Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein was a Ukrainian-born chess player who went on to become a master in the most memorable of ways.
Pillsbury took that match, but by no means was this going to be one most important matches of Bernstein’s life.
Bernstein earned his master title after winning at the General Chess Federation of Berlin in 1902.
Chessmetrics has Bernstein’s highest rating as 2688 and ranked #9 in the world from April 1904 to March 1906.
Before World War I, Bernstein successfully combined his love of chess and law and played heavily on the professional circuit.
As the firing squad lined up to end Bernstein’s life, a superior officer asked to see the list of prisoners’ names.
The officer told Bernstein to play him a game of chess, and if he won, his life would be spared. »
