Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk (also Bogatirchuk, Bohatirchuk, Bogatyrtschuk) (; , Fyodor Parfenyevich Bogatyrchuk; 27 November 1892 – 4 September 1984) was a Ukrainian-Canadian chess player, doctor of medicine (radiologist), political activist, and writer.
Russian, Ukrainian and Soviet chess
Early chess, trained by Chigorin
As a youth, Bohatyrchuk sometimes traveled to chess tournaments with the great player Mikhail Chigorin (1850–1908), who had in 1892 narrowly lost a match for the World Championship to Wilhelm Steinitz. Chigorin trained the young player, and influenced his style and openings.
In 1911, Bohatyrchuk won the Kiev (now Kyiv) City Championship; he was followed by Stefan Izbinsky, Efim Bogoljubow, etc. In 1912, he placed 3rd in the All-Russian Championship. In February 1914, he lost an exhibition game against José Raúl Capablanca at Kiev. In 1914, he took 3rd at Kiev.
Interned at Mannheim
In July/August 1914, he tied for 6th–10th at Mannheim (the 19th DSB Congress, Hauptturnier A, or Group II at the event). Bohatyrchuk was part of a group, along with ten other "Russian" players from the interrupted Mannheim tournament, which was interned by Germany after the declaration of war against Russia, which began World War I. In September 1914, Bohatyrchuk and three others (Alexander Alekhine, Peter Petrovich Saburov, and N. Koppelman) were freed and allowed to return home. Some writers have asserted that Alekhine used his family's influence to arrange this; his wealthy father was a member of the Duma of Czar Nicholas II at this time. En route back to Russia, via Switzerland, Bohatyrchuk and Alekhine spent nearly a month in Genoa, Italy, while waiting for transportation to arrive, playing over one hundred games against each other. Bohatyrchuk later stated that "The enforced stay in Genoa undoubtedly did more for my chess development than the games in subsequent years with ordinary opponents."
Competes in six Soviet championships
Bohatyrchuk played in six USSR Chess Championships: 1923, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1933, and 1934.
In July 1923, he tied for 3rd–5th at Petrograd (St Petersburg, Leningrad), 2nd USSR Championship. In 1924, he took 2nd, behind Yakov Vilner, at Kiev, 1st Ukrainian Chess Championship. In August–September 1924, he tied for 3rd–4th at Moscow, 3rd USSR Ch.
In December 1925, he took 11th of 21 at Moscow 1925 chess tournament (the first Soviet-organized International Tournament). The event was won by Efim Bogoljubow, followed by Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Frank Marshall, etc. This was the first Soviet government-sponsored tournament, and had 11 of the world's top 16 players, based on ratings from chessmetrics.com, making it one of the greatest events in chess history. Bohatyrchuk achieved a 2628 performance, according to the Chessmetrics website, which calculates historical ratings.
Author, Soviet champion 1927
In 1926, Bohatyrchuk wrote the first chess book Шахи (Szachy, Shakhy, Chess) in Ukrainian. In 1927, he won at Kiev. In October 1927, he tied for 1st–2nd with Peter Romanovsky at Moscow, 5th USSR Ch., with (+10−1=9). In 1929, he won at Kiev.
In November 1931, he tied for 3rd–6th at Moscow (7th USSR Ch.), with 10/17, as Mikhail Botvinnik won. In 1933, he won at Moscow (Quadrangular), with 4.5/6. In September 1933, he took 8th at Leningrad (8th USSR Ch.), with 10.5/19, as Botvinnik won again. In December 1934 /January 1935, he tied for 3rd–4th at Leningrad (9th USSR Ch.), with 11.5/19, just half a point behind the joint winners Grigory Levenfish and Ilya Rabinovich. During the mid-1930s, the Soviet Chess Federation requested that Bohatyrchuk play more frequently in top events, but he declined, due to his professional career obligations.
Success against Botvinnik
In March 1935, he tied for 16th–17th at Moscow 1935 chess tournament (the second Soviet-organized International Tournament), with 8/19. The event, which had 8 of the world's top 18 players, according to Chessmetrics, was won by Botvinnik and Salo Flohr, but Bohatyrchuk beat Mikhail Botvinnik in their individual game. Bohatyrchuk has mentioned in his autobiography (printed in Russian in San Francisco in 1978) that just after this game the head of the Soviet Chess Federation, Minister of Justice Nikolai Krylenko, approached him and said: "You will never beat Botvinnik again!" That was indeed the case, as Bohatyrchuk never played Botvinnik again, leaving him with a lifetime score of (+3−0=1) against Botvinnik, who was, however, nearly 20 years younger. Note that the book Botvinnik's Selected Games 1947–1970 lists Bohatyrchuk's record against Botvinnik as (+3−0=2).