Grigory Levenfish

Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (Russian: Григо́рий Я́ковлевич Левенфи́ш; 21 March 1889 [O.S. 9 March] in Piotrków – 9 February 1961 in Moscow) was a Russian chess grandmaster 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. He also had a career as an engineer. Levenfish was a well-regarded end-game specialist and chess writer.

Levenfish was born in Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, to Jewish parents. He spent most of his formative years in St. Petersburg, where he attended St. Petersburg State University and studied chemical engineering.

His earliest recognition as a prominent chess player came when he won the St. Petersburg chess championship of 1909, and played in the strong Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary) tournament of 1911, although he made a minus score in the very strong field. At age 22, this was to be his first and last tournament outside Russia or the Soviet Union. His play at the time was compared to that of the great master Chigorin. Into the next decade, he continued to perform well in local tournaments, most notably winning the Leningrad Championships of 1922, 1924, and 1925 (jointly).

At a national level too, he enjoyed an excellent record at the Soviet Championship; third in 1920, second in 1923, co-champion at Leningrad in 1934 (tied with Ilya Rabinovich at 12/19), and outright champion at Tbilisi in 1937 with 12.5/19.

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