Vassily Soldatenkov

Personal information
Full name	Vasily Vasilyevich Soldatenkov
Nationality	Russian
Born	(1879-07-14)14 July 1879 Moscow
Died	31 July 1944(1944-07-31) (aged 65) Italy
Sport
Country	Russia
Sport	Chess and Auto racing

Vasily Vasilyevich Soldatenkov, (Russian: Солдатёнков, Василий Васильевич; July 14, 1879 – July 31, 1944) more commonly known as Vassily Soldatenkov, was a Russian special envoy, chess player and race car driver.

He was born into the Soldatenkov family, in 1879 which was a noble merchant family of Moscow, Russia. ^[1] His father was Vasily Soldatenkov, who worked for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire. His great uncle was Kozma Soldatyonkov, a businessman, textile manufacturer, inventor and book publisher. ^[2]

As a child, he was interested in motorsports and chess. He spent most of his early life in Italy. ^[1] He began participating in motorsports by at least 1904 and became the first Russian to ever go past 101km/h in car named, "Lina". ^[1] The car was named after the Italian singer, Lina Cavalieri, who he had a romantic relationship with. ^[1] He won a 5km race in Verona in 1907 ^[1] and competed in the 1911 Targa Florio, where he came in third. ^{[1] [3]} During the race, he came down with a serious case of ophthalmia. ^[1] He joined the Imperial Russian Automobile Society in 1912 and became a special envoy for Russia. ^{[4] [5]}

Soldatenkov was also known for his chess skills. ^{[6] [7]} He had defeated chess champion Frank Marshall ^[8] and was credited with helping to develop the Marshall Attack. ^[8]

Soldatenkov moved to Italy after the 1917 October Revolution. He was once married to Princess Elena Gorchakov of Russia, but the couple divorced in November 1919. ^{[9] [8]} He married Madelaine Reece on March 16, 1920. ^{[8] [9]} She was the niece of Martin Voel (Assistant Chief Treasurer of the United States), but the couple divorced in 1928. ^[10] Soldatenkov died in Italy in 1944. ^{[11] [12]}