Grand Master Boris Gelfand of Rishon Letzion won the Chess World Cup Monday night, defeating former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the tie-breaker of the final played in Russia. Gelfand was born in Belarus in 1968 and emigrated to Israel in 1998.
In a friendly match, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky beat the Jewish Ukrainian-American junior welterweight boxer Dmitry Salita in 20 moves. Salita, the American champion, who is visiting Israel after losing a bout for the world title, asked for a rematch ... in the boxing ring.