Efim Bogoljubow was one of the world’s strongest players in the 1920s and played two World Championship matches. Below, I explore his life and games.
Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Table of contents:
Biography
Early life
Efim Bogoljubow was born in 1889 in Stanislavchyk, Kiev. He learned chess relatively late for someone who goes on to become a great player, around the age of 15. At 18, he enrolled at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute to study further after finishing school. However, he soon dropped out, captivated by chess.
Early success
The rewards were soon to follow and came in the form of shared 1st place at the Kiev Championship of 1911. Having proved himself to be one of the strongest players in his home city, he travelled abroad, and took clear 1st at Lodz 1913. 1913 was also the year in which Bogoljubow finished 2nd at the All-Russian Amateur tournament in Liepaja.
Further proof of Bogoljubow’s progress was provided when he gained the master title from his performance at the All-Union Master tournament of 1913/14. This allowed him to compete in the All-Russian Masters tournament in 1914. There, he finished 8th in a strong field which included Alekhine, Nimzowitsch and Levenfish.
WWI
Bogoljubow then travelled to compete in the strong international tournament in Mannheim, Germany. This was the strongest event he had participated in, and included many of the world’s leading players, such as Alekhine, Spielmann, Réti, Janowski and Tarrasch. In a field of 18 players, Bogoljubow was sharing 8th place with Tarrasch when WWI broke out, and the tournament came to a premature end. The Russian players at the tournament, including Bogoljubow, were arrested and interned in Germany. Bogoljubow would remain in Germany for the duration of the war, where he competed in various minor tournaments.
Life in Sweden
The end of the war allowed Bogoljubow to resume competing in strong international events. He took first place at a tournament in Berlin in 1919, before travelling to Sweden. Sweden had not suffered the same economic damage from the war that many other European countries had, and so it became the host of much chess activity immediately after the war. Bogoljubow announced his arrival by winning a tournament in Stockholm in November, before finishing third at the Four Masters Tournament in Stockholm in December, behind Spielmann and Rubintstein.
1920 saw Bogoljubow competing in various events in Sweden. He lost a match to Rubinstein in January (+4 -5 =3), played a match against the Swedish player Arthur Hakansson in Kristianstad, and won a match against Nimzowitsch in Stockholm (3-1). At the very strong tournament in Goethenburg, Bogoljubow finished third, behind only Réti and Rubinstein. This was an especially impressive achievement, as the field included many of the leading players of the time. Bogoljubow ended the year with a dominating performance at a tournament in Stockholm, finishing on 12,5/14, ahead of Nimzowitsch in second place. After these Swedish successes, Bogoljubow was seen as one of the world’s strongest players.
Joining the world elite
Bogoljubow then left Sweden to compete in a string of international events. He drew a short match with Alekhine in Triberg, Germany, in 1921. The following year, he took clear first at the strong tournament at Bad Pistyan, ahead of top players like Alekhine, Spielmann and Réti. In 1923, Bogoljubow shared first with Alekhine and Maroczy at Karlsbad, ahead of a field which included Réti, Grünfeld and Nimzowitsch.
1924 saw Bogoljubow finish 7th at the famous tournament in New York, where many of the world’s leading players took part. He then returned to the USSR, to win the USSR Championship ahead of Romanovsky, Bohatirchuk and Levenfish.
1925
1925, however, was the most successful year in Bogoljubow’s chess career. He dominated the strong tournament at Breslau, taking clear first and finishing a full two points ahead of Nimzowitsch in 2nd place. This was followed by his second USSR Championship title, where he finished ahead of Levenfish, Rabinovich, Verlinsky and Dus Chotimirsky. At the end of the year, Bogoljubow took 1st place at the incredibly strong Moscow tournament, ahead of the former and current World Champions Lasker and Capablanca, as well as Marshall, Tartakower, and Réti, among others.
Path to the World Championship
In 1926, Bogoljubow moved back to Germany, so that he could more easily compete in international events. He announced his return by winning a strong tournament in Berlin ahead of Rubinstein, Grünfeld and Spielmann. He was invited to the famous tournament at New York in 1927, but, influenced by his success, he replied that the tournament should be replaced by a World Championship Match between himself and Capablanca. The tournament went ahead without him.
1928 was another successful year for Bogoljubow. He won a match against Euwe in Holland for the title of “Fide Champion”, which was separate from the World Championship, by 5,5-4,5. The two played a second match for the title of “FIDE Champion” that year, but Bogoljubow again won, by the same score. At Bad Kissingen, he finished a point ahead of a world-class field which included Capablanca, Euwe, Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch, among others. His many successes in the 1920s convinced Alekhine to accept his challenge for the World Championship. Bogoljubow had a chance to win the ultimate prize.
World Championship Match
The match was held in 1929 in various European cities, such as Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Berlin, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. Interestingly, Lasker acted as arbiter for the games in Berlin. They played to the best of 30 games. Despite Bogoljubow’s strong start, the match was not particularly close, and Alekhine won 15,5-9,5.
A new decade
However, Bogoljubow continued to work hard for a chance at another World Championship Match. He achieved the silver medal for his performance on board 1 for the German team at the Olympiad in Hamburg in 1930. Later that year, he finished 4th at San Remo, after Alekhine, Nimzowitsch and Rubinstein. In 1931, Bogoljubow shared 1st with Ludwig Rödl at Swinemünde, and finished 2nd at Bled, behind only Alekhine, while 1933 saw Bogoljubow win the German Championship.
A second chance
His challenge to Alekhine for another World Championship Match was accepted and scheduled for 1934.They once again played to the best of 30 games. Despite Bogoljubow’s best efforts, the match turned out to be similar to its predecessor, and Alekhine won comfortably by 15,5-10,5.
The rise of a new generation
Bogoljubow’s second successive World Championship failure coincided with the rise of a new generation of chess players, and he was no longer seen as a real challenger for the crown. His results in the second half of the 1930s confirmed this, as he shared 10th at Nottingham 1936, shared 4th at Bad Nauheim, behind Alekhine, Keres and Ahues, and finished 5th at Dresden, behind Alekhine, Engels, Maroczy and Stahlberg. He did not compete at the famous AVRO tournament of 1938.
Later years
During WWII, Bogoljubow competed in various minor German tournaments, but it was clear that he was past his peak. In 1941, he travelled to Karlsbad to play a match with Euwe, which he lost 3,5-6,5. After the war, he played only rarely, and missed the famous tournament in Groningen in 1946, and the World Championship tournament in 1948. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1951. He died a year later in Triberg, at the age of 63.
Legacy
Today Bogoljubow is remembered for his two World Championship Matches with Alekhine, and as one of the strongest players of the 1920s. Generations of players have grown up learning from his games, which are still studied today.
Game Analysis
Bogoljubow won an interesting game against Selezniev in 1923, which illustrates several instructive themes.
Lessons from this game:
- Exchanges tend to favour the side with less space, as their remaining pieces have more room to manoeuvre.
- Taking control of a key file is often more important than rushing to regain a weak pawn, especially if it is the only open file on the board.
- It can be worth a pawn to bring an inactive piece to a strong square. In this game, 22.b4!? would have been a good example.
Puzzles
Bogoljubow – Balla, Bad Pistyan 1922
Bogoljubow – Tarrasch, Breslau 1925
Bogoljubow – Verlinsky, Moscow 1925
Bogoljubow – Alekhine, World Championship 1929
Solutions
Further Reading
To find more about Bogoljubow’s life and games, the following are useful sources:
Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors, Volume 1,
Bogoljubow’s chessgames.com page,
his chess.com page,
and this chessbase article by Johannes Fischer.
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