Israeli Championship

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."