How did Ossip Bernstein avoid being shot by firing squad?

Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein (20 September 1882 – 30 November 1962) was a Russian-French chess grandmaster and a financial lawyer.

Born in Zhytomyr, Russian Empire to a family of Jewish heritage, Ossip Bernstein grew up in pre-revolutionary Russia. He earned a doctorate in law at Heidelberg University in 1906, and became a financial lawyer.

In 1918, after the October Revolution, Bernstein was arrested in Odessa by the Cheka (Bolshevik secret police). He was ordered shot by a firing squad because he was a legal advisor to bankers. As the firing squad lined up, a superior officer asked to see the list of prisoners' names. Discovering the name of Ossip Bernstein, he was asked whether he was the famous chess master. Not satisfied with Bernstein's affirmative reply, the officer made Bernstein play a game with him. If Bernstein lost or drew, he would be shot. Bernstein won in short order and was released. He escaped on a British ship and settled in Paris.