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FoxyChess › Grandmasters › Boris Gelfand

Boris Gelfand

1980s – PresentWorld Champion —Peak rating 2777260 games

Israeli grandmaster and 2012 World Championship challenger, respected for deep opening preparation, positional understanding and long-term consistency.

Boris Gelfand
Photo: TheBoburshokh, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

How Gelfand plays

Gelfand's chess is built on deep, classical understanding and superb preparation. He played a World Championship match against Anand in 2012 at 43, and his play in the Sicilian Najdorf, the Petroff and the Catalan is textbook quality.

What to learn from Gelfand

Gelfand's games show the value of understanding typical pawn structures and the plans that go with them. His book 'Positional Decision Making in Chess' is the explanation; his games are the practice.

A game to play through

Gelfand, Boris vs Carlsen, Magnus - VI World Blitz 2010 1-0 — the final position. A Gelfand win with White, played through move by move.

Boris Gelfand: the final position
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb7 6.Bg2 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 c5 8.O-O O-O 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Nc3 Na6 11.Bf4 d5 12.cxd5 Nxd5 13.Nxd5 Bxd5 14.Rc1 Nb4 15.a3 Nc6 16.b4 Be7 17.Qd3 f5 18.Rfd1 Qe8 19.Qa6 Rd8 20.b5 Na5 21.Qxa7 Nc4 22.Ne5 Ra8 23.Qd7 Nxe5 24.Qxe8 Rfxe8 25.Bxe5 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 Bxa3 27.Rc6 Bf8 28.Rxb6 Ra2 29.Kf1 Ra4 30.Rb7 Re4 31.f4 Rb4 32.Rdd7 Rb1+ 33.Kg2 Rc8 34.Bxg7 Rc2 35.Rd8
Play through 260 Boris Gelfand games

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Boris Gelfand games on FoxyChess

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