Arvid Kubbel (12 September 1889 – 11 January 1938) was a chess player and composer of chess problems and endgame studies from the Soviet Union.[1] He was a brother of Evgeny and Leonid Kubbel (one of the best-known chess composers); their father was born in Latvia, of Baltic German descent. He played in relatively few tournaments, but was among the stronger players of the early Soviet Union.

Arvid Kubbel
Full nameArvid Ivanovich Kubbel
(Russian: Арвид Иванович Куббель)
CountryRussian Empire, Soviet Union
Born(1889-09-12)12 September 1889
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died11 January 1938(1938-01-11) (aged 48)
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, USSR

Chess tournaments

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In Moscow in 1920, he tied for fifth through seventh place at the first Soviet Chess Championship, won by Alexander Alekhine. At the second Soviet Championship in Petrograd 1923, he took sixth place behind Peter Romanovsky. He took fifth place at the Leningrad City Chess Championship in 1924 (won by Grigory Levenfish), tied for 11-13th at the fourth Soviet championship at Leningrad 1925 (won by Efim Bogoljubow),[2] and tied for eighth and ninth place at the 1928 Leningrad City championship (won by Ilya Rabinovich).[3]

Arrest and execution

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On 21 November 1937 he was arrested and charged under Article 58 1a (treason) of the RSFSR penal code. According to Huffington Post chess columnist Lubomir Kavalek, this was for sending his compositions to foreign newspapers.[4] He was executed shortly afterwards.[5][6]

References

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  1. ^ Biographical data Endgamestudy composers Archived 2008-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Graeme Cree's Soviet Chess Championship Page, 1920-1991".
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-05-18. Retrieved 2009-10-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ Lubomir Kavalek (15 November 2010). "Chess Puzzles: A Disappearing Act". Huffington Post (chess column). New York City. Retrieved 26 March 2013. Arvid Kubbel (1889-1938), an older brother of the well-known composer Leonid Kubbel, was sent to Soviet gulag for sending his compositions to foreign "bourgeois" newspapers. He died a year later.
  5. ^ Yuri Averbakh (2007). "From the History of Soviet Chess Composition". chehovchess.ru. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2013. In 1938, one of the brothers Kubbel, Arvid (1889-1938), was executed.
  6. ^ Y. Z. Rachinsky, ed. (2007). Жертвы политического террора в СССР [Victims of political terror in the USSR] (in Russian). Moscow: Memorial. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
    Kubbel Arvid I.
    Born in 1889 in Leningrad, Latvian, nonpartisan, accountant with the sports society "Spartak."
    Lived: Leningrad... (address given)
    Arrested: 21 November 1937
    Trial: Commission of the NKVD and the USSR Prosecutor's Office January 3, 1938; charged under Article 58-1a-9 RSFSR Criminal Code.
    Sentence: shot by firing squad, January 11, 1938. Place of burial - Leningrad.
    Source: Leningrad Martyrology: 1937-1938
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