Nezhmetdinov was born in Aktubinsk, Russian Empire, in what is now Aktobe, Kazakhstan, in a Tatar family. His parents died when he was very young, leaving him and two other siblings to be raised by their brother. The orphaned, impoverished family moved to Kazan, Tatar ASSR. Nezhmetdinov had a natural talent for both chess and checkers. He learned chess by watching others play at a chess club, whereupon he challenged one of the players, won, and then challenged another player, winning that game as well. At 15, he played in Kazan's Tournament of Pioneers, winning all 15 games. He also learned to play checkers at this time. During the same month in which he learned the game, he won Kazan's checkers semi-final and placed second in the finals. In the same year, he placed sixth in the Russian Checkers Championship. He later won the Russian Checkers Championship at least once. Later, however, he gave up checkers for chess.
Checkers
During World War II, Nezhmetdinov served in the military, thus delaying the further progress of his chess career until 1946. In 1949, the Russian Checkers Semifinals were held in Kazan. Nezhmetdinov attended as a spectator, but when one of the participantsfailed to show up, Nezhmetdinov agreed to substitute for him even though he hadn't played checkers for 15 years. He won every game, qualifying him for the Finals, which were to be held immediately after a chess tournament in which he was also participating. He won the tournament and immediately thereafter placed second in the Russian Checkers Championship.
Nezhmetdinov,... if he had the attack, could kill anybody, including Tal. But my score against him was something like 8½–½ because I did not give him any possibility for an active game. In such cases he would immediately start to spoil his position because he was looking for complications.
Nezhmetdinov won a number of games against world champions such as Mikhail Tal, against whom he had a lifetime plus score, and Boris Spassky. He also had success against other world-class grandmasters such as David Bronstein, Lev Polugaevsky, and Efim Geller. He achieved a plus score in the 20 games he contested against World Champions. But in addition to his aforementioned dismal score against Averbakh, he could only score +0−3=2 against excellent defenders like Tigran Petrosian and Korchnoi.
Memorial
Kazan Chess school is currently named after Rashid Nezhmetdinov.
