He came from the fields of colonial Punjab, spoke no English, and had never played chess with a clock—yet within months of arriving in Britain, he was defeating world champions. This episode uncovers the extraordinary and little-known story of Mir Sultan Khan, the humble servant who stunned the Western chess elite in the 1930s.

Why did he vanish at the peak of his powers?What does his story reveal about colonialism, lost genius, and the politics of recognition?And why do so few today know his name?

Join us as we peel back the layers of a man once described by Capablanca as a natural-born chess genius—an enigma who may have become world champion had history dealt him a different hand.

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