At the end of November and the beginning of December, the Israel Chess Federation is organizing a major international chess event in Jerusalem, the first since the massacre on October 7 and the start of the war in Gaza. The festival opens with a large rapid chess open on November 26 and 27. From November 30 to December 3, a strong invitational tournament will follow. It begins with a 12 player round robin. The top four then advance to a final knockout stage.

For the rapid invitational tournament, the Masters, ten players have already been confirmed. The two best players from the open will also qualify, bringing the Masters field to a total of 12 participants.

The prize fund for the open is 30,000 USD (5,000 USD for the winner). The Masters offers 140,000 USD in prize money, the highest amount ever awarded for a chess tournament in Israel.

The organizers of the event are the Ministry of Culture and Sport under Minister Miki Zohar, the Jerusalem Municipality under Mayor Moshe Leon, and the Israel Chess Federation. The tournament is held under the motto “Tolerance and Unity.” The open tournament will be played at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, while the Masters will take place at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem.

The field for the Masters is distinguished, featuring five prominent international players, among them the former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, the two-time World Championship runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi, and the Indian top GM Arjun Erigaisi. These international stars will be joined by five leading Israeli grandmasters. The best Israeli players will receive special prizes totaling 26,000 USD.

One name that might have been expected among the Israeli representatives is missing. Boris Gelfand, now 57 years old, a multiple World Championship candidate and the 2012 World Championship runner-up, and the country’s best player since immigrating from Belarus to Israel, is not taking part this year, just as he did not participate in the first edition last year.

Photo: World Chess




Achievements of Boris Gelfand

Six-time World Championship candidate
(1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013).
World Cup winner 2009.
Winner of the Candidates Tournament 2011
World Championship runner-up 2012. Gelfand drew 6–6 against Anand in the classical portion before losing the rapid playoff 1.5–2.5.
Winner of major tournaments in Wijk aan Zee, Tilburg, Moscow, Linares and Dos Hermanas.
Participant in eleven Chess Olympiads
From January 1990 to October 2017 ranked among the top 30 on the FIDE rating list. 

The reason is a serious and now public dispute with the Israel Chess Federation, more precisely with its representatives. As so often, it is a personal conflict, in this case between Boris Gelfand and the father of the young chess player Avital Borukhovsky, who has since also become a grandmaster. The dispute apparently began ten years ago, after Gil Borukhovsky became the CEO of the Israel Chess Federation.

In an interview for ICE-Sport, Boris Gelfand recently spoke in detail about this conflict.

According to Gelfand, Avital Borukhovsky has taken over the federation and has since placed several of his supporters in key positions, including Zvika Barkai, who has served as president since 2019.

Although there is now more money for chess in Israel, the atmosphere has become toxic, Gelfand says. The federation’s leadership, he argues, has no understanding of chess and does not support the players appropriately. Gelfand points to the placement of the Israeli team at the last Chess Olympiad, 57th behind Zimbabwe. According to him, the leadership is no longer interested in sporting success but only in power and control.

ICE-Sport subsequently published a statement by the Israeli federation in response to Gelfand’s remarks, rejecting the allegations. Gelfand’s omission, for example from the national team, is due to his financial demands, the federation claims. Gelfand denies this. Boris Gelfand’s wife Maya has also commented on the dispute on her Facebook account.

Thus, the Jerusalem Masters will once again have to take place without Israel’s best player.

Participants Masters





1


GM
Nepomniachtchi, Ian
4168119
FID
2762


2


GM
Fedoseev, Vladimir
24130737
SLO
2740


3


GM
Anand, Viswanathan
5000017
IND
2727


4


GM
Erigaisi, Arjun
35009192
IND
2708
Rishon Lezion Chess Club

5


GM
Svidler, Peter
4102142
FID
2669
Rishon Lezion Chess Club

6


GM
Rodshtein, Maxim
2806851
ISR
2600
Rishon Lezion Chess Club

7


GM
Sutovsky, Emil
2802007
ISR
2586
Ashdod Chess Club

8


GM
Boruchovsky, Avital
2800055
ISR
2487
Kfar Saba Chess Club

9


GM
Gorshtein, Ido
2815532
ISR
2449
Kfar Saba Chess Club

10


GM
Sokolovsky, Yahli
2820242
ISR
2397
Rishon Lezion Chess Club

11



TBD,


0


12



TBD,


0

Rapid Open, Top 15





1
GM
Fridman, Daniel
11600454
GER
2561

2
GM
Plat, Vojtech
325740
CZE
2560

3
GM
Alekseev, Evgeny
4138147
ISR
2557

4
GM
Nesterov, Arseniy
24198455
FID
2556

5
GM
Mirzoev, Azer
13400304
AZE
2509

6
GM
Oleksiyenko, Mykhaylo
4152417
UKR
2503

7
GM
Ginsburg, Gennadi
4630629
GER
2496

8
GM
Chatalbashev, Boris
2900440
DEN
2493

9
GM
Kunin, Vitaly
4128737
GER
2492

10
GM
Boruchovsky, Avital
2800055
ISR
2487

11
GM
Nikolov, Momchil
2905710
BUL
2485

12
GM
Solodovnichenko, Yuri
14104369
UKR
2483

13
GM
Romanov, Evgeny
4148843
MKD
2481

14
GM
Van Foreest, Lucas
1039792
NED
2471

15
GM
Dimitrov, Radoslav
2908549
BUL
2463

440 players…

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