Boris Gelfand facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Boris Gelfand |
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During the Tata Steel Chess, 2012
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| Full name | Boris Abramovich Gelfand |
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| Born | 24 June 1968 Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Title | Grandmaster (1989) |
| FIDE rating | 2676 (June 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2777 (November 2013) |
| Ranking | No. 60 (September 2020) |
| Peak ranking | No. 3 (July 1990) |
Boris Abramovich Gelfand (born on June 24, 1968) is a famous chess player. He is from Belarus and Israel.
Boris Gelfand has been a top chess player for many years. He has played in the World Championship several times. In 2009, he won the Chess World Cup. This led him to challenge for the World Chess Championship 2012. He played against the champion, Viswanathan Anand. The match was very close, ending in a tie. But Gelfand lost in a tie-break round.
He has won many big tournaments around the world. These include events in Wijk aan Zee, Tilburg, Moscow, Linares, and Dos Hermanas. He has also played for his country in eleven Chess Olympiads. For a long time, he was one of the top 30 chess players in the world.
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Early Years in Chess
Boris Gelfand was born in Minsk, which was then part of the Soviet Union. His birthday is June 24, 1968. His parents, Abram and Nella, were engineers. When he was five, his father gave him a chess book. This book was called Journey to the Chess Kingdom.
People quickly saw that Boris had a special talent for chess. From 1974 to 1979, Eduard Zelkind was his first coach. After that, he learned from Tamara Golovey and Albert Kapengut. From 1980 to 1983, he went to the Tigran Petrosian School. Tigran Petrosian was a former world champion.
Boris had early success in chess. He won the Sokolsky Memorial in 1983. He also won the Belarusian Chess Championship two years in a row (1984 and 1985). In 1985, he won the USSR Junior Championship. The next year, he came second in the Minsk International tournament.
By July 1987, Boris was almost in the top 100 players in the world. He became the European Junior Champion in 1987. He also did well in other big tournaments. By July 1988, he was ranked among the world's top 40 players. He continued to win and share first place in important events. He also came second in the World Junior Chess Championship.
Becoming a Chess Star
In 1989, Boris Gelfand played in his first USSR Championship. He shared second place in this big event. Soon after, he won the Palma de Mallorca Open. That same year, FIDE gave him the title of Grandmaster. This is the highest title a chess player can get.
In 1990, he was invited to major tournaments. He finished second behind Garry Kasparov in Linares and Dortmund. He also shared first place in the Manila Interzonal. In 1991, he won at Belgrade. He also shared second place with Kasparov at Reggio Emilia. In 1992, he shared first place at Wijk aan Zee. He also shared first with Viswanathan Anand at the Alekhine Memorial in Moscow.
In 1993, Boris won the Biel Interzonal tournament. This win earned him a spot in the 1994 Candidates Matches. These matches decide who will challenge for the World Championship. He beat Michael Adams and Vladimir Kramnik. But he lost to Anatoly Karpov in the Candidates Final in 1995.
Boris Gelfand stayed in the world's top 20 players for many years. He won tournaments in Dos Hermanas and Cap d'Agde in 1994. He also won in Belgrade in 1995. He continued to have strong results in many international events. In 1997, he reached the semi-finals of the FIDE Knockout World Championships. He was eventually knocked out by Anand, who went on to win the tournament.
In 1998, Boris won the Rubinstein Memorial. He won it again in 2000. He also won the Sigeman & Co tournament in 1999. In 2001, he shared first place in the rapid chess section of the Melody Amber tournament. He won it outright the next year. In 2002, he won the Cap d'Agde knockout tournament. He also played for the "World" team in a rapid match against "Russia," and his team won.
In 2004, he won a tournament in Pamplona. In 2005, he shared first place in the Bermuda Invitational and Biel tournaments. He also finished sixth in the Chess World Cup 2005. This earned him a spot in the 2007 Candidates Matches. In 2006, he had good results at Corus and Dortmund.
Boris Gelfand won his Candidates matches against Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Gata Kamsky. This meant he qualified for the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament in Mexico City. Even though he was ranked seventh, he surprised many by finishing joint second. He was only one point behind the winner, Viswanathan Anand.
World Championship Challenge in 2012
In the Chess World Cup 2009, Boris Gelfand was the top player. He beat many strong opponents to reach the final. He faced Ruslan Ponomariov for the championship. Gelfand won the match after a playoff. By winning the World Cup, he earned a spot in the World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates Tournament.
In May 2011, Gelfand played in the Candidates Matches in Kazan, Russia. He was the fourth-ranked player there. In the quarterfinals, he beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In the semifinals, he played against Gata Kamsky. The match was tied after four games. Kamsky won a rapid playoff game, putting Gelfand behind. But Gelfand won the next rapid game with black pieces. Then he won the blitz playoff to reach the final.
In the final, he played Alexander Grischuk. They drew the first five games. Gelfand won the sixth and final game with white pieces. This meant he won the match and the tournament.
As the winner of the Candidates Tournament, Gelfand got to challenge Viswanathan Anand for the 2012 World Championship. Gelfand took the lead in the match by winning game seven. But he lost game eight in only 17 moves. This was the shortest decisive game in World Championship history. The match ended in a 6-6 tie after all the main games. Anand then won the rapid playoff by 2½–1½. This meant Anand kept his title as World Champion.
Career After the Championship Match
After the World Championship match, Boris Gelfand continued to play well. He shared first place at a FIDE Grand Prix event in London. He scored 7 out of 11 points. He also played in the 2013 Candidates Tournament in London. He finished fifth in that event.
In April 2013, Gelfand shared first place with Levon Aronian at the Alekhine Memorial tournament. He scored 5½ out of 9 points.
In June 2013, Gelfand won the Tal Memorial tournament. He beat strong players like Alexander Morozevich and Fabiano Caruana. He scored 6 out of 9 points, finishing ahead of Magnus Carlsen. This win helped him reach his highest-ever rating of 2773. He later reached an even higher rating of 2777. He continued to perform strongly in other FIDE Grand Prix events.
Playing for Teams
Boris Gelfand has played in eleven Chess Olympiads. He represented the Soviet Union once, Belarus twice, and Israel eight times. In these events, he scored 62½ points from 105 games. He helped his teams win medals.
He won a gold medal with the Soviet Union team in the 1990 Chess Olympiad. He also helped Israel win a silver medal in the 2008 Chess Olympiad. In 2010, he helped Israel win a bronze medal.
Gelfand has also played in other international team events. He competed in the World Team Chess Championship twice for Israel. He played five times in the European Team Chess Championship. He won a team gold medal with the Soviet Union in 1989. He also won two team silver medals with Israel in 2003 and 2005.
Personal Life
In 1998, Boris Gelfand moved to Israel. He settled in Rishon LeZion. He became Israel's highest-ranked chess player. He is married to Maya and has two children, a daughter and a son. He is a big fan of football, especially the team FC Barcelona.
How He Plays Chess
Boris Gelfand is known for his strong positional play. This means he is very good at understanding the overall setup of the pieces. He also plays with precise strategy. Vladimir Kramnik, a former world champion, said that Gelfand is a "highly universal player." He can play well in many different types of chess positions.
Gelfand often starts games as White with the move 1.d4. As Black, he is known for using openings like the Najdorf Sicilian, the Petroff Defence, the Slav Defense, and the King's Indian Defence. During his 2012 World Championship match, he surprised his opponent by using the Sicilian Sveshnikov and the Grunfeld.
He once received advice from the famous chess player Tigran Petrosian. Petrosian told him: "Never make a move without there being an idea behind it, even when playing blitz. Always think!"
See also
- List of Jewish chess players
