Leonid Gofshtein

Leonid Gofshtein was born in 1953 in Kyiv

Gofshtein was born in Kyiv on 21 April 1953. He played several times in the championship of the Soviet Union.

He moved to Israel in 1990 and changed his first name from Leonid to the Hebrew name Zvulon. He became an International Master in 1990 and a grandmaster in 1993. He played for Israel at the 30th Chess Olympiad in Manila in 1992 and at the 1993 European Team Championship.

He shared first place in the 2002 Israeli Championship, won the Israeli rapid title in 2003 and tied for first at the 2004 Ashdod Chess Festival. He was part of the coaching team of world champion Maia Chiburdanidze and also coached in Israel, France and Germany. He revived chess activity in Bat Yam and organized tournaments there.

In 2013 he won the European Senior Team Championship in Dresden with Israel, playing first board. He died on 25 December 2015 after a long illness. In 2016 the Haifa-Nesher chess club held a rapid tournament in his memory.