12th in the

Mar del Plata 1941 chess tournament The fourth Mar del Plata chess tournament was held in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina, in March 1941. The first three Mar del Plata international tournaments (1928, 1934, 1936) were regarded as the third, fourth, and sixth South American Ches ...

(

Gideon Ståhlberg Anders Gideon Tom Ståhlberg (26 January 1908 – 26 May 1967) was a Swedish chess player. He was among the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. He won the Swedish Chess Championship of 1927, became Nor ...

won).

1943–1945

As a reserve officer, he applied to join the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...

. He left Argentina on a British battleship to fight in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

from 1943 to 1945.

Later career

At the end of the war he moved to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, before emigrating to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, where he won the South Australian Championship nine times (1954, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, and 1978).South Australian Chess Champions
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sulik, Franciszek 1908 births Polish chess players Australian chess players Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Lviv Polish expatriates in Argentina Polish emigrants to Australia Year of death missing Polish military personnel of World War II