Vitaly Halberstadt

Who was Vitaly Halberstadt?

Vitaly Halberstadt was a French chess player, problemist and, above all, a noted endgame study composer.

Born in Odessa, Russian Empire, he emigrated to France. In 1925, he shared 1st with Abraham Baratz in the 1st Paris City Chess Championship, tied for 5-6th in the 2nd Paris-ch 1926, tied for 5-6th at Hyères 1926, shared 1st with Peter Potemkine at Paris 1926, tied for 5-7th in the 3rd Paris-ch 1927, tied for 10-11th in the 4th Paris-ch 1928, tied for 1st-3rd with Marcel Duchamp and J.J. O'Hanlon at Hyères 1928, took 8th in the 6th Paris-ch 1930, took 6th in the 7th Paris-ch 1931, took 3rd in the 8th Paris-ch 1932, and took 9th at Paris 1938.

In 1932, he published with Marcel Duchamp "L'Opposition et les cases conjugées sont réconciliées", a chess manual dedicated to several special end-game problems, for which Duchamp designed the layout and cover. Halberstadt is also an author of "Curiosités tactiques des finales".