Alla Kushnir Israeli, formerly Soviet, chess player, grandmaster Date of Birth: 11.08.1941 Country: Israel

Biography of Alla Kushnir

Alla Kushnir is an Israeli, formerly Soviet, chess player, grandmaster (1976), and numismatics historian. She was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR in 1972. Kushnir holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Archaeology (PhD, 1990). She became the Women's Chess Champion of the USSR in 1970 and participated in several USSR Championships from 1958 to 1970.

Kushnir was a three-time winner of the Chess Olympiads, representing the Soviet Union in 1969 and 1972, and Israel in 1976. She also competed in the World Chess Championships from 1964 to 1971 and 1976 to 1978. Although she was a contender for the title of World Chess Champion, she was defeated three times by Nona Gaprindashvili. Kushnir achieved notable results in various chess tournaments, finishing second in Tbilisi-Sukhumi in 1962, winning in Belgrade in 1971, finishing 2nd-3rd in Wijk aan Zee, and winning in Moscow in 1971, as well as winning in Vrnjačka Banja in 1973.

She was awarded the titles of WIM (Woman International Master; 1962) and WGM (Woman Grandmaster; 1976). In 1974, Kushnir repatriated to Israel.

After retiring from sports, Kushnir pursued a career in archaeology. She served as a professor at Tel Aviv University, a scientific consultant for the Israeli Numismatic Society, and a member of the editorial board of the journal "Israel Numismatic Research." Kushnir has authored numerous scientific publications on the numismatics of the Middle East. She was also a member of the editorial board for the three-volume compendium "Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: A multi-lingual corpus of the inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad" from 2011 to 2014.