Thread by @GauravSatle

Decades before world champion Viswanathan Anand powered the India's chess story, it was Sultan Khan who gave India its first hero in the sport. #Chess

#SultanKhan #Sultan #India #BritishChessChampionship

“Even if the world that #SultanKhan inhabited seems distant, he should be remembered as the first Asian to break through into the upper echelons of the international chess scene,” wrote #Anand about Sultan Khan in the foreword of Grandmaster Daniel King's biography on #Sultan

#Sultan won the #BritishChessChampionship three times -- in 1929, 1932 and 1934. Interestingly, he could not read, write, speak or understand English. This meant that he was not well-versed with the vast amount of #chess theory that all his opponents knew almost by heart.

Despite all these drawbacks, he managed to play some of the greatest chess the world has ever seen. He is often referred to as ‘the greatest natural player of modern times’ because he heavily relied on his intuition to make his moves.

#Rare #History #UnsungHero #Chess #Sultan

Mir Sultan Khan
g.co/kgs/gzXaGv

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