Ossip Bernstein
Chess Player
Russian chess legend who was at the height of his career before rankings were officially adopted and who was one of the first official Grandmasters in the game.
He earned a doctorate in law at Heidelberg University and later became a financial lawyer.
He was caught fleeing Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution by the Checka and was ordered shot by a firing squad because he was a legal advisor to bankers but was saved when the superior officer recognized him as a their chess player.
He was raised in the pre-revolutionary Russian Empire.
He was believed to be an equal of early chess champion Emanuel Lasker.