THE underdogs stole the limelight from the favorites at the 40th Israel Championship which ended on March 15 at Leonardo Plaza Hotel in the major seaport city of Haifa in Israel.
The 48-year-old GM Victor Mikhalevski, ranked only fifth in the 32-player, nine-round Swiss classical event, emerged the clear winner with seven points – half-a-point better than 16th seed teen sensation FM Ido Gorshtein (2387) and top seed GM TamirNabaty (2638) who each tallied 6½ markers. GMs Avital Boruchovsky (2541) and Ori Kobo (2460) shared 4th and 5th places with six points apiece.
Surprisingly, only three from Israel’s top 10 chess players played in the event. Missing from the playing field for one reason or another are GMs Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, Maxim Rodshtein, Boris Alterman, Michael Roiz, Boris Avrukh, and Alexander Huzman.
Rounding up the top 14 players in the tournament, we have IMs David Gorodetsky (2495), Nathan Birnboim (2381), Yair Parkhov (2407), and GM Ilya Smirin (2614) sharing 6th to 9th places with 5½ points apiece; GM Evgeny Postny (2605), FMs Asif Solomon (2356), Ori Kochavi (2273) and Erez Kupervaser (2371), and GM Nitzan Steinberg (2553) finishing with five points each and sharing 10th to 14th places.
The chess action was terrific, too, with the underdogs exposing the vulnerability of their more eminent counterparts. Get a load from these games:
Postny, E (2605)-Gorshtein, Ido (2387) [A80]
Haifa (3.3) 2021
1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.e3 Bg7 5.Bg3 d6 6.h4 g4 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.d5 Nb4 10.Bc4 c6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.Qd2 Rb8 13.Nge2 Nbd5 14.Bb3 Bd7 15.0-0 0-0 16.Nxd5 cxd5 17.Bxd5+ Kh7 18.Rab1 Nxd5 19.Qxd5 Bxb2 20.Nd4 Qc8 21.Rfd1 Rb6 22.c4 e6 23.Qa5 f4 24.Rxb2 fxg3 25.Nb3 gxf2+ 26.Rxf2 Rxf2 27.Kxf2 Ra6 28.Qd2 Be8 29.Kg1 Bg6 30.Qb4 g3 31.Rxd6 Rxa2 32.Qe1 Rf2 33.Rd2 Qb7 34.Rxf2 gxf2+ 35.Qxf2 Qxb3 36.Qf4 Qb1+ 37.Kh2 Qb7 38.Qe5 h5 39.c5 Qc6 40.Qc3 Qc7+ 41.Kg1 Be4 42.Qd4 Bc6 43.Qd3+ Kh6 44.Qf1 Qg7 45.e4 Kh7 46.Qf3 Qg6 47.Qa3 Qxe4 48.Qxa7+ Kg6 49.Qa2 Qe1+ 50.Kh2 Qxh4+ 51.Kg1 Qd4+ 52.Kh1 Qe4 53.Qf2 e5 54.Qa2 Kf6 55.Qg8 Qxg2+ 0-1
Gorshtein, I (2387)-Nabaty, T (2638) [A10]
Haifa (4.1) 2021
1.c4 b6 2.Nc3 Bb7 3.Nf3 e6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 Bxc3 6.bxc3 f5 7.a4 a5 8.Ba3 d6 9.h3 Nf6 10.g4 Qe7 11.gxf5 exf5 12.Rg1 Nbd7 13.Nd4 Bxg2 14.Rxg2 g6 15.d3 Ne5 16.Kd2 c5 17.Nb5 d5 18.f4 Nf7 19.Rg3 0-0 20.cxd5 Nxd5 21.Qf1 Rfe8 22.Re1 Qh4 23.Rf3 Rad8 24.c4 Nb4 25.Bb2 Nd6 26.Nxd6 Rxd6 27.Qg1 Re4 28.Be5 Rd7 29.Kc3 Rxe5 30.fxe5 Kf7 31.Ref1 Ke6 32.e4 f4 33.Qg4+ Qxg4 34.hxg4 Kxe5 35.g5 Rf7 36.Rh1 Na2+ 37.Kd2 Nb4 38.Rfh3 Rd7 39.Ke2 Rd6 40.Rd1 Rd7 41.Rdh1 Rd6 42.Kd2 Rd7 43.Rf3 Nc6 44.Rh4 Rf7 45.Rfh3 Nd4 46.Rxh7 Nf3+ 47.Ke2 Nxg5 48.Rxf7 Nxf7 49.Rh7 Kf6 50.Rh1 Ne5 51.Rh8 g5 52.Rf8+ Ke6 53.Rf5 Nf7 54.Kf2 Ke7 55.Kf3 Ke8 56.e5 Ke7 57.Ke4 Ke8 58.Rf6 Ke7 59.Rg6 f3 60.Kd5 1-0
Sokolovsky, Y (2472)-Smirin, I (2614) [C92]
Haifa (5.7) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Nd7 10.d4 Nb6 11.Be3 exd4 12.cxd4 Na5 13.Bc2 c5 14.e5 Nbc4 15.Qd3 g6 16.Bh6 Nxb2 17.Qe2 Nbc4 18.Nc3 dxe5 19.dxe5 Re8 20.Rad1 Qc7 21.Nd5 Qa7 22.Ng5 Be6 23.Nxe6 fxe6 24.Qg4 1-0
Mikhalevski, V (2552)-Nabaty, T (2638) [A07]
Haifa (7.1) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bf5 3.Bg2 c6 4.Nh4 Bg4 5.c4 dxc4 6.Na3 e5 7.Nxc4 Nd7 8.d4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Qe7 10.Ne3 Be6 11.Nef5 Bxf5 12.Nxf5 Bxd2+ 13.Qxd2 Qf6 14.Bh3 g6 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nd6+ Kf8 17.f4 1-0
Mikhalevski, V (2552)-Boruchovsky, A (2541) [A07]
Haifa (8.1) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.0-0 b5 5.d3 Be7 6.e4 c6 7.e5 Nfd7 8.h4 0-0 9.Re1 b4 10.Nbd2 c5 11.Nf1 Nc6 12.N1h2 a5 13.Bf4 a4 14.c4 Nb6 15.Qe2 Bb7 16.h5 Na5 17.Rac1 Ra7 18.h6 g6 19.Ng4 Nd7 20.Red1 Re8 21.Qe3 Qa8 22.Bg5 Bf8 23.Qf4 Nc6 24.cxd5 exd5 25.Bf6 Ne7 26.e6 fxe6 27.Nfe5 Nxe5 28.Bxe5 Nf5 29.Nf6+ Kf7 30.g4 Bxh6 31.Qh2 Rh8 32.Rxc5 Bg7 33.gxf5 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sxg7/f6 2.e8=Q#; 1…Kxe6 2.Qh3#; 1…Kxc6 2.Bb5#; 1…Kc8, Be5/f4/g3/h2/c5+/xe7 2.S(x)c5#./PN
