Avigdor Bykhovsky is an International Grandmaster of correspondence chess from Israel. He was born on August 15, 1948 in Sverdlovsk, Russia. He moved to Haifa, Israel with his Jewish family in 1960, where he learned chess from a local chess club. By 1965, he won the Israeli Youth Championship.
He started focusing on correspondence chess in 1971, noting that it suited his character better. He quickly became one of the world’s top correspondence players, using the slow-thinking nature of the game to his advantage. The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) awarded him the title of International Master in 1987 and later the prestigious International Grandmaster (IGM) title in 1992.
Throughout his career, Bykhovsky twice finished in the top three in the World Correspondence Championship. He was the winner of the ICCF Cup (1985-1990) and the absolute champion of the USSR in correspondence chess (1989-1996). He also participated in the team championship of Europe and the world, contributing to Israel’s gold medal victory in the 10th Correspondence Chess Olympiad Finals. He retired from active competition in 2013.