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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
 One big suitcase full of experience, that's what Israeli Boris Gelfand, the oldest participant, will bring to this first Grand Prix Series. He's been among the world's best ten players for about fifteen years now, and in September 2007, at the FIDE World Championship Tournament in Mexico, he proved that he can still compete with the very best.
Boris Gelfand was born 24 June, 1968 in Minsk, Belarus. He 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, losing on tiebreak to Joel Lautier. The next year he earned the GM title.
Gelfand has won many tournaments in his career, including Wijk Aan Zee (1992, 1994), Biel (1993), Dos Hermanas (1994), Belgrade (1995), Tilburg (1996), Malmö (1999) and Pamplona (2004).
In 1993, Gelfand won the Interzonal in Biel, and subsequently defeated both Adams and Kramnik in FIDE 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.
At the Candidates Tournament in Elista, May-June 2007, Gelfand defeated both Rustam Kasimdzhanov (in rapid tie-breaks) and Gata Kamsky, to qualify for the championship tournament in September 2007. There he surprised most observers by finishing joint second with Vladimir Kramnik (third after tie breaks).
Israel's strongest player lives in Rishon LeZion. His style is a combination of excellent technique and great theoretical preparation. He's known as a Najdorf specialist, but can be super solid in a Petroff Defence too.
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