Boris Gelfand piles on the pain
Boris Gelfand’s credentials as a world class match player were further enhanced as he won the XXIII Torneo Magistral de Ajedrez Ciudad de Leon in a Blitz play off against world-number-five Levon Aronian.
By Malcolm Pein in Leon
Published: 3:28PM BST 09 Jun 2010
Last year Gelfand secured a place in the Candidates Matches, the last eight of the world championship by winning the World Cup knockout where he was supreme in speed chess playoffs. He exhibited the same kind of nerveless play at Leon.
Gelfand won three games in a row to take the title. He needed victory in the fourth Rapid game to save the match but the Blitz was one-sided. Aronian looked a broken man at the end, the second game was gruesome.
6…Ba5 was first played by Keres and Spassky in the 50s and 60s but developed by Romanishin. The idea is to wait for the Ne2 to move before capturing on c3. Aronian overlooks his bishop on b7 is unprotected and loses several tempi after 13.Qa4+! so Gelfand rushes to open up the game.
Here is the full article.
Gelfand doesn’t look like a good blitz player but he is.