Romanovsky began his career in Saint Petersburg, but it’s not known exactly when he became interested in chess, but he had an older brother and an younger brother who were good players. The first big test of his skills came about by accident in 1908 when he replaced his brother Alexander who had fallen ill in a tournament in Leningrad. In that tournament Romanovsky was playing using a clock for the first time and even defeat a master. As a result, the 16-year old Romanovsky achieved a First Category rating, the equivalent of USCF Expert (2000-2199).
In 1909 he played in the All-Russian Tournament of Amateurs and finished just behind the prize winners. His victories included a win over Alekhine and attracted attention. After finishing high school Romanovsky entered the Polytechnical Institute and in 1913 became college champion of St. Petersburg.
He participated in the Mannheim 1914 tournament which stopped on August 1, 1914 when World War I broke out. He was tied for 2nd-4th in Hauptturnier B. After the declaration of war by the German Empire Romanovsky interned in Rastatt, Germany along with the other Russian players.
In September Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov,and Koppelman were freed and allowed to return home via Switzerland. The Red Cross arranged for Romanovsky’s release in the spring of 1915 due to his poor health (heart illness) and he returned to Petrograd.
When Romanovsky returned to Russia, he immediately helped raise money to aid the Russian chess players who were still interned in Germany by giving a simultaneous exhibition at the Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute.
After World War I, Romanovsky worked persistently to improve his paly and was second behind Alekhine in the All-Russian Olympiad of 1920 which earned him the Soviet Master title. 
In 1923 he was Soviet Champion and at Leningrad 1925, a tournament with 10 of the country’s best players he tied for first and in 1927 he won the Soviet Championship. At Leningrad 1934 he finished second a half point behind Botvinnik.
During the worst period of the Siege of Leningrad in winter of 1941–42, a rescue party reached his home and found Romanovsky half-conscious from starvation and cold. The rest of his family had frozen to death. All the furniture in the house had been used for firewood. A chess manuscript which had been in preparation by Romanovsky was also lost at this time. There is a a short article on Romanovsky that is worth reading at Chess.com HERE.
After the war, he scored a number of successes in Soviet tournaments. His best international result was in Leningrad 1934 where he tied for second place with Nikolai Riumin, behind Mikhail Botvinnik.
He was awarded the International Master title in 1950 and the International Arbiter title in 1951. In 1954, the Soviets withdrew their application for him to receive the GM title based on his first place in the 1927 USSR championship.
However, anti-Stalinist Fedor Bohatirchuk had shared the title and he was no longer recognized in the USSR because he had defected to Canada. And because the USSR Chess Federation did not want to give the GM title to Bohatirchuk, they withdrew the application for Romanovsky as well.
Before his death, Romanovsky published two books on chess middlegames, one on tactics and one on strategy. He also published a book of his best games. Romanovsky was an artist who tried to create interesting and beautiful combinations.
Although Bogoljubow successfully defended his title he was not as dominant as in the previous year. He started with a great score of 12-2 which gave him a two-point lead over Levenfish, who had lost in the first two rounds. But then Bogoljubow lost to Vilner and Verlinsky which allowed Levenfish to draw within a half-point, A critical round 17 loss restored Bogoljubow lead to a full point and he then won the rest of his games. Freymann withdrew after 12 rounds. Most of the games from this event have been lost.
In this game Rabinovich seems to have gained the advantage, but Romanovsky shows that he has made a more concrete evaluation of the position. A brilliant game!
Peter Romanovsky - Ilya Rabinovich
Result: 1-0
Site: USSR Championship Leningrad
Date: 1925
French Defense Winawer
[...] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 ♗b4 Pioneered by Nimzovich and Botvinnik, the Winawer remains one of the main systems in the French although in the 1980s, the Classical Variation with 3...Nf6 began a revival, and has since become more popular. 4.e5 Thisngains space and hopesnto show that black's B on b4 is misplaced. 4...f6 Normal is 4...c5. The text has little to recommed, but at the time this game was played the Winawer wasn't well analyzed. 5.♘f3
20.♕f6 Very nice! 20...♔e8 21.♗b5 ♖c6 Black didn't have to play this.
5.♕g4 worked out well for white in this game: 5...♕e7 6.♘f3 ♘c6 7.♗d2 ♗d7 8.♗d3 O-O-O 9.♕g3 fxe5 10.dxe5 Valerga,D (2496)-Dolezal,C (2410)/Buenos Aires 2003. The position is equal, but black's cramped position makes his defense difficult.
5...c5 6.♗b5 After 6.a3 Ba5 white has twointeresting choices: 6.b4 and 6.dxc5 both of which lead to interesting play. 6...♔f8 With his K-side already compromised by his 4th move the loss of castling is of little consequence, but you would think black would avail himself of the chance to get rid of his bad B with 6...Bd7. 7.dxc5 ♕a5 Black doesn't dilly-dally, and begins immediate Q-side operations. The threat is ...Bxc3+ and ...Qxb5. 8.♗e2 This safe. Equally good and more interesting, but also more complicated, was 8.exf6.
8.exf6 ♗xc3 9.bxc3 ♕xb5 10.fxg7 ♔xg7 11.♕d4 ♘f6 12.♗h6 ♔f7 13.♘e5 ♔e8 14.♘g4 ♘bd7 15.♘xf6 ♘xf6 16.♕xf6 ♖g8 17.O-O-O followed by Rhe1 leaves white with a winning attack.
8...fxe5 Black's gob of Ps in the center must have looked good to him, but white, in fact, stands considerably better. 9.O-O
9.♘xe5 is a nasty blunder that loses after 9...♗xc3 10.bxc3 ♕xc3
9...♘c6 And now black has protected his P-center and appears to be in excellent shape. 10.♘xd5 According to Irving Chernev this is not a sacrifice, just a loan! 10...exd5 11.c3 ♗xc5 12.b4 Regaining his piece. 12...♘xb4 (12...♗xb4 13.cxb4 ♘xb4 14.♘xe5 leaves black in a difficult position.) 13.cxb4 ♗xb4 Black is up a P or two and has an impressive center, but is quite lost on account of his badly exposed K. 14.♖b1 Even more forceful was simply 14.Nxe5. However, OTB the strong 14.Nxe5 was not easy toi calculate.
14.♘xe5 ♗c3 Chernev stated that white can't play 14.Nxe5 because this move wins the exchange, but that is incorrect. 15.♖b1 (15.♘c4 dxc4 16.♕d6 ♘e7 17.♗a3 ♗f6 18.♗xc4 favors white.) 15...♗xe5 16.♖b5 ♕xa2 17.♖xd5 ♗f6 18.♖d8 ♔f7 19.♖e1 ♗xd8 20.♕xd8 is also crushing for white.
14...♗f5 A reasonable move. 15.♖xb4 The purpose of this sharp sacrifice is to break up black's center. 15...♕xb4 16.♕xd5 Black can neither save his e-Pawn nor offer an exchange od Qs. 16...♘e7 (16...♕e4 17.♕d6 ♘e7 18.♗g5 ♖e8 19.♗b5 wins.) 17.♕xe5 ♕e4 18.♕b2 Despit iis odd appearance, this backward Q move is a really swell move because it threatens 19.Ng5, 19.Re1 and a third move which we will see. 18...♖c8 19.♗h6 The third threat. Even though taking th eB was the best black had, it wasn't good enough to save the game. 19...♖g8 Black menaces ...Rb2, but the win still belongs to white.
19...gxh6 20.♖e1
20.♕xh8 looks good, but it isn't! 20...♔f7 21.♕b2 ♖c2 and black has managed to equalize.
20...♕c2 21.♕f6 ♔g8 22.♘e5 ♖f8 23.♕xe7 ♗g6 24.♘g4 ♕d2 25.♗c4 ♖f7 26.♕e8 ♔g7 27.♕e5 ♔g8 28.♕a1 Another unusual retreat that leaves black facing more threats than he can defend against. 21...♗d7 Technically not as good, but practically it offers the best chance. 22.♗xd7 ♔d8 (22...♔xd7 23.♘e5 wins) 23.♗xg7 ♕g6 24.♗e6 ♕xf6 25.♗xf6 ♖f8 26.♗xe7 ♔xe7 27.♗xc8 ♖xc8 28.♖b1
22.♗xg7 ♗d7 (22...♕e6 23.♗xc6 ♕xc6 24.♖e1) 23.♗xc6 ♕xc6 24.♖e1 ♕c5
24...♕xf6 Exchanging Qs does not change the result. 25.♗xf6 ♔d8 26.♖xe7
25.♗h6 ♔d8 26.♗f8 Winning the N and so black resigned. Powered by Aquarium
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