By Ram Soffer

The final round of the Israeli Chess League was held in the Mark Chess Center in Ramat-Aviv on May 30.

The Premier National League includes 12 teams, playing over 6 boards.
Each team is allowed one foreign player per match.

The 2008 season was dominated from start to finish by the Ashdod Chess
Club team, which won convincingly 10 of its 11 matches and drew only against
former champions Beer-Sheva (who took 2^nd place). The final ranking
shows a 7 point-gap between Ashdod and its nearest rival.

Meanwhild Ashdod added another trophy in the Israeli Team Cup, a rapid
event held in Nazareth-Illit on May 23.

The members of the winning team are: Emil Sutovsky, Boris Avrukh, Ilya
Smirin, Vitali Golod, Arthur Kogan, Boris Kantsler and Yehuda Gruenfeld plus
the two Ukranians Pavel Eljanov and Alexnder Moiseenko.

As Ashdod won the title with a round to spare, the focus of interest on
the last round was on the battle to avoid relegation. At the end of the day it
transpired that the teams from Herzliya and Tel-Aviv had to depart the Premier
League, while the B-teams of Ashdod and Beer-Sheva avoided demotion by a hair’s
breadth.

The best result on the top board (9 out of 11) was achieved by Michael
Roiz from Beer-Sheva. Here is one of his wins:

Roiz,Michael - Manor,Ilan

Israeli Premier League (4), 03.28.2008

Pirc Defense B07

1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6
4.Bd3 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.Re1 Nbd7 7.c3 e5 8.h3 Re8 9.Nbd2 h6 10.a4 a5 11.Bc2 b6
12.Nf1 Bb7 13.Ng3 d5 14.dxe5 Nxe4 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Bxe4 Bxe4 17.Rxe4 Nxe5 18.Bf4
Nxf3+ 19.Qxf3 Qd7 20.Rae1

20…b5 21.Bxc7 bxa4 22.Be5 Bxe5 23.Rxe5 Rab8 24.Qf6 Rxe5 25.Rxe5 Re8
26.c4 Rxe5 27.Qxe5 Qd1+ 28.Kh2 Qc2 29.c5 h5 30.Qe8+ Kg7 31.c6 Qxf2 32.Qe5+ f6
33.Qd6 f5 34.c7 1-0