Welcome to the Chess Site of GM Victor Mikhalevski

I've just added a few photos to My Gallery. Enjoy!

It has been a really good year for me. I've obtained not less than three Israeli titles: first the 2014 Israeli Team Championship with the Ashdod Chess Club, then the 2014 Israeli Individual championship with the classical time control and finally the 2014 Israeli Individual blitz championship. The last one took place in Kfar Saba on the Dec 4th. I started with 10 out of 11 and  secured a win with one round to spare. My final result was 10 out of 12, ahead of GM Michael Roiz, who scored 9 points. 3-6 places were taken by GMs Popilsky, Nabati, Smirin and Kantsler, who scored 8.5 points.64 players took part in the main group of the tournament between them 16 GMs. Here you can find an article about the tournament in Hebrew: http://chess.org.il/users/ShowNewsUpdates.aspx?contentId=1588&contentTypeId=2

Yesterday, July,8th, was my birthday. I've received hundreds of posts on facebook, which I want to thank everyone for. However one of the wishes was special and I want to share it with you. Andrew Green, who edited my first book, brought up the following review of the book, which by coincidence was published on my birthday: http://www.chesscafe.com/hansen/hansen176.htm

Only a few days have passed since the rapid tournament in Kfar Saba and the players met in Beer-Sheva to take part in the Individual Israeli Championships. The latter run on June17-26 with a free day on Saturday, June 21st in a very nice location, Leonardo Hotel, Beer-Sheva http://www.leonardo-hotels.com/israel-hotels/beer-sheva-hotels

I managed to take an early lead, while being the only player with 2 out of 2. The Elo favourites started slowly: Ilya Smirin(2660) had to be satisfied with two draws, Evgeny Postny(2641) lost in the first round, while Michael Roiz(2589) started with three draws. After a draw in round three I was cached up by Dan Zoler(2503). We extended the lead with round four wins. In round five we parted with a draw after a tought fight, but in the next round I took the lead again with a win over the early surprise of the tournament, Israeli soldier and  FM Hanan Mordechai. In that round Zoler was stopped with a draw by Evgeny Postny. With the draws in rounds 7 and 8 I managed to retains a half-point lead before the last round, but pre-tournament favorites came very close with only half a point behind me. Here are the standings before the last round: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr137295.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=8&wi=821 I had to play with the black pieces against Ilya Smirin, when a draw hasn't secured the win as Dan Zoler had a better tie-break before the final round and played with another surprise of the tournament FM Pinchas Kantarji with the white pieces. I played the opening inaccurately and Ilya obtained a powerful attack, but instead of going with a fast attack he played a slow move and I was back in the game. Soon Ilya offered a draw and indeed the position was roughly equal, but I wasn't sure if Kantarji gonna hold against Zoler and reject White's offer with only 1.5 minutes till the first time control. Probably Smirin was surprised and started to err. I obtained a big edge, but started to force matters too early and by move 41 most of my advantage has gone. Fortunately, Zoler has already agreed to a draw, as well as Roiz and Golod, who also had a good Buchgoltz. Now I was sure that a draw will suffice for a win in the tournament even though the game Huzman-Postny was still in progress. I offered a draw to Ilya in a slightly better position, which he couldn't reject. Despite Huzman's win I won the 2014 Israel Championship  on a much better tie-break. We both scored 6.5 points out of 9 with, while the GMs Zoler, Golod, Roiz and Smirin tied for the places from 3 to 6, when Zoler wins the Bronze medal. Here are the final standings of the tournament: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr137295.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&wi=821

I have to say that this was my first win in the Israeli Championships, though I have already tied for first on two ocassions:1996 and 2008, but was third on tie-breaks in both cases. In 1998 I lost in the final of the only knock-out championship and had to be satisfied with the silver medal. I've been third on 4 ocassions including last three championships and so this win was very sweet.

Israeli Women Championship was won by Olga Vasilieva for the second consecutive time with the convincing 8.5 points in 9 games in a round robin tournament, though it has to be admitted that her main rivals didn't tak part in the tournament.: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr137296.aspx?lan=1&art=1&wi=821

Now I would like to share with you my recent tournament results. I would like to start with the Israeli league, a team competition, which took place on Fridays and Saturdays starting from the beginning of January and ending at the end of May. My team, from Ashdod took clear first drawing in the last round our eternal rivals from the Beer-Sheva Chess Club. I have to say that going into the last round we were  point and a half ahead, but in case of a loss they would overtake us thanks to an extra point, which each team gets for winning a match. The match started with a couple of relatively uneventful draws, but in all the remaining games we were worse. After three hard fought draws the only remaining game was of yours truly against GM Alex Huzman. I was under some pressure throughout the game, but managed to hold and even missed a win at one point. The most important thing was that after three years of missing the title by a bit we have finally did it. So Ashdod Chess Club is 2014 Israeli Team Champions.

Here you can find the final results of the league:

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr125873.aspx?lan=1&art=0&wi=821

On the very next day after the last round of the league I played in a rapid tournament in kibbutz Naan, which is situated near Rehovot, about half an hour from tel Aviv. In a pretty strong field I managed to win solely with 4.5 out of 5. One of the important wins was over GM Lev Psakhis, 2-times Soviet Champion, which is back on track after a very serious illness.

The standings can be found here:

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr135885.aspx?lan=1&art=4&wi=821

Two weeks later another rapid tournament took place in Kfar Saba. I started again with 4 out of 4 together with GM Ilya Smirin. A rather quick draw in the final round secured a tie for the first place... I won the tournament on a better tie-break.

Unfortunately, I can't find a link of the tournament website.

Hello everyone!

The website was down for some time due to be erroneously considered to have high risk content. Fortunately, it has been double checked and found free of any risk. Thanks everyone for your patience!

Now I'll try to update it once in a while and offer some information on myself and my students and provide with the chess puzzles. Stay tuned!

It has been a while since I last posted on my website. One of the reasons is that I was busy writing a book. Eventually the book is ready and will be out at the end of January.  You can find an exerpt from the book and/or purchase it here: http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/products/1/184/grandmaster_repertoire_13_-_the_open_spanish_by_victor_mikhalevski/

Enjoy!

Vilnev - Esklapon

White to play and win

                                                       Here is a nice puzzle of Samuel Lloyd:

                                                                 White to play and mate in three

Y.Afek for Wijk aan Zee 2012

White to play and win