Kola Kwariani
Male, Person
1903 –
Who is Kola Kwariani?
Kola Kwariani, known as "Nick the Wrestler", was a Georgian by origin professional wrestler and chess player. Kwariani was born on Jan 16 1903 and died Feb 1980.
"Kwariani had been a Greco-Roman champion in Europe before the war and a “professional” wrestler in the United States afterward." He spoke eight languages, and was the only chess playing professional wrestler in the United States according to Chess Review magazine.
Kola Kwariani participated in many wrestling fights himself, however the most famous was with "Mr. America" Gene Stanlee This fight between Kola Kwariani and Gene Stanlee was featured as one of the top-10 matches of the wrestling Golden Era in America.
He had a role in Stanley Kubrick's 1956 film The Killing, in the role of a chess-playing wrestler named Maurice Oboukhoff, who is hired to start a fight and so create a diversion during a heist.
The picture of Kola Kwariani, Stanley Kubrick, and Sterling Hayden appeared on cover of Chess Review magazine in March 1956.
Both Kubrick and Kwariani were very well known in New York chess circles. In 1950-1960 Kola Kwariani was an active member of the Chess and Checker Club in New York City, also known as "The Flea House".
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