Meir Rauch

Meir Rauch was born in 1909 in Żołynia

Meir Rauch was born in Żołynia, Poland, in 1909. In 1925 he moved to Berlin, where he worked for a living and spent his free time playing chess. He began playing young and won tournaments.

In 1934 he moved to the Land of Israel and settled in Tel Aviv, where he joined the Land of Israel chess club. In 1939 he played for the Land of Israel team at the 8th Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires. He played on the first reserve board and scored 7.5 points out of 13.

When World War II broke out, he stayed in Argentina with other Olympiad players and kept competing. There he was in close contact with grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, from whom he learned blindfold chess.

He returned to Israel in 1945 and set the Israeli record for a blindfold simultaneous game against 8 players. Later he played less often because of his wife's illness, but stayed active in the Réti chess club in Tel Aviv. He died in 1983 and was buried in the Southern Cemetery.