[Event "olm final"]
[Site "Munich GER"]
[Date "1936.08.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Hromadka, Karel CSR"]
[Black "Danielsson, Goesta SWE"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A02"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "1936.08.17"]

<1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 g5 5. d4 g4 6. Ng5 Qe7 7. Qd3 Nc6 8. c3 f5 9. h3 Nf6 10. hxg4 Nxg4 11. Na3 Bxa3 12. bxa3 Bd7 13. g3 O-O-O 14. Bg2 Kb8 15. Rb1 b6 16. Bf4 h6>

click for larger view

<17. Qa6> (17. Rxb6+!) <hxg5? 18. Rxb6+!! axb6 19. Qxb6+ Ka8 20. Qa6+ Kb8 21. O-O Qb4 22. axb4 gxf4 23. b5>

click for larger view

1-0

Hromadka is one of the few foreigners ever who won their master title in (Tzar's) Russia: in 1912 Hromadka won Vilnius B (and the title) ahead of Bogolubov.

El soldat Karel Hromadka (1887 - 1956)

"...Aquests fets, <després d'una vida tan difícil>, van acabar d'afeblir l'estabilitat psíquica de Hromadka, que el 1947 va intentar suicidar-se llençant-se des d'un cinquè pis; després d'aquest intent no reeixit va ser internat durant dos anys en una institució psiquiàtrica en la que va rebre, entre d'altres tractaments, teràpia d'electroshocks. ..."

http://zeitnotcat.blogspot.com/2007...

Oui <valmy>
that would be nice! IMO the article is worth a translation (have not checked the sources).

<Gypsy: Hromadka is one of the few foreigners ever who won their master title in (Tzar's) Russia: in 1912 Hromadka won Vilnius B (and the title) ahead of Bogolubov.>

* * *

The history of chess is full of fascinating characters are often ignored when their results were not outstanding or have not stood the test of time. Karel Hromadka corresponds precisely to this category. Hromadka is better known for the black wall of pawns d6-e5-c5 in the Benoni variation bearing his name, than, for example, for having twice won the Czech championship in 1913 and 1921, or for his successes in other minor tournaments.

Outside of chess Hromadka's life is much more interesting. Karel was born in Prague in 1887 into a humble family. He had five brothers and his father who were (pelliser?). He graduated brilliantly from High School at Lytomisl and began university studies in Prague at the Faculty of Philosophy, but the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918) dramatically changed his life. He was soon recruited into the Austro-Hungarian army and served on the Eastern Front in Galicia. As soon as his regiment reached the front, Hromadka, like many other soldiers of Czech origin (a community that had historic nationalist claims against Austrian imperial crown) he crossed the lines and gave himself up to Russian Navy. He spent a year in a prison camp and in July 1916 joined the newly established (Czarist) Czechoslovak Legion.

He spent the year 1917 at the Ukrainian city of Zborov where his meritorious participation in the fighting against German and Austrian troops gained him promotion to an officer rank. That same year saw the disintegration of the Czarist Russian army, the occurrence of the Soviet Revolution and a peace treaty signed between the Soviets and Germans.

This created a rupture between the Czech troops and their former natural Slavs allies, leaving no other solution than to either surrender or escape. The Czechs began an extraordinary journey by train across Russia from Europe to Siberia. Their plan was to reach Vladivostock and embark on ships to transport them to the Western front. Thus, in a foreign land and now regarded as an enemy, this small Czech army seized control of the Trans Siberian Railway and sequestered locomotives and carriages which they fitted with military equipment to defend themselves from attack during the thousands of kilometers of their escape route.

Near the city of Pensa, Karel Hromadka and his unit suffered heavy attack by the Red Army. Hromadka was seriously injured suffering bayonet and bullet wounds in both the forearm and chest, but he still managed to make his way back to the train to continue the journey. He seems to have then had to undergo more than twenty surgical procedures, and most of them without any anaesthesia.

Overcoming other and smaller attacks, the battalion and Hromadka reached their destination, Vladivostock, and embarked for Europe. Forced though technical problems to land in Japan, Hromadka had the pleasure of giving several simultaneous displays for members of the allied army and also the Japanese population. Finally, his ship reached its destination and Hromadka had a new state, born at the end of the war - Czechoslovakia. He remained in the Czech army until March 1939, when the Nazi occupation regime in Czechoslovakia forced him to retire.

Karel took part in the uprising in Prague in 1945 and acted as a Russian interpreter for the first Soviet troops who arrived in the capital of Bohemia. Ironically, in 1946 he was arrested and accused of sabotage against the communist authorities in the Prague uprising. This was in revenge for his epic journey in 1917. He was found guilty of the charges, although the President of Czechoslovakia ultimately quashed these and rehabilitated Hromadka, giving him the rank of colonel on his retirement.

This traumatic episode, on top of such a difficult life, finally upset Hromadka's mental balance, and in 1947 he tried to commit suicide by jumping from a fifth floor. He survived, but he was interred for two years in a psychiatric institution where he received, among other treatments, electro-convulsive therapy. Hromadka died suddenly in 1956 in Prague and is buried in the Olsany cemetery in Prague.

Compared to the trajectory of his life, any chess reference may seem insignificant. On the contrary, it may be justified by including his beloved Benoni in the arsenal of our defences, or at least when we are faced with the wall of a black pawns d6 and e5-c5 by taking a moment to imagine the man who was part of an extraordinary epic which took place across Russia 90 years ago.

possible candidates for the Hall of Fame

There could be a "Caissaland" donated by a former ex-champ billionaire...

I can see Morphy's display already- a recreation of New Orleans in the 1850's.

You walk along wide boulevards and up the steps into Morphy's childhood home, where a lifelike 12 year old Paul is playing visiting Johannes Loewenthal in front of his family.