Jacob Bernstein

Jacob Bernstein (born February 24, 1885 and died December 21, 1959) was an American chess master. Born into a Jewish family in Kaunas, Lithuania, he lived in New York. He won three consecutive New York State Chess Championships (1920-1922), and shared 1st with Herman Steiner in 1929, but lost a tiebreak to him. He also tied for 8-9th at New York 1913 (Rice tournament, José Raúl Capablanca won),tied for 5-6th at New York 1915 (Capablanca won), tied for 7-8th at New York 1916 (Rice tournament, Capablanca won), and lost a match to Abraham Kupchik (1.5 : 3.5) at New York 1916. After World War I, he tied for 3-6th at New York 1922 (Edward Lasker won),took 13th at Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary) 1923,and tied for 7-10th at Pasadena 1932 (Alexander Alekhine won). He married Yiddish Stage actress, Nellie Casman in 1948, and lived in New York City. They remained married until his death in 1959.