Middlegame Planning
Peter Romanovsky was born on the 29th of July 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
He was the Soviet Champion in 1923 in Petrograd and in 1927 tied with Fedor Bogatyrchuk in Moscow. Years later these successes would cost Romanovsky the GM title! That happened when in 1954 the Soviets withdrew their application for him to receive the Grandmaster title, in view of his first place in the 1927 USRR championship, because of anti-Stalinist Fedor Bogatyrchuk sharing the title that year. Due to politics, Bogatyrchuk was no longer recognized by the Soviet government. So since the Soviet Chess Federation didn’t want to give the GM title to Bogatyrchuk… they withdrew the application for Romanovsky as well!
His best international outcome was in Leningrad 1934, finishing 2nd behind Botvinnik. Just in this period he began to focus on teaching and writing about the game.
But what made the Romanovsky name pass to posterity was the edition of his fantastic book Middlegame Planning, where he teaches the evolution of chess ideas. Here is what Yudovich and Kotov wrote about Romanovsky’s book in the Soviet School of Chess: “His Middlegame is one of the best books in the world’s chess literature; it has served as a guide for many Soviet masters… Romanovsky sets the youth an example of how to work on self improvement…” I wish to add that when it was published in Moscow, Middlegame Planning became an instant classic!
Romanovsky was the first Soviet chess player to be awarded the title of Honored Master of Sport! Also he was awarded the IM title in 1950 and International Arbiter title in 1951.
Romanovsky was an artist, seeking every possibility to create some new idea, either tactically or strategically. How difficult it was to pick out, for this article, just a few positions among so many wonderful creations!
Romanovsky passed away on the 1st of March 1964 in Moscow.
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