By Assi Philosoph
After seven rounds in the closed tournament, the two grandmasters are also the top two in the table, both without any losses.GM Dvoirys (RUS, 5 points) handed IM Bulmaga her first loss, showing a good defense with the Sicilian, after some early aggression from the white (Bulmaga) pieces. GM Nevednichy (ROU, 4.5 points) drew against FM Azoulay. In the sixth round, Nevednichy had an interesting tactical opportunity to win his game against Gladyszev, which he didn’t fail to grab:
GM Nevednichy, V (ROU) – IM Gladyszev, O (RUS)
6th round: Closed tournament Maccabiah 7.7.2026
In the diagram position, after 30.Qb6 Black played 30…Rdf8? (it would have been better to play 30…Rf5-f8 and the game would have gone on) and White found the long and forcing continuation:
31. Qe6+ Kh8 32. Bxh3 Qxh3 33. Rxf5 Qxf5 34. Qxf5 Rxf5 35. d6 Rf7 36. Rc1 h6 37. Rc7 and there was no way to avoid promotion 1-0
Zakin and Sason won in the seventh round against Emanuel and Menahem, respectively, and both kept the mathematical chance of achieving an IM norm, needing to win their two remaining games to do so. Sason’s game also presented him with a tactical opportunity to win, an opportunity which he made the most of:
FM Menahem, A (ISR) – FM Sason, N (ISR)
7th round: Closed tournament Maccabiah 8.7.2026
In the following position, White blundered with 22.f3 (22.g3 was necessary here). Sason, who is improving more and more quickly with each year that passes, played the crushing 22…Rxg2+ 23. Kh1 (23.Kxg2 Bxf3 and the queen is hanging) Rag8 24. Nd5 (hoping for 24…exd5 25.Qe7 Kg6 26.Kxg2).
Bxd5!! 25. Qxb6 Rg1+ the point 26. Rxg1 Bxf3+ 27. Rg2 Rxg2 28. Qb3 Ba8 29. Qb8 Rg8+ 30. Qxa8 Rxa8 and Black easily won the endgame.
FM Noam Sasson | Photo: Amit Schussel
To round up the news about the closed tournament, we’d like to remind you that the closed tournament will be the only tournament in session today, at 15.00. Players from the closed section will then join the other sections for the final round of the games tomorrow at 10:00.
GM Semen Dvoirys. So far, so good. | Photo: Mark Livshitz
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In the open section, GM Gruenfeld has a convincing lead, with 7.5 points out of 8, followed by Weber (7), Lotan (6.5), Gavriel and Rosenzweig (6). All of them are still in the fight for the medals. Here are the top pairings for the last round:
GM Yehuda Gruenfeld | Photo: Amit Schussel
The young Yair Mintz had a nice finish in his game against Dmitry Yakovlev. The position on the following diagram appears after the move 22. Bd3:
Yakovlev, D (ISR) – Mintz, Y (ISR)
8th round: Open tournament Maccabiah 8.7.2026
22…Bxc2! 23. Bxc2 Qc6 24. Kb1 Qxc2+ 25. Ka1 Nc4 now the mating continuation is unavoidable 26. Rb1 Na3 27.Qxg6 hxg6 28. Be5+ Kd7 29. Nf6+ Kd8 30. Rbd1 Qb1+ 0-1
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In the Junior Maccabiah, Bedyovkin (ISR) won with the black pieces against the leader Valter (ISR), and Sigalov (ISR) won against Darack (USA), opening the battle for the medals back up before the last round. Bedyovkin is leading solo with 5 out of 6, so his chances of winning the gold medal are entirely in his own hands. After him, 3 players with 4.5 points are jostling for medals on the scoreboard. As a reminder, there are only 7 rounds in this section. Here is the table:
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An additional attraction for visitors, and all those who’d finished their games, was the AI robot, who was ready to be challenged at every level. As promised, the winner of the open competition will take him home forever and will be able to spend their evenings with someone who plays chess well, doesn’t talk much, and never complains. A perfect partner!
One of the testers was the WFM Valeria Dotan, who said to us: “I’m having a great time playing the Maccabiah, as I waited so long for this event. It’s well organized, with all the facilities you could need, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers, Moshe Slav and Herzliya chess club, for hosting. I have only good things to say”.
WFM Valeria Dotan (ISR) trying her luck against the best player in the Maccabiah
See you on Friday morning for all the excitement of the last round. Don’t miss it!