Chess master Dr. Joseph Bernstein of Moscow and Paris

According to the attached copy of marriage record, in Russian:

July 01, 1908 [Julian calendar, that is July 14, 1908 Gregorian calendar] in the city of Vilna [currently Vilnius, Lithuania] married:"

"Osip Samuilovich Bernshtein, 26, a never married son of a 2-nd guild Zhytomyr merchant, who completed education in the Law department of Imperial Kharkov University, and Malka-Leah Iosif-Gershevna Rapoport, 23, a never married daughter of a 1-st guild St. Petersburg merchant.

The name, age, occupation and status are the same or very similar to famous chess master, later grandmaster, Joseph or Ossip Bernstein of Moscow and Paris, France. Many sources tell that the Joseph Bernstein originally was from Zhytomyr.

Note: Osip and Iosif are two Russian forms of the same name, that is equivalent to the English name Joseph. In French and English, phonetic spelling of Osip should be Ossip, because in the languages the single 's' sounds as 'z'.

Birth date in the profile was taken from the attached French naturalization record. The age in the marriage record was imprecise.

Attached quotes from Moscow address directories for 1910-1915 demonstrate that the spouses actually lived together in Moscow and that Osip Bernstein was a board member of Moscow Chess Circle (Club), together with Alekhin, a word chess champion.

Attached quotes from a scholarly book about the famous artist Mark Chagall, that consists manly of his letters with scientific comments, demonstrate that the Osip Bernstein, husband of Leah Bernstein (Rapoport), is the famous chess master (later a grandmaster) better known as Ossip Bernstein.

Books about a famous painter are not the expected source of information about a chess master and financial lawyer. However, Mark Chagall and Ossip Bernstein were friends and related through a marriage: wife of Ossip Bernstein, Leah Bernstein-Rapoport, was an aunt of the first husband of Ida Chagall, daughter of Mark Chagall.

Concerning sources from chess community: it looks as the French website http://heritageechecsfra.free.fr/bernstein.htm provides the most precise data.

Many sources, including the above or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossip_Bernstein , tell that the grandmaster graduated in 1906 from Heidelberg University in Germany. According to Chessopedia, https://www.chess.com/chessopedia/view/bernstein-ossip :

At the end of 1906, Bernstein graduated from the legal facility of Berlin and later earned a Doctorate in law at Heidelberg University (Edward Lasker wrote that Bernstein received his Degree of Doctor of Law in Moscow in 1906). He became a successful financial lawyer after returning to Moscow.

On the other hand, according to the attached marriage record, he graduated from the Law Department of Kharkov University. Possibly, to practice law in Russia, after earning a German law degree, he took courses in Russian law and passed exams in a Russian university.

Chessopedia also tells that In 1907, Bernstein married a lady named Wilma. They were married for 54 years and had two sons.

However, the attached documents shows that he married Leah Rapoport, in 1908, in the city of Vilna, that sometimes is spelled as Wilna. It looks as the name of the city was mixed up with the name of his wife.

The attached documents mention only one his son. Neither I found information about other son of Ossip Bernstein anywhere else.

According to the book "The Unbroken Chain" by Neil Rosenstein, 2-nd edition, page 984 (Volume II) the last name of Grandmaster Bernstein is "Berenstein", with an extra letter "e".after "r". However, in all other sources: his marriage record, naturalization record, address directories, correspondence with Mark Chagall, and handwriting on the photograph of his wife stored by her relatives, he always was named Bernstein without the extra "e".

By the way, the same applies to several of his relatives.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossip_Bernstein

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossip_Bernstein

Согласно прилагаемой копии записи о браке, Осип Самойлович Бернштейн и Лия-Малка Иосиф-Гершевна Рапопорт поженились 1 июля 1908 года [14 по новому стилю] в городе Вильна [%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8E%D1%81].

Имя, отчество, сословие, возраст, профессия и город, где его отец был зарегистрирован как купец совпадают или очень похожи на сведения о знаменитом в своё время шахматисте, который до революции жил и работал в Москве, после революции эмигрировал во Францию, а позднее стал международным гроссмейстером.

Приложенные сканы соответствующих фрагментов московских адресно-телефонных книг за 1910-1915 годы подтверждают, что Осип Бернштейн, муж Лии Иосифовны или Гершевны действительно жил в Москве и был активным шахматным деятелем, в частности наряду с будущим чемпионом мира Алёхиным входил в правление Московского Шахматного кружка (клуба).

Приложенные цитаты из научной биографии знаменитого художника Марка Шагала подтверждают, что супружеская пара Осипа и Лии Бернштейн (урождённой Рапопорт) действительно жила во Франции и что Осип был мастером спорта по шахматам.

Некоторые сведения из приложенных документов противоречат данным шахматных сайтов.

В частности, согласно Шахматопедии, https://www.chess.com/chessopedia/view/bernstein-ossip гроссмейстер Бернштейн закончил в 1906 году юридический факультет Берлинского Университета, а впоследствии стал доктором юриспруденции. Впрочем, там же говорится, что гроссмейстер Эдуард Ласкер писал, что Бернштейн закончил Московский Университет. В записи же о браке написано, что он закончил юридический факультет Харьковского Университета.

Впрочем, не исключено, что для работы юристом в России после окончания заграничного университета следовало прослушать и/или сдать курсы российского права в одном из российских университетов.

Далее, в той же Шахматопедии утверждается, что гроссмейстер Бернштейн женился в 1907 году "на леди по имени Вильма", с которой прожил 54 года и имел двух сыновей.

Из приложенных документов видно, что жену Осипа Самойловича звали Лея, и что они поженились в 1908 году в городе Вильна. Вероятно, название этого города и приняли за имя жены. Кроме того, как в приложенных документах, так и в других источниках есть сведения только об одном сыне Осипа Самойловича.

Birth date range in the profile was derived from the age in the marriage record: 26 years at July 14, 1908. However, the age of record could be somewhat imprecise.

The age, name, patronymic, occupation, and status [son of a merchant] of the fiance are the same or very similar as of the Chess master Dr. Joseph Bernstein of Moscow and Paris [actually a famous chess grandmaster]. Also, according to multiple sources, the famous chess master was a son of Zhytomyr merchant.

Note: Osip and Iosif are two Russian forms of the same name, that is equivalent to the English name Joseph.

Attached quotes from Moscow address directories for 1910-1915 demonstrate that the spouses actually lived in Moscow and that Osip Bernstein was a board member of Moscow Chess Circle (Club), together with Alekhin, a chess word champion.

Attached quotes from a scholarly book about the famous artist Mark Chagall, that consists manly of his letters with scholarly comments, demonstrates that the Osip Bernstein, husband of Leah Bernstein (Rapoport), is the famous chess master (later a grandmaster) better known as Ossip Bernstein [single 's' would sound as 'z' in French].

Many sources (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossip_Bernstein ) tell that the grandmaster graduated in 1906 from Heidelberg University in Germany. According to Chessopedia, https://www.chess.com/chessopedia/view/bernstein-ossip , At the end of 1906, Bernstein graduated from the legal facility of Berlin and later earned a Doctorate in law at Heidelberg University (Edward Lasker wrote that Bernstein received his Degree of Doctor of Law in Moscow in 1906). He became a successful financial lawyer after returning to Moscow. On the other hand, according to the attached marriage record, he graduated from the Law Department of Kharkov University. Possibly, he took courses in Russian law and passed exams in a Russian university to practice law in Russia.

Chessopedia also tells that In 1907, Bernstein married a lady named Wilma. They were married for 54 years and had two sons. The attached documents shows that he married Leah Rapoport, in 1908, in the city of Vilna, that sometimes is spelled as Wilna. It looks as the name of the city was mixed up with the name of his wife.

Additionally, the attached documents mention only one his son. Neither I found information about his other son anywhere else.