Shlomo Smiltiner

Shlomo Smiltiner was born in 1915 in Vilna Governorate

Shlomo Smiltiner was born on 27 November 1915 in Lithuania, then part of the Vilna Governorate. His parents were Yaakov Smiltiner and Rachel Rivka Smiltiner, née Slokhin. He had a brother and a sister, and he immigrated to the Land of Israel in the 1930s.

He was active in Israeli chess from 1933 and reached the final of the Israeli championship 9 times. In 1955 he shared places 2 to 4 in the championship with Yosef Porat and Yitzhak Aloni. For many years he was a central player of the Reti Tel Aviv team, and in 1966 he won the Lasker Tel Aviv championship.

He played for Israel at the Chess Olympiads of 1956 in Moscow, 1958 in Munich and 1966 in Havana. He kept playing in tournaments until the early 21st century. Outside chess, he managed a brewery in Netanya for many years.

He was married to Shoshana and had 2 daughters. He died on 13 August 2015 and was buried in Einat. Chess tournaments in his memory have been held in Tel Aviv and Kfar Saba.