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Yehuda Gruenfeld

Yehuda Gruenfeld is an Israeli chess grandmaster who won the Israeli championship in 1982 and 1990.

born 1956Israeli chess grandmasterIsraeli champion in 1982 and 1990World titles in deaf chess

Born: 28 February 1956, Dzierżoniów
Occupation: chess player

Yehuda Gruenfeld was born in 1956 in Dzierżoniów

Gruenfeld was born in Dzierżoniów, Poland, to parents who were dentists and Holocaust survivors. His family moved to Israel in 1957. He was born hearing, but became deaf after an illness treated with antibiotics when he was a baby.

He won the Israeli youth championship in 1974. He received the International Master title in 1978 and the grandmaster title in 1980. He was the second Israeli to become a grandmaster, after Yair Kraidman.

He won the Israeli championship in 1982 and 1990 and played for Israel in 6 Chess Olympiads. He qualified for the Interzonal tournaments of 1979 in Riga and 1987 in Zagreb. He also won tournaments in Biel, New York and Dortmund.

In later years he competed in deaf chess events. He won the world blitz championship for the deaf several times and a gold medal in blitz at the 2019 Winter Deaflympics. He lives in Mevaseret Zion, is married and has a son.