On 13 November 2026 NetanyaNet told the story of Netanya resident Yan Radovilsky, a chess player who gradually lost his sight, left the game for years and came back. Today he plays for Israel’s national team of visually impaired and blind players and for the city club, Elitzur Ironi Netanya.<\/p>\n
Yan, 51, lives in the Ramat Efraim neighbourhood, is married and has five children. He started playing at six, attended a chess circle in the Soviet Union at 12, and immigrated to Israel in 1991, aged 16, already a candidate master. He joined the Netanya club, studied computer science, played for clubs in Haifa and Beersheba, and later returned to Netanya.<\/p>\n
In 2002, at 27, he was diagnosed with retinal dystrophy in both eyes \u2014 an incurable genetic condition that gradually reduces visual acuity. Bright lighting over the board helped at first, but eventually was not enough. From 2007 to 2020, roughly 12 years, he barely played, and he says he missed the tension and the competitive spirit.<\/p>\n
The turning point came when he discovered Israel’s association of blind chess players, which gave him adapted equipment: a board with raised dark squares, pieces that can be told apart by touch and talking clocks that announce the time through an earpiece. He now plays tournaments for visually impaired players in Jerusalem, represents Israel internationally and is back in league play for Netanya.<\/p>\n
Games use two boards: Yan’s adapted one and his opponent’s standard one. Yan finds the pieces by touch and announces his move aloud; his opponent plays it on their board, then announces their own move so Yan can update his. Many opponents need the rules explained and time to adjust, but most are impressed. Yan says playing blind demands intense concentration, is stressful under time pressure, and makes calculating several moves ahead harder. At home he sometimes plays his children, several of whom have trained at the Netanya club.<\/p>\n
Elitzur Ironi Netanya operates under Ra’im, the municipal non-formal education association. It has grown sharply in recent years, helped by the pandemic and The Queen’s Gambit. It now has about 200 active players and around 50 children and teenagers \u2014 from six- and seven-year-olds already competing in Israeli championships to 90-year-old Grigory Robotnikov, who recently moved over from Beersheba. Achievements include Zivi Tsuker’s win at the Israeli under-12 championship, and the youth team is close to promotion to the top league. The club is led by lawyer Michael Luria, 44, who co-ran it with Nick Koploff from 2005 and has run it alone for the past three years.<\/p>\n
Luria has known Yan since childhood \u2014 they immigrated the same year and started at the club together. He watched Yan’s sight decline and his attempts with special lamps, and knows accepting the change took time. Now, he says, Yan plays sighted opponents without any sense of inferiority, and the club is proud to have him back. Ra’im CEO Moshe Kaizler calls it more than a sports story: a reminder that determination and self-belief can overcome limits and prejudice.<\/p>\n
Yan wants to regain the level he lost during his break and, one day, to teach chess, possibly to people with visual impairments.<\/p>\n
The city chess club welcomes children, teens and adults of all levels: 052-8836740 or 09-8826332.<\/p>\n