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The 41st Israeli Chess Championship and the 34th Israeli Women’s Championship were held on December 5-13 in the southern city of Arad, with a prize fund of 110 thousands NIS.
Arad (not to confuse with the Romanian city Arad) is located on the border of the Negev and the Judean Deserts, 25 kilometres (16 miles) west of the Dead Sea and 45 kilometres (28 miles) east of the city of Beer Sheva. A total of 32 players, including 7 GMs, 9 IMs and 11 FMs competed in a 9-rounds Swiss in the open category, which saw an impressive success of the young guard.
In “The refreshed Evans Gambitâ€, you will find a small opening repertoire with new ideas in the Evans Gambit. The Evans Gambit is a positional pawn sacrifice in the opening, to create a strong bind or even a quick attack.
The surprising winner was IM Ido Gorshtein (20) with 7½ points, a point ahead of runners-up FM Ori Kochavi (18) and GM Avital Boruchovsky (25) 6½ points each. All three medallists emerged unbeaten, leaving behind, among others, five experienced GMs who, despite leading the starting list, failed to challenge the run of the leader to a first title. GM norms were achieved by Ido Gorshtein (his final norm) and Ori Kochavi.
Ido Gorshtein
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | |
| 1 | IM | Gorshtein Ido | 2469 | 7,5 | 45 |
| 2 | FM | Kochavi Ori | 2334 | 6,5 | 45 |
| 3 | GM | Boruchovsky Avital | 2547 | 6,5 | 44 |
| 4 | IM | Sokolovsky Yahli | 2415 | 6 | 43 |
| 5 | IM | Bronstein Or | 2442 | 5,5 | 42 |
| 6 | GM | Kobo Ori | 2553 | 5,5 | 41,5 |
| 7 | GM | Mikhalevski Victor | 2521 | 5,5 | 41,5 |
| 8 | GM | Zanan Evgeny | 2485 | 5,5 | 40,5 |
| 9 | IM | Gorodetzky David | 2495 | 5,5 | 39,5 |
| 10 | FM | Levin Guy | 2382 | 5 | 41,5 |
A total of 10 ladies took part in the all-play-all Women’s Championship. Two players were well ahead of the field in the starting list. The reigning champion, Yuliya Shvayger, managed to defend her title by finishing unbeaten with a 7½/9 score, half a point ahead of her main rival, IM Marsel Efroimski.
Attacking with the Jobava London System
The Jobava London System is a minor form of the London System. White tries to play Lf4 quickly followed by Nc3.
Marsel, the highest-rated Israeli woman player, was seeking a first title. However, she unexpectedly lost her penultimate-round game. Consequently, she had to settle for the second place on 7 points, ahead of WFM Ronit Levitan on 6½.
Yuliya Shvayger
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | |
| 1 | IM | Shvayger Yuliya | 2350 | 7,5 | 29,00 |
| 2 | IM | Efroimski Marsel | 2470 | 7 | 27,75 |
| 3 | WFM | Levitan Ronit | 1973 | 6,5 | 24,25 |
| 4 | Kluchik Julia | 1887 | 5 | 18,50 | |
| 5 | Tashkinova Sofiia | 1919 | 4 | 14,50 | |
| 6 | Ovechkin Lilia | 1680 | 4 | 13,50 | |
| 7 | WFM | Reprun Nadejda | 1979 | 3,5 | 15,25 |
| 8 | Kochavi Dana | 2011 | 3 | 11,25 | |
| 9 | Orian Noga | 1949 | 3 | 8,00 | |
| 10 | Brusilovski Lena | 1800 | 1,5 | 6,00 |
The one visually impaired player in the field, FM Alexey Streltsov, scored 4 points and won the brilliancy prize for his magnificent sacrificial win against FM Benny Aizenberg in round 8. The game as well as other interesting moments and additional information may be found in the dynamic replayer below.
Fritz has fascinated the chess world for 30 years. And the success story continues. In Vienna, the most popular chess program ever was once again able to underline its premier position: the newly developed neural engine with NNUE technology won the official Chess Software World Championship!
Alexey Streltsov
The championships were organized by Israel Chess Federation, with the support of Mifal Hapais (the national lottery) and the municipality of Arad. Chief arbiter was IA Alon Shulman.
