Boris Gelfand
Birthplace: Minsk, Belarussia
Country: Israel
Date of Birth: June 24, 1968
Current FIDE rating: 2733
Current position in FIDE list: 13
Highest FIDE rating: 2750 (january 2001)
Hihest position in the list: 3rd (2727 in July 1990)
Most important achievements:
1990: Linares Tournament, 2nd place,
Interzonal at Palma de Mallorca, 1st place
1991: He played in the World Chess Championship (Candidates’ cycle), losing in round 2 against Short.
1993: Interzonal in Biel, 1st place
1994- Defeated Adams and Kramnik in the candidates’ matches but lost against Karpov in semifinals
Latest results in 2007:
Blitz World Cup in Odessa, Ukrania: 2nd place (lost final against Leko)
Melody Amber Tournament, Mónaco: 6th-7th place (Tied with Morozevich)
Festival Villa de Calatrava (25 minutes per player): tied for 1-4
Information from the official website.
Does Gelfand have a chance to win?
Gelfand [2733] has a chance, but the question is how big is it? What makes him dangerous: He knows that it most probably is his very last chance to grab the crown. Now or never.
My first guess is Aronian, but I will not be very surprised if it’s Gelfand!
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I am SECRETLY rooting for Gelfand so don’t tell anyone.
I am not bluffing myself and truely Gelfand in my view has zero chances to win. It is going to be considered an achievement if he will come out of this championship with a respectable performance since he can be the one that Anand and Kramnik and the other top contenders could not allow themselves to lose points to. So they will fight hard against Gelfand to get the full points. So Gelfand is going to be under a lot of pressure in Mexico. He can win a game or two with extra ordinary style andor make big blunders on others. Psychologically he can find himself in big feeling fluctuations amplitudes. What I mean to say is that he can be one day the victor of the day and the next day he can find himself as the scapegoat of the tourney.
No mercy in Mexico and I do not envy Boris for the place he chose to be in. Good luck Boris