Mohammad Rafiq Khan

Mohamed Rafiq Khan (born July 12, 1946 in Bhopal ; † July 19, 2019 there ) was an Indian chess master . He was the first Indian to win a medal in a Chess Olympiad .

Life

Khan came from a poor Muslim family. He did not go to school, had no formal education and remained illiterate into adulthood. He initially earned his living in his father's carpentry shop and later in the Bhopal municipal authority. In 1978, the then Indian Minister of Industry, George Fernandes, gave him a better-paying job in an electronics company so that he had time to continue his chess career. In the early 1980s, Khan fell ill with tuberculosis . Afterwards he was no longer able to maintain his level of play and withdrew as much as possible from competitive chess, but remained connected to the game with great interest. He died of a heart attack at the age of 73 .

chess

Khan first learned the traditional rules of Indian chess (called Desi chess in India ), which he played in his free time in a tea room near his father's carpentry. He learned the international rules, inspired by Bobby Fischer's world championship victory, around 1973, half a year before he won the B championship of the state of Madhya Pradesh for the first time in 1974 . The following year he won the A state championship and qualified for the Indian B state championship, where he came second and for the first time secured participation in the Indian championship (10th place). The following year he won the Indian B championship.

In 1978, when he played for the third time, he won the Indian Championship in Ernakulam and caught up with the top players in India. In 1980 he took part in the third board for India at the Chess Olympiad in Valletta . With his result of 10 out of 13 (+9 = 2 −2) he won the silver medal in the individual ranking and became the first Indian to win a medal at a Chess Olympiad. Khan played for the Indian national team in 1982 at the Chess Olympiad in Lucerne (+3 = 3 −2) and at the Asian Continental Team Championship 1983 in New Delhi (+4 = 2 −1).

He took part in international tournaments in Bangladesh , Malaysia and Iran in 1978 and 1979 . In 1988 he received the title of FIDE Master . His tuberculosis outbreak in 1984 ended his chess career. After his recovery, he was no longer able to play strenuous tournaments.

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} [1] Sagar Shah: From a carpenter to India's first Olympiad medal winner - Remembering the legacy of Rafiq Khan (1946-2019) (English), Chessbase India, August 13, 2019, accessed on August 15, 2019 .
2. ↑ [2] Olimpbase - Olympics 1980 and 1982, accessed on August 15, 2019.
3. ↑ [3] Olimpbase - Asian Continental Team Championship 1983, accessed on August 15, 2019.