Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Israeli Championship,1968-1969




Source: Sarah Aloni's collection
Above are some nice photos of the players in the Israeli Open Championship, 1968-1969, which took place in Be'er Sheva, Israel. Can anybody help identify the players? I believe the seond image from the top has Malchiel Peretz (white) playing Yair Kraidman, and the third from the top might have Uzi Geller (white) playing Zadok Domnitz, but I might be wrong.

Edited to addA frequent correspondent suggests that in the top photo, we have Avraham Kaldor (white) playing  the old Moshe Blass. Another correspondent suggests that Geller's opponent is not Domnitz, but rather  Ya'akov Bernstein ("Ya'akov" is Gaige's preferred spelling in Chess Personalia). He also suggests In the second picture from the top is the young Michael Porat (son of Yosef Porat) playing against Yoel Aloni, Be'er Sheva open 1972. 

I believe the second correspondent is surely correct about Bernstein, but am less sure about Porat-Aloni. This can be resolved by looking at the list of participants in the 1968-1969 vs. the 1972 tournament. I am quite certain the photo is from the 1968-1969 tournament because of the source -- a set of photos from that tournament in Sarah Aloni's collection. But it's not inconceivable a photo from a later tournament was misplaced in her photo album. 

Yeol Aloni and Ben Gurion

Source: Sarah Aloni's collections
Finally, for now, from Sarah Aloni's collection -- a photo of Yoel Aloni (in hat, left of the girl in the head scarf) next to David Ben Gurion (center), ca. 1960. 

Chess Match, 1961

Source: Sarah Aloni's collection
Another interesting photo from Sarah Aloni's collection is this advertisement, by Ha'poel sports organization (top right) and the Deganya kibutz (top left) for a chess match. It is for a match between the kibutzim's movement's team and the greater Haifa team. It took place on Nissan 7th-8th, 5721 (March 24-25, 1961) in Deganya. 

Formal and Informal


Source: Sarah Aloni's collection
From Sarah Aloni's collection, we have also these interesting photos of chess concentration in both "informal" and "formal" dress -- "formal and "informal" for a kibutz member, that is.

I do not recognize the player (can someone help?). But Mrs. Aloni notes photos were taken during the kibutzim's movement yearly chess tournament, in the Matzuvah kibbutz, ca. 1960. 

Monday, December 30, 2019

Yoel Aloni

Source: Sarah Aloni's collection
Sarah Aloni, Hillel Aloni's widow, had kindly allowed me to publish the photos of her extensive collection of her late husband's chess material. Above is a photo of his twin brother, Yoel Aloni, playing chess in uniform, ca. 1960. Yoel served as officer in the Golani brigade.