Yona Kosashvili


Professor Yona Kosashvili MD is an Israeli chess Grandmaster and surgeon. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, he moved to Israel as a child. Kosashvili is one of the few people in the world to have earned both of the titles MD and GM. He is an orthopedic surgeon, specializing in a variety of procedures including arthroscopy and total joint replacement. Prof. Kosashvili is Head of Orthopedic Department at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel. Dr Kosashvili is actively involved in academics through his role as Clinical Instructor of Orthopedic Surgery at Tel Aviv University. Although he never played chess professionally, he holds the title of International Chess Grandmaster. In 1995 he was ranked 93rd in the world.

Chess coaching and management

In addition to actively competing, Yona was the Israeli junior team captain and trainer in 1993. One of his students won the Under 14 World Junior Championship in 1992, while another student won second place in the Under 12 World Junior Championship.
Before beginning his army service, he published a book for chess trainers that was adopted by the Israeli Chess Federation as its official trainers guide. In 1995, he was the managing director of the European Junior Chess Championship and International Chess Festival.

Personal life

In 1999 he married International Master Sofia Polgar, and they have two children, Alon and Yoav. The whole family subsequently emigrated to Toronto, Canada, but around 2012 they moved back to Israel. Other famous chess players in the family are Grandmasters Susan Polgar and Judit Polgar.