Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish

Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (Russian: Григо́рий Я́ковлевич Левенфи́ш; 19 March 1889 [O.S. 7 March] – 9 February 1961) was a Soviet chess player who scored his peak competitive results in the 1920s and 1930s. He was twice Soviet champion, in 1934 (jointly with Ilya Rabinovich) and 1937. In 1937 he drew a match against future world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. In 1950 Levenfish was among the first recipients of the title of Grandmaster, awarded by FIDE that year for the first time.

Grigory Levenfish

Full name
Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish
Country
Russian Empire → Soviet Union
Born
19 March 1889
Piotrków, Congress Poland, Russian Empire
Died
9 February 1961 (aged 71)
Moscow, Soviet Union
Title
Grandmaster (1950)
  
 
 
 

Levenfish was born in Piotrków, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, to Jacob Levenfish and Golda Levenfish (née Finkelstein).[1] He spent most of his formative years in St. Petersburg, where he attended Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology and studied chemical engineering.