Yakov Vilner was a Ukrainian chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 master.

Biography

Vilner won the Odessa chess championships four times (1918, 1923, 1925, and 1928). He won the Ukrainian championships three times; at Kiev 1924 (ahead of Fedor Bohatirchuk), at Kharkov 1925 (ahead of Nikolai Sorokin), and at Odessa 1928 (with Vladimir Kirillov). He also won at Odessa 1926 (ahead of Russo), and at Kiev 1929 (with Bohatirchuk).

He played in several Soviet chess championships. In July 1923, he tied for 11-13th in Petrograd (2nd URS-ch; Peter Romanovsky

Peter Romanovsky

Peter Arsenievich Romanovsky was a Russian chess International Master, International Arbiter, and author.-Biography:At the beginning of his career in Sankt Petersburg, he shared fourth place in 1908 , tied for 10-11th in 1909 , took second place behind Smorodsky in 1913, and shared first with...

 won). In September 1924, he tied for 6-8th in Moscow (3rd URS-ch; Efim Bogoljubow

Efim Bogoljubow

Efim Dmitriyevich Bogolyubov was a Russo-German chess grandmaster who won numerous events and played two matches with Alexander Alekhine for the world championship.-Early career:...

 won). In 1925, he tied for 11-13th in Leningrad (4th URS-ch; Bogoljubow won). In October 1927, he tied for 15-17th in Moscow (5th URS-ch; Bohatirchuk and Romanovsky won). In September 1929, he tied for 8-9th in Odessa (6th URS-ch qual.; Boris Verlinsky

Boris Verlinsky

Boris Markovich Verlinsky was a Ukrainian-Russian International Master of chess. He was one of the top Soviet players of the 1920s, and was in the top 20 in the world in 1926, clearly of Grandmaster strength at that time...

 won).

Notable chess games

• Efim Bogoljubow vs Yakov Vilner, Leningrad 1925, 4th URS-ch, Semi-Slav Defense, Meran Variation, D49, 0-1
• Yakov Vilner vs Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1927, 5th URS-ch, Amazon Attack, Siberian Attack, A45, 1-0
• Nikolai Sorokin vs Yakov Vilner, Odessa 1929, 6th URS-ch, Slav Defense, Schallopp Variation, D12, 0-1

Other notable events

In June 1919, Alexander Alekhine

Alexander Alekhine

Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...

 was arrested by the Cheka

Cheka

Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...

and imprisoned in Odessa. He was charged with anti-Soviet activity and passing on secret information. He was ordered shot, but saved by Yakov Vilner, who sent a telegram to the chairman of the Ukrainian Council of People's Commissars. The chairman knew of Alekhine and ordered him freed.