# Chess historians: was “Sultan” Khan a slave or a servant?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-historians-was-sultan-khan-a-slave-or-a-servant/165520>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 31, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-historians-was-sultan-khan-a-slave-or-a-servant/165520 "2003-03-31T19:42:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-historians-was-sultan-khan-a-slave-or-a-servant/165520/1 "2003-03-31T19:42:25Z")

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This question came to me in a recent thread on how chess players made a living; it was regarding Mir “Sultan” Kan:  
He was brought from India to England in 1929 by his master, a maharaja, lived there for four years, and then was taken back to India in 1933, The world of chess never saw him again! In that short time it was estimated that he was about 2550 in strength and was easily a grandmaster.

There is still a controversy if he was just a servant or a slave, at least that is what bios on the web do say, but I figure that with the reach of the SDMB someone out there should know a more definitive answer.

One possible hint: Although he came from India in the 30’s, the region were he came and returned to is now part of Pakistan.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-historians-was-sultan-khan-a-slave-or-a-servant/165520/2 "2003-03-31T20:03:42Z")

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[This site](http://www.geocities.com/aiccf/feb02/chap11.htm) claims that Colonel Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan was his “sponsor and mentor”, and that Mir Sultan Khan

> [@](#):
>
> Sultan Khan made his living [after the death of Sir Umar] farming on a plot he inherited from the nawab, and the golden memories of his heydays were left behind.

Unless slaves in that part of the sub-continent reguarly inherited property from their masters, I doubt that he was in servitude.

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**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-historians-was-sultan-khan-a-slave-or-a-servant/165520/3 "2003-04-01T04:57:32Z")

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Thanks **Ice Wolf** , it does look like a site made by a Hindu, but I think we need more corroboration: anybody else from India or Pakistan with the dope on this?

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-historians-was-sultan-khan-a-slave-or-a-servant/165520/4 "2003-04-01T05:12:22Z")

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**Mir** is generally an honorific signifying “prince”. A flimsy bit of evidence perhaps, but it may indicate noble descent. Perhaps a younger son or poor relation of some sort to a family that sent him off with an English officer as a mentor. Indian nobility and English officers rubbed elbows in some of the same social circles in India.

But I admit that’s pure speculation on my part, as I know nothing about either this man or the history of chess.

- Tamerlane