Boris Gelfand - Biography

Boris Abramovich Gelfand (born 24 June 1968) is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.

Biography

Boris Gelfand was born in Minsk, Belarussian SSR on 24 June 1968. In 1998, he immigrated to Israel and settled in Rishon LeZion, where he became Israel's top ranking chess player.

Chess career

Early career

Gelfand was Junior Champion of the Soviet Union at 17, and European Junior Champion two years later. In 1988 he tied for first in the World Junior Championship, the title however going to Joël Lautier. The next year he earned the GM title. He has won about 30 tournaments in his professional career, including tournaments at Wijk aan Zee (in 1992 and 1994) and first places in Biel (1993), Dos Hermanas (1994), Belgrade (1995), Tilburg (1996), Malmö (1999), and Pamplona (2004).

Early World Championship Results

Gelfand has qualified several times for Candidates Tournaments for the World Chess Championship. In the World Chess Championship 1993, he qualified for the Candidates via the Interzonal. He won his first Candidates match, but was knocked out in the second (quarter-final) round by Nigel Short. In the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 he won the Interzonal, then won his first two Candidates matches, before being eliminated in the semi-final by Anatoly Karpov. He had numerous strong results in the knockout tournaments for the FIDE World Chess Championships 1998–2004, with his best result being a semi-finalist in 1997. He played in the 8-player 2002 Dortmund Tournament, which was the Candidates for the Classical World Chess Championship 2004, but failed to reach the semi-finals.

2007 World Championship

Gelfand finished in the top 10 in the 2005 FIDE World Cup, which qualified him for the Candidates for the World Chess Championship 2007. He won his Candidates matches against Rustam Kasimdzhanov (in rapid tie-breaks) and Gata Kamsky (+2 −0 =3), to qualify for the championship tournament in September 2007. Gelfand was not one of the favourites for the World Chess Championship 2007, but he surprised most observers by finishing joint second with reigning world champion Vladimir Kramnik (third after tie breaks); the tournament and the World Championship was won by Viswanathan Anand.

2012 World Championship

In the Chess World Cup 2009, Gelfand was the top seed, and defeated Judit Polgár, reigning World Junior Champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Dmitry Jakovenko, and Sergey Karjakin to reach the final. He then faced former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov for the championship, and won the match 7–5 in a playoff. By winning the Chess World Cup 2009, Gelfand qualified for the World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates Tournament.

In May 2011, Gelfand participated in the World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates tournament in Kazan, Russia where he was seeded fourth. In the quarterfinals, he won a complex struggle on the black side of the Najdorf Defense in game three to defeat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2.5–1.5 and advance to the semifinals, where he faced American Gata Kamsky. After splitting the first four games 2–2, Kamsky won game three in the rapid playoff to go ahead 2–1, forcing Gelfand to win with black in the final rapid game in order to avoid elimination. Gelfand was up to the task, and then won the blitz playoff 2–0 to advance to the final. In the final, he faced Alexander Grischuk. After drawing the first five games, Gelfand won the sixth and final game on the white side of a Gruenfeld Defence to win the match and the tournament 3.5–2.5. As winner of the Candidates Tournament, Gelfand will face Anand for the 2012 World Championship.

Notable tournament victories

• European Youth Championship, 1989
• Majorca (GMA), 1989
• Moscow, 1992
• Manila, 1993
• Chalkidiki, 1993
• Dos Hermanas, 1994
• Debrecen, 1995
• Vienna, 1996
• Tilburg, 1996
• Polanica Zdroj, 1998
• Polanica Zdroj, 2000
• Cannes, 2002
• Pamplona, 2004
• Biel, 2005
• ACP World Rapid Cup, 2009
• Chess World Cup, 2009
• Candidates Tournament, 2011

Individual results

(Through 2007)

Team results

Gelfand appeared in a total of nine Chess Olympiads, representing the Soviet Union once, Belarus twice, and Israel six times.

• In 1990, he won the team gold medal playing board two for the Soviet Union.
• In 2008, he won the team silver medal, and also an individual silver medal, playing board one for Israel.
• In 2010, he won the team bronze medal playing board one for Israel.

Playing style

Gelfand is notable as a 1.d4 opener as White, and as a specialist in the Najdorf Sicilian, Petroff Defence, Slav Defense, and King's Indian Defence as Black. He is noted for his strong positional awareness and low proneness to mistakes.

Published works

External links

• Rating data
• Interview with Boris Gelfand

be-x-old:Барыс Гельфанд