 rashid gibiatovich nezhmetdinov (,  ; december 15, 1912 â june 3, 1974) was an eminent soviet chess player, chess writer, and checkers player. ==early life== nezhmetdinov was born in aktubinsk, russian empire, in what is now aktobe, kazakhstan, in a tatar family. his parents died when he was very young, leaving him and two other siblings to be raised by their brother. the orphaned, impoverished family moved to kazan, tatar assr. nezhmetdinov had a natural talent for both chess and checkers. he learned chess by watching others play at a chess club, whereupon he challenged one of the players, won, and then challenged another player, winning that game as well. 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 in which he learned the game, 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. he later won the russian checkers championship at least once. later, however, he gave up checkers for chess. ==checkers == during world war ii, nezhmetdinov served in the military, thus delaying the further progress of his chess career until 1946. in 1949, the russian checkers semifinals were held in kazan. nezhmetdinov attended as a spectator, but when one of the participants failed to show up, nezhmetdinov agreed to substitute for him even though he hadn't played checkers for 15 years. he won every game, qualifying him for the finals, which were to be held immediately after a chess tournament in which he was also participating. he won the tournament and immediately thereafter placed second in the russian checkers championship. == chess career == === playing style === nezhmetdinov was a fierce, imaginative, attacking player who beat many of the best players in the world. === russian championship === nezhmetdinov got the historical record of five wins of the russian chess championship. === international master title === fide awarded him the international master title for his second-place finish behind korchnoi at bucharest 1954, the only time he was able to compete outside of the soviet union. [http://www.jeremysilm
1912_births 1974_deaths Chess_International_Masters People_from_Aktobe Russian_chess_players Russian_chess_writers Russian_draughts_players Soviet_chess_players Soviet_chess_writers Soviet_draughts_players Soviet_military_personnel_of_World_War_II Tatar_people_of_Russia