The Jerusalem City Hall hosted yesterday the No. 7 player in the live world ranking, Boris Gelfand of Israel, for a simultaneous display vs. 36 opponents. The event lasted almost 4 hours. Each participant received a gift from the Chess Festival Organizing Committee, and those who won or drew received also a chess book, with a written personal dedication by Gelfand.

The grandmaster revealed himself as the perfect gentleman. At the finish of each game, Gelfand shook his opponent's hand, and signed his scoresheet, while making a few comments about the game. Boris always had some encouraging words to say to his opponent. However, far from easing his task, the chessplayers from Jerusalem fought honorably and put up a tough struggle.

The most notable participant was of course his Honor Mayor of Jerusalem, Mr. Nir Barkat, who was undoubtedly impressed by the number of participants and spectators, who displayed keen interest in the proceedings. The manager of the local Jeru-Chess club, who was also the organizer of this event, Mr. Alon Cohen-Revivo, expressed his hope that the mayor's participation may pave the way for the organization of a big chess festival in Jersualem which is going to surpass the previous successful festival, held in 2008.

Alon revealed himself as a picturesque figure, and he organized the event in his own unique manner. One could plainly see the big encouragement he gives to the capital city's junior players, many of whom could be seen as players or spectators. Some of them already hold high rankings and national junior titles, and this was manifested on the chess boards by even contests and tough fights. Thanks to Alon's activity in recent years, one could say with confidence that chess has a bright future in Jerusalem.

The two players who managed to defeat Gelfand belong rather to the more veteran participants. Willy Iclicki, a Jewish chess player representing Monaco but often visiting Israel, is recently working on a huge project of a comprehensive encyclopedia about chess and chessplayers, to be published on the internet. Prof. Noam Zohar, a lecturer on philosophy at Bar-Ilan University, who plays chess under the limitations of his free time, said that someone once taught him the Benko Gambit, telling him that the study of this opening may enable him to beat strong players. The dream has come true, the "victim" being a player of the world's top ten.

However not only those two, but rather the whole chess community of Jerusalem, emerged victorious yesterday thanks to a nice, well-organized event, with the participation of the mayor, which received substantial media coverage. Finally, here are three of the games, courtesy of the players who provided us with their scoresheets.

Gelfand,Boris - Zohar,Noam [A58]

simul Jerusalem, 15.07.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nf3 d6 8.g3 Bg7 9.Bg2 Nbd7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qc2 Qb6 12.Rd1 Rab8 13.Rb1 Qa7 14.b3 Ng4 15.Bd2 c4 16.Be1 cxb3 17.axb3 Rfc8 18.e4 Qc5 19.b4 Qc4 20.Rdc1 Nge5 21.Nxe5 Nxe5 22.b5 Bb7 23.Qb3 Qxb3 24.Rxb3 Nd3 0-1

Gelfand,Boris - Zlotogorski,Itay [D17]

simul Jerusalem, 15.07.2009

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.e3 e6 9.Bxc4 Bb4 10.h3 a5 11.0-0 0-0 12.Qc2 Nbd7 13.Rd1 Qe7 14.Bd2 Nb6 15.Bf1 Rfd8 16.Be1 e5 17.dxe5 Qxe5 18.b3 Nbd5 19.Nxd5 Nxd5 20.Bc4 Bxe1 21.Rxe1 Nb6 22.Rad1 Qe7 23.Rxd8+ Rxd8 24.Rd1 Rxd1+ 25.Qxd1 Nxc4 26.bxc4 Qb4 27.Qd8+ 0.5-0.5

Gelfand,Boris - Magen,Daniel [B84]

simul Jerusalem, 15.07.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.f4 Qc7 9.Kh1 b5 10.Bf3 Bb7 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7 13.Bxb7 Qxb7 14.Qg4 Nc6 15.Qxg7 0-0-0 16.Nf3 Ncxe5 17.Qg3 Rhg8 18.Qh3 b4 19.Ne2 Qb5 20.Nfd4 Qd5 21.c3 Rg4 22.Bf4 Rh4 23.Qe3 Bg5 24.h3 h6 25.cxb4 Rg8 26.Nf3 1-0