Yona Kosashvili

Yona Kosashvili
Full name Yona Kosashvili
Country  Israel
Born (1970-07-03) July 3, 1970
Tbilisi, Georgian SSR
Title Grandmaster, orthopedic surgeon,
FIDE rating 2531 (December 2016)
Peak rating 2580 (July 1995)

Professor Yona Kosashvili MD (Hebrew: יונה קוסאשווילי‎‎; July 3, 1970) is an Israeli chess Grandmaster and surgeon. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, he moved to Israel as a child. Kosashvili is one of the few people in the world to have earned both of the titles MD and GM. He is an orthopedic surgeon, specializing in a variety of procedures including arthroscopy and total joint replacement. Prof. Kosashvili is Head of Orthopedic Department at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel. Dr Kosashvili is actively involved in academics through his role as Clinical Instructor of Orthopedic Surgery at Tel Aviv University. Although he never played chess professionally, he holds the title of International Chess Grandmaster. In 1995 he was ranked 34th in the world.

Chess coaching and management

In addition to actively competing, Yona was the Israeli junior team captain and trainer in 1993. One of his students won the Under 14 World Junior Championship in 1992, while another student won second place in the Under 12 World Junior Championship.

Before beginning his army service, he published a book for chess trainers that was adopted by the Israeli Chess Federation as its official trainers guide. In 1995, he was the managing director of the European Junior Chess Championship and International Chess Festival.

Personal life

In 1999 he married International Master Sofia Polgar, and they have two children, Alon and Yoav. The whole family subsequently emigrated to Toronto, Canada, but around 2012 they moved back to Israel. Other famous chess players in the family include the former female world champion Susan Polgar and Judit Polgar, who is generally considered the strongest female chess player ever.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Sources citing Polgár as by far the strongest female chess player of all time:
    • "Anand wins chess "Battle of the Sexes"". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Associated Press. 2003-08-18. p. 6A. note: The Associated Press story on Aug.17/18, 2003 on the Polgár–Anand match explicitly refers to Polgár with the words "by far the strongest woman chess player ever"
    • "Polgar, Judit". Encyclodedia Britannica Online. Retrieved January 22, 2015. note: explicitly uses "by far": "By far the strongest female player of all time".
    • "Super-GM tournament in Sofia starts". Chessbase.com. 12 May 2005. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
    • "Judit Polgár: 'I can work myself into the top ten again'". ChessBase. 2007-11-11. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
    • McClain, Dylan Loeb (2006-12-24). "Chess; The Secret of Playing Blindfold: Memory May Be the Least of It". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
    • "Women Grandmasters in Chess". MichaelBluejay. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
    • Pein, Malcolm (2009-09-22). "A crown for Kosteniuk". London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 2010-04-18. Malcolm Pein, British IM and Executive Editor of CHESS magazine, when speaking of A. Kosteniuk's victory over Hou Yifan for the Women's World Champtionship, said "Currently Judit Polgár is in another league from any other female player."
    • "Elite Players Of Chess To Compete". The New York Times. 2005-05-17. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
    • Humber, James M.; Almeder, Robert F. Human cloning. Humana Press inc. p. 87. ISBN 0-89603-565-4.
    • Weber, Bruce (1996-12-22). "Next Move? Chess enthusiasts puzzle over game's gender imbalance". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. p. 17A.
    • Wolff, Patrick (2002). Complete Idiot's guide to chess. Penguin Group (USA) Inc. p. 277. ISBN 0-02-864182-5.
    • Kavalek, Lubomir (2005-01-17). "Chess". The Washington Post. p. C12. Kavalek, GM in the top 100 players for 26 years, called Polgár, "the all-time best female player"
    • Pandolfini, Bruce (2007). Treasure Chess: Trivia, Quotes, Puzzles, and Lore from the World's Oldest Game. Random House. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-375-72204-2. Panolfini, chess author and coach, writes "Judit Polgár is simply the strongest female chess player in history."
    • The January 1996 FIDE ratings list was a landmark as Polgár's 2675 rating made her the No. 10 ranked player in the world, the only woman ever to enter the world's Top Ten. Berry, Jonathan (1996-01-06). "Kramnick, 20 Tops the rating list". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. A12.
    • "All Time Rankings:FIDE Top 10 1970–1997". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
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