Israel Zilber (; born June 25, 1933 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

) is a

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player who won the

Latvian Chess Championship The Latvian Chess Champsionship () is the annual national chess tournament of Latvia among men and women players, which was established in 1924. It is organized by the Latvian Chess Federation (), previously - Latvian Chess Union (). History ...

in 1958.

Latvia chess player

Zilber was born in

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. He achieved excellent results during the period 1950 to 1973 when he lived in Soviet-occupied Latvia. He represented the Latvian SSR in Soviet Team juniors chess championships in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1951 at first board (5½/9). He played in

finals in: * 1950 (6th place); * 1951 (8th place); * 1952 (4th place); * 1953 (9th place); * 1954 (7th place); * 1955 (6th place); * 1956 (2nd place); * 1957 (4th place); * 1958 (1st place, ahead

Aivars Gipslis Aivars Gipslis (February 8, 1937 – April 13, 2000) was a Latvian chess player, writer, and editor, who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster and the ICCF title of Correspondence Chess Grandmaster. Chess biography Born in Ri ...

and

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...

); * 1961 (4th place); * 1962 (2nd place); * 1963 (5th place); * 1964 (3rd place); * 1972 (2nd place); * 1973 (9th place). He was

champion in 1962 and 1974, and "Daugava" champion in 1962 and won second place in 1965. In the Championship of the USSR he reached semifinals in 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1962. Zilber also represented the Latvian SSR in Soviet Team chess championships in 1953 (second place at seventh board: +4−1=2), 1955 (at fourth board: +2−2=5), 1958 (at first board: +1−5=1), 1960 (at fifth board: 2½/7), 1962 (second place at fourth board: +4−1=3), and 1963 (at fourth board: 6/9). He played in the Soviet Team chess cup for team "Daugava" at fifth board in 1961 (+0−3=3) and 1964 (+0−1=0).

US career

After 1974, Zilber immigrated first to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and then to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1979, he played in

Hastings International Chess Congress The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin t ...

; in 1980 Zilber won the Masters Open tournament in Biel and a year later he won

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

tournament. Also according to Fred Waitzkins book 'Searching for Bobby Fischer I.M. Zilber liked to wear women's clothing and suffered from Schizophrenia and also was considered the best player in Washington Square Park with the exception of G.M. Roman Dzhindzicashvili and would leave the park whenever chess Grandmaster Roman Dzhindzicashvili would arrive there. His name can also be found among the participants of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Benedictine in 1980. However, his life in the United States became fraught with hardship. Zilber would end up homeless on the streets of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

through most of the 1980s and played chess with strangers in

Washington Square Park Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. ...

. This setting was the story about the park in the 1993 film ''

Searching for Bobby Fischer ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'', released in the United Kingdom as ''Innocent Moves'', is a 1993 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Steven Zaillian in his List of directorial debuts, directorial debut. Starr ...

''. Details of Zilber's later years are inconclusive – an unconfirmed story states that during a harsh winter he froze to death. A different theory claims that he is not listed in the

Social Security Death Index The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was a database of death records created from the Social Security Administration, United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File until 2014. Since 2014, public access to the updated Death Mas ...

and could still be alive.

Notable games

vs. Zilber, URS 1952. First victory over young Mikhail Tal. *Zilber vs. Mikhail Tal, URS 1958. The deciding battle in the 1958 Latvian Chess Championship. *Zilber vs.

Yasser Seirawan Yasser Seirawan ( ar, ياسر سيروان; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author an ...

, Hastings 1979/80. A notable match with Yasser Seirawan.

References

External links

* * * *
Israel Zilber
player profile at ChessMetrics.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Zilber, Israel 1933 births Possibly living people Sportspeople from Riga Latvian Jews Soviet emigrants to Israel Israeli people of Latvian-Jewish descent American people of Latvian-Jewish descent Latvian chess players Soviet chess players Israeli chess players American chess players Jewish chess players