Chess

Grandmaster Evgeny Postny from the Be'er Sheva club edged out Victor Mikhalevski on tie-breaks to win the title. European U20 champion Yaali Sokolovsky took third place, while Noga Orian won the women's championship. The event drew a record-breaking 330 participants.

The grandmaster from the Ashdod club finished with 10 points and edged out Avital Boruchovsky and Michael Klenburg only on tie-breaks at the national blitz championship held in Afula. Noga Orian is the national women's champion, and 14-year-old Avital Shilon-Rahav finished fifth and was crowned Israeli champion under 18.

Just after his impressive win at the European U20 Championship, the 19-year-old chess player from the Kiryat Ono club returns to the local scene and will take part in the Israeli Rapid Chess Championship, which will be held next week in Holon with a prize pool of 60,000 shekels. Sokolovsky: "I am coming with great motivation, I want to compete for first place."

A tremendous achievement for Israeli chess. 19-year-old gifted chess player Yaali Sokolovsky, who won the Israeli championship about six months ago, recorded an extraordinary achievement by winning the European U20 Champion title in a crushing victory without any losses against the continent's top young chess players: "My dream? To be world champion."

Grandmaster Boris Gelfand has become the first Israeli chess player to be inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, recognizing his extraordinary contributions to the game.

The top Israeli chess player of all time, Boris Gelfand, who for many years has been among the world's elite, has achieved a prestigious milestone: he is the first Israeli chess player in history to be elected to the World Chess Hall of Fame.