Yehuda Gruenfeld ( he, יהודה גרינפלד; born 28 February 1956) is an Israeli

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 holds the title of grandmaster.

Career

He was born in

Dzierżoniów Dzierżoniów (; szl, Rychbach; german: Reichenbach im Eulengebirge ) is a town located at the foot of the Owl Mountains in southwestern Poland, within the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975 to 1998 in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship). It is ...

, Poland. In 1974, Gruenfeld won the Israeli championship for youth players. In 1978, he tied for 2nd-5th in

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsj ...

. In 1978, he won in

Gausdal Gausdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Segalstad bru. Other villages in Gausdal include Follebu, Forse ...

. In 1979, he tied for 1st-2nd in

Biel , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) B ...

. In 1979, he took 2nd in the

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

Zonal. In 1979, he took 12th in the

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 ...

Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the ...

, won by

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 ...

. In 1980, he tied for 3rd-4th in Beer Sheva, tied for 2nd-8th in

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, tied for 2nd-4th in Gausdal, tied for 1st-4th in

Oberwart Oberwart (; hu, Felsőőr; hr, Gornja Borta) is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the same name. Oberwart is the cultural capital of the small ethnic Hungarian minority ...

, tied for 2nd-5th in

Ramat Hasharon Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon t ...

, and won in Biel. In 1981, he tied for 1st-3rd in Lugano, and won in New York. In 1982, Gruenfeld won the Israeli championship. In 1984, he won in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

. In 1985, he was equal first with

Maxim Dlugy Maxim Alexandrovich Dlugy (born January 29, 1966) is an American chess player with the FIDE title of Grandmaster. He was born in Moscow, USSR, and arrived with his family in the United States in 1977. He was awarded the International Master t ...

and

Dmitry Gurevich Dmitry Gurevich (russian: Дмитрий Гуревич; born September 11, 1956) is a Russian-American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster. Born in Moscow, Gurevich emigrated to New York City in 1980 and earned the Grandmaste ...

at the 13th World Open of Philadelphia (Dlugy won the play-off). In 1987, he won the Munich Zonal). In 1987, he tied for 8-11th in the

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

Interzonal, won by

Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He ...

. In 1990, he again won the Israeli championship. Gruenfeld played for Israel in six

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

s: * In 1978, at second reserve board in the 23rd Olympiad in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

(+2 –0 =7); * In 1980, at third board in the 24th Olympiad in

La Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...

(+6 –3 =2); * In 1982, at first board in the 25th Olympiad in

(+2 –2 =7); * In 1984, at first board in the 26th Olympiad in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

(+3 –4 =4); * In 1990, at second board in the 29th Olympiad in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

(+0 –3 =5); * In 1992, at first reserve board in the 30th Olympiad in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

(+4 –1 =4).

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

awarded him the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title in 1978, and the International Grandmaster title in 1980. Gruenfeld is

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

, but is able to speak, however hoarsely, and can read lips. He played in the 2014 Chess Olympiad on the for the

International Chess Committee of the Deaf International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

team. He claimed gold medal in the men's blitz event at the 2019 Winter Deaflympics where chess was officially included as a medal sport for the first time.

Brilliant game

This is an example of his sharp tactical acumen, against the future grandmaster

Murray Chandler Murray Graham Chandler (born 4 April 1960, Wellington, New Zealand) is a chess grandmaster who has played internationally for New Zealand and for England, after he gained British citizenship in the early 1980s. Chandler is also known as a ches ...

, who later included it in his own book ''“How to Beat Your Dad at Chess'', position 105: Murray G Chandler vs Yehuda Gruenfeld, Lone Pine, R7, 2 April 1979: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.f4 Qb6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.d5 Nd7 8.Na4 Qc7 9.Bd2 Ngf6 10.Bd3 O-O 11.Rc1 cxd5 12.cxd5 Qb8 13.b4 b5 14.Nc3 a6 15.O-O Nb6 16.a4 Nc4 17.Bxc4 bxc4 18.Rb1 a5 19.b5 Nd7 20.Qc2 Qb6+ 21.Kh1 Rfc8 22.Ng5 h6 23.Nxf7 Kxf7 24.h3 h5 25.hxg4 hxg4 26.Kh2 Bd4 27.g3 Rh8+ 28.Kg2 Bg1!! (threatening 29...Rh2#, but if 29.Rxg1, then 29...Rh2+! 30.Kxh2 0.Kf1 Qf2#30...Qf2+ 31.Kh1 (or 31.Rg2) 31...Rh8#) 0-1Murray G Chandler vs Yehuda Gruenfeld
Lone Pine (1979), Lone Pine, CA USA, rd 7, Apr-02, Caro-Kann Defense (B10) 0-1,

Chessgames.com Chessgames.com is an Internet chess community with over 224,000 members. The site maintains a large database of chess games, where each game has its own discussion page for comments and analysis. Limited primarily to games where at least one pla ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruenfeld, Yehuda 1956 births Living people Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli people of Silesian descent Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors Jewish chess players Polish chess players Israeli chess players Polish emigrants to Israel Deaf sportspeople Israeli Jews Silesian Jews People from Dzierżoniów Sportspeople from Lower Silesian Voivodeship Israeli deaf people Medalists at the 2019 Winter Deaflympics Deaflympic gold medalists for Israel Chess players at the 2019 Winter Deaflympics Deaflympic chess players of Israel