In October 2026, new inductees to the World Chess Hall of Fame were honored in St. Louis, USA. Among the five laureates were Israeli Boris Gelfand and Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk. Gelfand was honored on October 8, and Ivanchuk on the 24th. Both are already listed in the official Hall of Fame registry with the mark “2026.”
Author: Stas Shifer
The news of their election is not from October. The International Chess Federation FIDE announced the decision on July 30. In August, NANews detailed why these two names appeared together. Now the next part of the story has emerged — the ceremonies and photos of the participants who came to St. Louis.
I compared the July announcement of the organizers with the October reports and photo reports. There is a significant detail here: the decision to recognize the achievements of the chess players was made in the summer, and the celebrations were held on different days.
How the celebration took place in St. Louis
The World Chess Hall of Fame is located in the USA, but its world section is not an American national ranking. Candidates are chosen by FIDE representatives, evaluating not just one result, but a person’s contribution to chess. After the inclusion of the 2026 laureates, there are 61 names on the world list.
This year, in addition to Gelfand and Ivanchuk, it was joined by Ulf Andersson from Sweden, Nona Ioseliani from Georgia, and Alexandra Kosteniuk, representing Switzerland.
The celebrations were divided. Gelfand was honored on October 8 during the opening of the US Championships. Ivanchuk attended the ceremony on October 24, held as part of a chess conference.
The Swedish Chess Federation published photos by Austin Fuller from the Saint Louis Chess Club. Next to Ivanchuk stand Garry Kasparov, Ulf Andersson, and Alexandra Kosteniuk. The photograph confirms the Ukrainian’s presence at the event but does not mean that all five laureates were recognized simultaneously.
Boris Gelfand: from Minsk to the Israeli team
Boris Gelfand was born in 1968 in Minsk and repatriated to Israel in 1998. It was for the Israeli team that he won silver at the 2008 Chess Olympiad and bronze in 2010.
For a reader far from chess: this is a team international competition, not part of the regular Olympic Games. In 1990, Gelfand won it still with the USSR team.
But most often, Gelfand’s highest achievement is associated with Moscow, May 2012. In the match for the world champion title, he faced the reigning champion Viswanathan Anand. After twelve games, the score was tied — 6:6.
The winner was determined by a tiebreak — additional games with shorter thinking time. The Israeli grandmaster lost, but came closer to the highest title in classical chess than any Israeli representative before.
Gelfand was included in the Hall of Fame not for one match. His track record also includes the 2009 World Cup, victory in the 2011 Candidates Tournament, years of competing against the strongest chess players, and work as a coach.
For Israeli chess enthusiasts, his biography is also a story of repatriation. A person who received a chess education in the USSR continued his career under the Israeli flag and helped the national team win its largest Olympic medals.
Vasyl Ivanchuk: three times second in the world
Vasyl Ivanchuk was born in 1969 in Kopychyntsi, Ternopil region. In 1988, he received the title of grandmaster. Subsequently, he rose to the second position in the world ranking three times.
He won the prestigious tournament in Linares in 1989, 1991, and 1995. In the final of the 2002 FIDE World Championship, he lost to compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov.
Not having won the title of world champion in classical chess, Ivanchuk achieved success in other disciplines: he became the world blitz champion in 2007 and the rapid champion in 2016.
Blitz is a game with a few minutes for the entire game; rapid gives more time, but significantly less than classical control. For the viewer, these are different speeds of the same game, requiring a different approach to calculating options.
With the Ukrainian team, Ivanchuk won the Chess Olympiads in 2004 and 2010, and before Ukraine’s independence, two more as part of the USSR. Unlike Gelfand, his main team victories after the collapse of the Union are associated with Ukraine.
Both grandmasters started in the same Soviet chess system. Their careers then proceeded under different flags.
This connection between the chess communities of the two countries is maintained among young players. In August, NANews wrote about the participation of Israeli chess player Felix Tulchinsky in a Ukrainian tournament, where he took fourth place among 170 participants.
The current ceremonies concluded the story that began with FIDE’s July decision. In the official registry of the World Chess Hall of Fame, Boris Gelfand is listed under Israel, and Vasyl Ivanchuk under Ukraine. The year of inclusion for both is the same: 2026.
NANews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency