Rashid Gibyatovich Nezhmetdinov

Rashid Gibyatovich Nezhmetdinov a Soviet chess player, chess writer, and checkers player. Although he never attained the title of Grandmaster, he was a renowned tactician and created several brilliant games. Biographer Alex Pishkin compares him to Chigorin, Réti and Spielmann.

Nezhmetdinov had a natural talent for both chess and checkers, games he had learned by watching others play; and was quickly invited to join the Kazan Chess Club. At 15, he played in Kazan's Tournament of Pioneers, winning all 15 games. He also learned to play checkers at this time. During the same month, he won Kazan's checkers semi-final and placed second in the finals. In the same year, he placed sixth in the Russian Checkers Championship. Later, when he gave up checkers for chess, Nezhmetdinov commented, somewhat dismissively, that all checkers contests can be reduced to rook endgames

Nezhmetdinov then joined the Communist Party and moved to Ukraine, in the hopes of making his own way in the world. In Odessa, his Communist Party membership gave him good standing, and he worked as a stoker in a steel mill. He spent all his free time playing at the Odessa Chess Club.

After graduating in 1940, he was called to military service the following year and here his chess development took a major setback. He was deployed in Baikala, 5000 kilometers away, on the border of Mongolia. While Nezhmetdinov still competed in district level tournaments, even securing wins against players like Victor Baturinsky and Konstantin Klaman, his appearances were rare. The war eventually created a five-and half-year period in which Nezhmetdinov did not participate in any tournament.

There was a silver lining though – Nezhmetdinov was consistently deployed or recalled before a major conflict. He arrived in Baikala soon after the Red Army had fought a brutal battle with Japan's Kwantung Army, before then being sent to Berlin immediately after the Soviets had stormed it. Nezhmetdinov successfully avoided all major combat zones in a war that killed over 11 million Soviet soldiers

 in Berlin, from 1946, Nezhmetdinov was able to resume his long-interrupted chess career and devoted himself entirely to it. In 1946, he won Championship of the Berlin Military District, winning 14 out of 15 games, and finishing ahead of future Ukrainian Champion, Isaac Lipnitsky.

1947, Nezhmetdinov finished in shared second place at the All-Union Candidate Master tournament at Yaroslavl. This marked the beginning of a tumultuous friendship between Nezhmetdinov, Vitaly Tarasov (the winner), and Ratmir Kholmov (shared second).

With this performance, Nezhmetdinov had also earned his second Master norm. He now had the right to play an examination game for the title of Soviet Master. Georgy Lisitsin was appointed as Nezhmetdinov's examiner. However, after studying Lisitsin's games for many months, Nezhmetdinov received a telegram from the Soviet Chess Federation, merely days before his match, stating that his examiner would be Vladas Mikenas. Mikenas was a far more formidable opponent.

In his renewed preparations, Nezhmetdinov came across an article written by Mikenas on the Alekhine's Defense, in Shakhmaty v SSSR, a popular chess magazine of the day. Mikenas claimed it was his preferred response to 1. e4 (Nezhmetdinov's favorite first move). This must have been particularly intimidating considering Mikenas had only recently beaten the legendary Alexander Alekhine at the 1937 tournament in Ķemeri, Latvia, with the black pieces no less.

Nevertheless, the fearless Nezhmetdinov still played 1. e4 in their first game and even entered the "Hunt Variation" of the Alekhine Defense; Mikenas’ favorite. He crushed Mikenas in 17 moves. He beat Mikenas again, in the same variation, in Game 11. However, the match was drawn 7-7 and Nezhmetdinov did not gain the coveted Master title, because the examiner got draw odds. However, Nezhmetdinov was not discouraged, and this result only reinforced his belief that the title was within his grasp. However, this optimism must have led to a very few frustrating years for Nezhmetdinov, especially considering how brutally frank he was about his own performance.

His next breakthrough came in 1950, when he earned the right to play at the prestigious RSFSR Championship at Nizhny Novgorod (this Championship was limited to the Russian Federation and thereby second to the USSR Championship). The competition was fierce, with Masters like Isaac Boleslavsky (the tournament's favorite), among many others. Nezhmetdinov drew his game with Boleslavsky and went on to become the 10th Champion of the Russian Federation. He was finally a Soviet Master.

He returned to Kazan, where a hero's welcome awaited him. He went on to win the RSFSR Championship again, in 1951 at Yaroslavl. But his other tournament performances were relatively underwhelming. For instance, at the Baku International in 1964, Nezhmetdinov could only secure 4 points in 12 rounds; a performance he said owed to his underestimation of his opponents. He finished in third place, behind Vladimir Antoshin and Vladimir Bagirov. It is worth noting that around this time, Nezhmetdinov, Vitaly and Ratmir had become boisterous drinking buddies. As the story goes, in Baku, they treated their hotel rooms like they were rockstars. Nezhmetdinov is said to have hurled crockery out the window, and eventually gotten into an argument with Ratmir. Vitaly tried to defuse the situation, but to no avail. By this time, the commotion had caught the attention of GM Alexander Kotov, an observer on behalf of the Soviet Sports Committee. He reported all the three Masters to the Sports Committee. Ratmir and Vitaly received the worst of it (the reason for this is unclear, but some say it is because Nezhmetdinov was the only Communist Party member among them), with each receiving a one-year ban from tournaments and having governments stipends suspended. Nezhmetdinov retained his stipend, and was banned for a shorter period of time.

Nezhmetdinov's next major tournament was the 1953 RSFSR Championship at Saratov, which he won. And in 1954, Nezhmetdinov finally managed to play on the grand stage, the 21st USSR Championship at Kiev—the holy grail of Soviet Chess. This proved to be Nezhmetdinov's toughest competition so far, as it included other masters like Tigran Petrosian and Efim Geller, who were already ranked amongst the best players in the world. Nezhmetdinov finished the tournament in shared 7th place, but finishing with 4½ wins in 7 matches against grandmasters, was a great achievement in itself.

1954 International Tournament at Bucharest: This was the first time Nezhmetdinov had left the USSR, and the first time he faced top level players outside of the Soviet Union. 

Nezhmetdinov and Korchnoi were both leading until the last round, when Korchnoi overtook him and went on to win the tournament. Despite Nezhmetdinov finishing in second place, this performance earned him the title of International Master.

.During the 1960's onwards - Nezhmetdinov gradually shifted his focus from tournament play to chess coaching. He coached Russian Federation Junior team where his students included Anatoly Karpov. In 1967, he competed in his fifth USSR championship at Kharkov. The competition was diluted, as over 120 players were invited in a bid to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. Nezhmetdinov still only finished in 27th place, a position he shared with 14 other players. His next major tournament, almost 6 years later, was the 1973 Latvian Open at Daugavpils. However he fell ill during the tournament and was unable to finish his last game. He finished in third place.

In his last few years, he coached the Kazan Chess team at the Old City Chess Club and regularly gave simultaneous exhibitions in his hometown. He was said to be an approachable and joyful man, who was always ready to discuss anything under the sun; especially chess. Nezhmetdinov passed on in the summer of 1974