Miguel Najdorf — chess player with roots in the Russian Empire
Miguel Najdorf (born Mojsze Mendel Najdorf, 15 April 1910; died 4 July 1997 in Málaga) was a Polish-Argentine chess player. He represented Poland at four Chess Olympiads and was in Buenos Aires for the 1939 Olympiad when the Second World War broke out; he remained in Argentina and became an Argentine citizen in 1944. His wife, daughter, parents and four siblings were murdered in the Holocaust. He played in the Candidates Tournaments of 1950 and 1953, and the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence is named after him.
Tracing the roots — Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Warsaw Governorate)
Born Mojsze Mendel Najdorf on 15 April 1910 in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Warsaw Governorate, then part of the Russian Empire (some sources give Warsaw). He left Poland for the 1939 Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires and settled in Argentina. Wikipedia records that he set blindfold simultaneous records in the hope that news would reach Europe and his family would learn where he was.
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Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Warsaw Governorate). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
"I played in Buenos Aires to let my family know I was alive. No one came."