Boris Gelfand

Boris Abramovich Gelfand (born June 24, 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 June 24, 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

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...
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