Boris Gelfand

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Boris Gelfand
Full name Boris Abramovich Gelfand
Country Flag of Israel Israel
Born June 24, 1968 (1968-06-24) (age 39)
Minsk, Belarus
Title Grandmaster
FIDE rating 2723
(No. 16 on the April 2008 FIDE ratings list)
Peak rating 2737 (January 2008)
This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Boris Abramovich Gelfand (born 24 June 1968) is a chess grandmaster. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he emigrated to Israel in 1998, and now lives in Rishon LeZion, and is Israel's number 1 ranked chess player. He has had several strong World Chess Championship performances, without ever winning.

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[edit] Chess 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 Joel Lautier. The next year he earned the GM title. He has won about 30 tournaments in his professional life, including tournaments at Wijk Aan Zee (in 1992 and 1994) and first places in Biel (1993), Dos Hermanas (1994), Belgrade (1995), Tilburg (1996), and Malmo (1999). In 2004 Gelfand won the Pamplona, Navarra tournament, held from December 20 to December 29.

[edit] World Championship Candidate

Several times Gelfand has qualified 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.

He 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 (third after tie breaks).

[edit] Chess titles

  • European Youth Championhip, 1989
  • Mallorca (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

[edit] Playing style

Gelfand is notable as a 1.d4 opener as white and as a Najdorf Sicilian specialist as black, and is noted for his strong positional awareness.

[edit] Chess author

[edit] External links