Why is Znosko-Borovsky famous? (well, sort of)

When he always got beat by a bunch of guys who aren't?

Henry Atkins
Abra Speijer
Karoly Sterk
Folker Ekstrom
Willem Fick
Gosta Stolz
Evert Straat
Hans Meuller
Baruch Wood
Heinrich Wolf

Maybe 'cause of his catchy book titles? 

"How not to play chess"

I thought it might be the double barrel surname.

But his fame far exceeds Dus-Chotimirsky, or Ilyin-Genevsky (who was at least interesting)

Znosko-Borovsky was famous because he was the chess master in the chess story "Slippery Elm" in which a group of chess players cheat by getting him to write down the moves on an anti-tobacco smoke tablet [ the victim smokes like a chimney and blows it into your face] that's passed along.

He is famous because he is one of the few chess masters who has ever dared to write a book on the middle game.  Most stick to openings, with a few having the sense to write about endings.

Lol, ok.

He looked a little like Clarke Gable, dont you think?

On the other hand.... he happens to have won games against: Capablanca, Rubinstein, Euwe and Bogoljubov. Not too shabby for a complete hack, eh?

In my opinion, his best book was The Art of Chess Combination. I found it very interesting and helpful, in my youth.

Think you have those two mixed up, lol

Capa couldnt have been pleased.

Nearly. I know that story and love it, and the fictional chessmaster is actually named "Nimzo-Zborovsky", a portmanteau of our guy and someone rather more famous. 

Think you have those two mixed up, lol

Nope, just a common device when making a "Separated at Birth" post.

Where can I read this story? Google seems to be no help

I read it in The Chess Companion by Irving Chernev.

Out side of chess Znosko-Borovsky was a noted drama critic.  His chess fame comes from his ability to write about chess and give entertaining and educational lectures.  

Because there were 5 masters with this name active at the same time.

Besides all of the info mentioned so far Znosko-Borovsky ( 1884-1954 ) was also active in the Russian Military. He fought and was wounded in both the Russo-Japanese War and also in World War One. Then he fought against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution and in 1920 moved to France. I think that this fellow's life-story would make quite an interesting movie.  

Same here. The book's well worth reading if you can find a copy (and you probably can) - it has an interesting selection of short stories, essays, games, problems and studies. Unfortunately all the topical stuff is two generations out of date, but hey. Also in that book is "Last Round" by Kester Svendsen, but that you can find online.

I think his books are only in descriptive notation.  I think his book on how to play endgames is a masterpiece, and I highly recommend it.

A world class player in his day who also defeated Capablanca who was at his peak at the time.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1151947