Bogoljubow Efim Dmitrievich (14.04.1889 – 18.06.1952)
German Grandmaster (1951) born in Kiev. He studied theology, then moved to agriculture in the Polytechnic Institute of Kiev. His first main chess result was the 4th place in 1910 Masters Tournament of Warsaw won by Akiba Rubinstein. Two years later he finished second in the All Russia Amateur Chess Tournament. In 1914, he became Russian Master after finishing in the 8th position of the Masters Tournament of All Russia. This performance led to an invitation to play in the 1914 Mannheim Chess Tournament. Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of World War I the tournament was stopped in the middle and some Russian players including him were arrested and put into jail. Once the war was over in 1918 he decided to stay in Germany and participate in a few major competitions like Stockholm in 1919 and 1920. The same year he beat in match Aron Nimzowitch (+3-1) and Rubinstein (+4=3-5). Then came the victory in Kiel in 1921 and Piestany in 1922 where he finished ahead of Alexander Alekhine. In the 1923 Tournament of Carlsbad he shared the first place with Alekhine and Geza Moroczy. In 1924, he came back to the USSR to participate and win the national championship. He achieved the same performance the following year. In 1925 in Moscow, Bogoljubow achieved his best result by winning the International Chess Tournament of Moscow in front of the World Champion Capablanca, the former World Champion Emmanuel Lasker and other top players like Frank Marshall, Richard Reti, etc. He won two strong tournaments in 1926 in Berlin and in 1927 in Hamburg.
Following his success of Bad Kissingen of 1928, the World Champion Alekhine accepted his challenge to play for the title. One year later in Munich he lost +5-11 =5. In 1926, having got problems with his Soviet passport to get visas in many countries, he applied for German citizenship and later was treated as a traitor by the Soviet administration. He won his first German Championship in 1932 and played with the national team at the Olympiad of Prague in 1931. Thanks to bad relations between Raoul Capablanca and Alekhine, he got a second chance to play as a challenger against the World Champion Alekhine but without more success than in the first meeting. The match finished with the victory of Alekhine with 5 wins and 3 lost games. As a leading sport man in his country he had often to mix himself with NAZI propaganda. During the war he participated with Alekhine in a few chess events. In 1945, he had to face much criticism about his opinion and involvement during the war. In many occasions he was refused to participate in the tournaments and after asking FIDE for apologies for his behavior, he could enter a normal chess life as a chess player. He won his fourth and last German Championship in 1949. Devoting all the rest of his life to chess. He died from a heart attack during a simultaneous display in 1952. Historical Elo: 2610 His favorite quote: “When I play white I win because I have got white, when I play black I win because I am Bogoljubow”) Reti wrote: “As a result of these great successes, Bogoljubow must without doubt be included not only among the leading masters of the present day, but also among the greatest masters in the history of chess … we are interested above all in the question of whether he has contributed anything essential to the perfection of chess theory and the improvement of chess technique… Bogoljubow is a man of moods who plays very unequally, but surpasses all his opponents when he is at is best…