num_pages: 372
description: Hardly anyone paid attention when Sultan Khan arrived in London on April 26 1929. A humble servant from a village in the Punjab Khan had little formal education and barely spoke English. He had learned the rules of Western chess only three years earlier yet within a few months he created a sensation by becoming the British Empire champion. Sultan Khan was taken to England by Sir Umar Hayat Khan an Indian nobleman and politician who used his servant's successes to promote his own interests in the turbulent years before India gained independence. Sultan Khan remained in Europe for the best part of five years competing with the leading chess players of the era including World Champion Alexander Alekhine and former World Champion Jose Raoul Capablanca. His unorthodox style often stunned his opponents as Daniel King explains in his examination of the key games and tournaments in Khan's career. Daniel King has uncovered a wealth of new facts about Khan as well as dozens of previously unknown games. For the first time he tells the full story of how Khan a Muslim outsider was received in Europe of his successes in the chess world and his return to obscurity after his departure for India in 1933.
language: English
title: Sultan Khan: The Indian Servant Who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire
publisher: New in Chess