In the Appendix to "The Stories of
Vladimir Nabokov" we read:
"Bakhman" was written in Berlin in October 1924. It was
serialized in Rul', November 2 and 4 of that year, and
included in my Vozvrashchenie Chorba collection of short stories,
Slovo, Berlin, 1930. I am told that a pianist existed with some of my
invented musician's peculiar traits.
I wonder if this pianist wasn't the Odessa-born Vladimir de
Pachman (1848-1933)?
In certain other respects he [Bakhman] is related to Luzhin, the chess player of The
Defense (Zashchita Luzhina, 1930), G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York,
1964.
On the other hand, Vladimir Pachman (1918-84) was a Czech
chess composer.
Alexey Sklyarenko