Jusefs Petkevich is a Latvian Grandmaster (GM) of chess. Born on 29 January 1940, Petkevich won the Latvian Chess Championship in 1971 and 1972, and gained the International Master (IM) title the same year. Later in his career he achieved fourth place at the Torremolinos tournament in 1972, along with numerous successes in local tournaments in Latvia.
In 1973, he came in second place at the All-Union Chess Championship. Then in 1975, he secured third place at the Zonal Tournament in Sochi. The GM title was awarded to him in 1976.
Petkevich's style of play is unpredictably creative. He has been compared to famous chess player Rashid Nezhmetdinov. Throughout his career, he triumphed over several notable chess players, including Lev Polugaevsky, Gennadi Sosonko, and Leonid Stein.
Outside of chess, Petkevich graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the University of Latvia, and later worked as a high school teacher.