He won the Ukrainian championships three times; at Kiev 1924 (ahead of Fedor Bohatirchuk), at Kharkov 1925 (ahead of Nikolai Sorokin), and at Odessa 1928 (with Vladimir Kirillov).
Yakov Smirnoff | Meir Vilner | Yakov Smushkevich | Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich | Yakov Yakovlevich Etinger | Yakov Vilner | Yakov Peters | Yakov M. Rabkin | Yakov Malkiel | Yakov Frenkel | 3925 Tret'yakov |
He played several times in Ukrainian Chess Championship, and took 3rd at Poltava 1927 (Alexey Selezniev won), took 5th at Odessa 1928 (Yakov Vilner won), shared 1st at Kiev 1936, took 2nd, behind Fedor Bogatyrchuk, at Kiev 1937, and tied for 2nd-3rd at Kiev 1949 (Isaac Lipnitsky won).