Ossip Bernstein - Chess Career

Chess Career

In June 1902, Bernstein won at Berlin. In July–August 1902, he took 2nd, behind Walter John, at Hannover (the 13th DSB Congress, Hauptturnier A). In 1902/03, he won at Berlin. In September 1903, he took 2nd, behind Mikhail Chigorin, in the Kiev 1903 chess tournament (the 3rd All-Russian Masters' Tournament). In 1903/04, he tied for 2nd–3rd with Rudolf Spielmann, behind Horatio Caro, at Berlin. In July–August 1904, he tied for 4th–5th at Coburg (14th DSB Congress). In August 1905, he tied for 4th–5th at Barmen (Masters A). In 1906, he tied for 1st with Carl Schlechter at Stockholm. In 1906, he tied for 4th–6th at Ostend. In 1907, he tied for 1st with Akiba Rubinstein at Ostend (Masters A). In 1909, he took 5th at Sankt Petersburg. In 1911, he won the Moscow City Championship. In February–March 1911, he tied for 8th–9th in the San Sebastian chess tournament. In 1912, he took 2nd, behind Rubinstein, at Vilna (All-Russian ch.). In January 1914, he lost an exhibition mini-match against José Raúl Capablanca at Moscow (+0 –1 =1). In April–May 1914, he tied for 6th–7th with Rubinstein in the St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament (Preliminaries).

In 1922, he lost a mini-match against Alexander Alekhine in Paris (+0 –1 =1). In 1930, he took 2nd, behind Hans Johner, at Le Pont. In July 1932, he tied for 5th-6th with Efim Bogoljubow in Bern. In 1932, he beat Oskar Naegeli (+3 −1 =0) in Zurich. In 1933, he drew a training match against reigning World Chess Champion Alexander Alekhine in Paris (+1 –1 =2). In 1934, he tied for 6th-7th with Aron Nimzowitsch in Zürich (Alekhine won). In 1938, he drew a match with Oldřich Duras in Prague (+1 −1 =1).

During World War II, he played friendly games with Alekhine and others in Paris in Spring 1940. He fled to Spain after the capitulation of France (Battle of France) in Summer 1940. When he reached the Pyrenees, he and his family had to walk over mountain roads at night, hiding in caves during the daylight hours to avoid the Germans. After two exhausting nights. he reached Spain. However, Bernstein had a heart attack and was unconscious. The Spanish frontier guards arrested the family and placed them in separate prisons. Through the intervention of some influential friends in Spain, his family was released and was allowed to stay in Spain. He returned to Paris in 1945.

After the WW II, Bernstein came back to chess. In 1946, he took 2nd, behind Herman Steiner, at London. In 1946, he tied for 15th-16th at Groningen. In June 1946, he won a game against Lajos Steiner at a match Australia vs France in Australia. In December 1948, he drew a game against Reuben Fine at a cable match New York vs Paris. In April 1954, he lost two games against David Bronstein at a match France vs The Soviet Union at Paris. In 1954, he tied for 2nd-3rd with Miguel Najdorf, behind René Letelier, at Montevideo at age 72.

Bernstein played at first board for France at the 11th Chess Olympiad in Amsterdam 1954 (+5 −5 =5). He was member of the French team, at the 12th Olympiad in Moscow 1956, but he did not play because of illness.

When FIDE introduced official titles in 1950, Bernstein was awarded the International Grandmaster title. He had level or nearly level lifetime scores against such outstanding players as the second World Champion Emanuel Lasker (+2 −2 =1), Akiba Rubinstein (+1 –1 =7), Aron Nimzowitsch (+1 −2 =4), Mikhail Chigorin (+2 −1 =0) and Salo Flohr (+0 −0 =3). However, he had a poor record against third World Champion José Raúl Capablanca (+0 −3 =1); and against the fourth World Champion Alexander Alekhine (+1 −8 =5).