Boris Gelfand World Championship challenger of 2012 and six-time Candidate
Boris Gelfand is an Israeli grandmaster, born in Minsk, who won the 2009 World Cup and the 2011 Candidates and played Viswanathan Anand for the world title in 2012. Gelfand is a deep, classical player with excellent opening preparation. He is also a respected author who writes about how strong players think.
Boris Gelfand: key facts
- Full name
- Boris Gelfand
- Born
- June 24, 1968, Minsk, Belarus
- Country
- Israel
- Title
- Grandmaster (1989)
- FIDE rating
- 2641 (October 2026 list) · world No. 77
- Peak rating
- 2777
- Games in the archive
- 4,015 (1986–2025)
- Record in the archive
- 1,213 wins · 2,038 draws · 764 losses
- Win rate
- 30.2%
Boris Gelfand's career
The results that made the name
Gelfand in numbers
From the 4,015 games in the Rama Chess archive
He was a World Championship candidate six times and stayed in the world top 30 from 1990 to 2017. His best rating is 2777 (November 2013). On the October 2026 FIDE list he is rated 2641.
Gelfand's most frequent opponents
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