Osip Bernstein, born on 20 September 1882 in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, Russian Empire into a Jewish merchant family. He went to Berlin in 1901 to study law and won several chess tournaments there. Bernstein obtained his doctorate in Heidelberg in 1906 and then moved to Moscow. Before the First World War, Bernstein successfully participated in many international tournaments. Between 1904 and 1906 Bernstein was among the ten best players in the world. In the 1914 St. Petersburg tournament he was eliminated in the preliminary round, but won against Emanuel Lasker. In the course of the Russian Revolution Bernstein lost his fortune and emigrated with his family to Paris, where he became a successful lawyer. He rarely played in tournaments, but retained his playing strength. During the Nazi occupation of France, Bernstein lived in Spain. After the war, he took part in the 1954 Chess Olympiad for France. In 1956 he was captain of the French team at the Chess Olympiad in Moscow. Bernstein died on 30 November 1962.
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