Edward (Eduard) Issakovich Gerstenfeld (January 1915 in

Lemberg Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

– December 1943 (?) in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

) was a Polish

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

. Born into a Jewish family in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, Galicia (then

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

), he came 3rd, behind Henryk Friedman and Izaak Schächter, in the Lviv City championships in 1933. He came 3rd at Lviv 1933 (LKSz, Oskar Piotrowski won), 7th in the Lviv City-ch, and came first in the Lviv City-ch in 1935. In the period between 1935 and 1939, he lived in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

. In 1935, Gerstenfeld shared 4th with Jakub Kolski, behind Izaak Appel and Achilles Frydman, in Łódź (''quadrangular''). He tied for 2nd-5th with A. Frydman, Schächter and Abram Szpiro in Łódź (pre-Olympic tournament, Friedman won), and took 15th in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

(the 3rd

Polish Chess Championship Individual Polish Chess Championship is the most important Polish chess tournament, aiming at selecting the best chess players in Poland. Based on the results of the tournament (mainly), the Polish Chess Federation selects the national and subsequ ...

Savielly Tartakower Savielly Tartakower (also known as ''Xavier'' or ''Ksawery'' ''Tartakower'', less often ''Tartacover'' or ''Tartakover''; 21 February 1887 – 4 February 1956) was a Polish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (chess), Internatio ...

won). In 1936, he played a match against Szpiro in Łódź, shared 2nd with Schächter, behind Szpiro, at Częstochowa (POL-ch elim.), and tied for 2nd with Appel, behind A. Frydman, in Łódź (ŁTZGSz). In 1936/37, he shared 1st with

Paulin Frydman Paulino (Paulin) Frydman (26 May 1905 in Warsaw, Poland – 2 February 1982 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a Polish chess master. Career In 1922, Paulin Frydman took 2nd place, behind Kazimierz Makarczyk in Warsaw. In 1923, he tied for 2nd ...

and Appel in Łódź. In 1937, he took 5th in the Łódź City-ch, and tied for 9-10th in

Jurata Jurata is a settlement and seaside resort in northern Poland, located on the Hel Peninsula in a forested area between the towns of Jastarnia and Hel in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. History Jurata was estab ...

(the 4th POL-ch; Tartakower won). In 1938, he took 6th in Łódź (

Vasja Pirc Vasja Pirc ( ; ) (December 19, 1907 – June 2, 1980) was a Yugoslav chess player. He is best known in competitive chess circles as a strong exponent of the hypermodern defense now generally known as the Pirc Defence. Pirc was champion of Yugo ...

won). In summer 1939, before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out, he returned to Lviv. According to the secret agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany ( Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact), Lviv was captured by the Soviets, and then incorporated to the Ukrainian SSR in Autumn 1939 (the German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation). In March 1940, he took 4th in Lviv (Western Ukrainian championship, Abram Khavin won). In 1940, he tied for 16-17th in Kiev (the 12th Ukrainian Chess Championship,

Isaac Boleslavsky Isaac Yefremovich Boleslavsky (, ; 9 June 1919 – 15 February 1977) was a Soviet chess grandmaster and writer. Early career Born in Zolotonosha in Ukraine to Jewish parents, Boleslavsky taught himself chess at age nine. In 1933, he became sch ...

won). In August 1940, he won in Lviv, followed by Appel, Friedman and Schächter. In 1940, he shared 1st with Mark Stolberg in Kiev (USSR-ch semi-final). In September–October 1940, Gerstenfeld took 17th in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

(the 12th

USSR Chess Championship The USSR Chess Championship was played from 1920 to 1991. Organized by the USSR Chess Federation, it was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winne ...

). The event was won by

Andor Lilienthal Andor (André, Andre, Andrei) Arnoldovich Lilienthal Reuben Fine, ''The World's Great Chess Games'', Dover Publications, 1983, p. 216. . (5 May 1911 – 8 May 2010) was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against ...

and

Igor Bondarevsky Igor Zakharovich Bondarevsky (; May 12, 1913 – June 14, 1979) was a Soviet Russian chess player, trainer, and chess author. He held the title of Grandmaster in both over-the-board and correspondence chess. Bondarevsky shared the 1940 Soviet t ...

. In January/February 1941, he won ahead of Appel, Friedman, Emanuel Rubinstein and Schächter, in the Lviv City championships. In June 1941, he was at 3rd place in Rostov-on-Don (the 13th USSR-ch semi-final), when ''Operation Barbarossa'', the German attack on the Soviet Union, interrupted the event. The exact cause of his death remained unclear. According to one source, he became a victim of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

atrocities in Autumn 1942 (the

Lemberg Ghetto Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

or the

Belzec extermination camp Belzec (English: or , Polish: , approximately ) was a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland. It was built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major p ...

), but to others, he was shot by Nazis during the mass killing of Jewish people in

, Russia, in December 1943.Chessmetrics Player Profile :: Eduard Gerstenfeld
/ref> Rostov-on-Don was liberated by the Soviet Army on 14 February 1943.

References

External links

Chessgames.com ::Eduard Issakovich Gerstenfeld365Chess.com :: Eduard Issakovich Gerstenfeld
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerstenfeld, Edward 1915 births 1943 deaths Chess players from Lviv People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Ukrainian Jews Lwów Ghetto inmates Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Jewish chess players Polish people executed by Nazi Germany 20th-century Polish chess players 20th-century Polish sportsmen