Ilya Rabinovich

When the chess congress had to be interrupted upon the outbreak of World War I, Rabinovich was tied for 2nd-3rd places in the Hauptturnier A.

[1] After the declaration of war against Russia, eleven players from the Russian Empire (Alexander Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubov, Fedor Bogatyrchuk, Alexander Flamberg, N. Koppelman, Boris Maljutin, Rabinovich, Peter Romanovsky, Peter Petrovich Saburov, Alexey Selezniev, and Samuil Weinstein) from the Mannheim tournament were interned by Germany.

[2] In September 1914, four of them (Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman) were freed and allowed, through Switzerland, to return home.

The Russian internees played eight tournaments, the first in Baden-Baden (1914) and all the others in Triberg im Schwarzwald (1914–1917).

[3] After World War I, Rabinovich returned to St Petersburg (Petrograd, Leningrad).

In 1923 he tied for 7th-8th at Leningrad (2nd USSR Championship, won by Peter Romanovsky).

In 1926 he tied for 2nd-3rd places with Mikhail Botvinnik in the Leningrad Championship, won by Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky.

In 1934/35 Rabinovich shared first place with Levenfish in Leningrad (9th USSR Championship).

In June 1941 he played in the interrupted semifinal of the USSR Championship in Rostov-on-Don.