By Assi Philosoph
After being postponed for a year due to the war, the Maccabiah Games have now finally begun. Today’s kickoff is all the more meaningful as, up until the very last moment, it was unclear whether the event would be delayed for a second consecutive year. In the end, however, the Maccabi organisation decided to take the risk and proceed, guided by the belief that the Maccabiah games are of great significance, both for the chess community and beyond.
The chess competitions opened at the Herzliya Chess Club, which was inaugurated about three years ago at the Meteor Community Center. The place is spacious and comfortable and can host up to 200 chess players. It has been also the house of both the National Chess League and other major tournaments for the last two years.
The new community center and chess club – Meteor Source: Herzliya official website
The chess section brought 4 events to the Maccabiah: closed, open, youth and blitz tournaments.
The closed tournament is played in a round robin system with 10 players, and also gives young players the opportunity to achieve an IM norm. Two Grandmasters are in the list: Vladislav Nevednichy (Romania, 2441) and Semen Dvoirys (Russia, 2381). There are also two International Masters: Irina Bulmaga (Romania, 2359) and Oleg Gladyszev (Russia,2337). And six Fide Masters: Noam Sasson (Israel, 2383), Ilay Zakin (Israel, 2343), Yehonatan Azoulay (Israel, 2340), Alexey Streslov (Israel, 2313), Adi Menachem (Israel, 2313), and Yahav Emanuel (Israel, 2256).
In the Open Section, 57 players kicked off the tournament, representing 8 different federations: Israel, England, Cuba, Switzerland, Romania, Mexico, Argentina, and Korea (with the players from the last three countries currently living in Israel).
The highest rated player in the tournament is Grandmaster Yehuda Gruenfeld (ISR, 2405), followed by International Master Yuri Zhizmer (ISR, 2271). Two experienced Fide Masters from Israel are also attending: Ran Shabtai and Konstantin Zalkind.
The youth tournament, which will start tomorrow (seven rounds) has 30 players registered, including five players from the USA and two from Germany.
The blitz tournament will take place on Motza’ei Shabaat, and all players are welcome to join.
These are certainly not the numbers we have been used to in previous Maccabiah events, both in terms of the number of participants and the number of visiting countries. However, given the complex period that the State of Israel is currently navigating, with wars and uncertainty, the numbers are nevertheless respectable. On this note, we would like to take the opportunity to thank all the participants who have made an effort to come and take part in this important event, despite all the difficulties and concerns.
The chief organizer of the event is Moshe Slav, who is the head of the chess section for the 11th time. His first Maccabiah as an organizer was in 1985! The director and chief arbiter is IA Idan Lavi, and Benyamin Levy and Yitzhak Zaken are also arbiters in the event. The photographer is Dr. Mark Livshitz, who has already captured the start of the event in his excellent photos.
Small details that give the feeling of a great event | Photo: Dr. Mark Livshitz.
Now it’s time to jump directly into the action. In the closed tournament, we had three decisive games out of five, with the most engrossing being:
Gladyszev,O (RUS, 2337) vs Emanuel,Y (ISR, 2256)
1st round: Closed tournament Maccabiah 1.7.2026
Black played 22…Qxa2? and after 23.Ra1 Qc4, White lost the opportunity to get a winning attack with 24.Bxd7 Nxd7 25.e4 and if Rc5-c8 26.Qxh6 with the deadly threat of 27.Bd4). The game continued 24.e4 dxe4 25.Bxc5 Qxc5 26.Qd4 exf3 27.Bxd7 Nxd7 and now the tables have turned around after White’s 28.Rec1?
28…f2! and White cannot avoid loss of material 29.Qxf2 Qxf2+ 30.Kxf2 Rxe2 Black converted his advantage after a few moves 0-1.
FM Yahav Emanuel. A good start | Photo: Dr. Mark Livshitz.
Zakin beat Streslov after an unfortunate blunder on move 25, and Dvoirys won convincingly with black against Sasson. The remaining two games ended in a draw. The Romanian derby (Nevednichy- Bulmaga) ended in a quick repetition in the Open Ruy Lopez, and Azoulay – Menachem drew a Rook endgame, not free from error.
In the Open section, we saw great gaps in the matches, as usual for a first round of a Swiss tournament. The following game had a particularly nice finish:
Koren, B vs Bloch,Y
1st round: Open tournament Maccabiah 1.7.2026
White is lost but could have played 26.g3 and kept fighting. He took the pawn 26.Qxf5 and Black finished with the usual procedure of the smothered mate 26…Qb5+ 27.Kg1 Ne2 28.Kf1 Ng3+ 29.Kg1 Qf1+ 30.Nxf1 Ne2#
That was a sweet victory for Bloch, who arrived at the round at the last minute, after some confusion regarding the start time.
The playing hall | Photo: Dr. Mark Livshitz
For further details, results, pictures and more, please check out the official event website:
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!