World chess title challenger Boris Gelfand inspired by Korchnoi
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everyone,
World Chess Championship title challenger Boris Gelfand has said the legendary Viktor Korchnoi inspired him. Gelfand was speaking to The New York Times about how, at 43, he has surprised all by winning the Candidates Matches when it was expected that Viswanathan Anand, at 41, was going to be the older of the contenders in a world championship match!
 Gelfand said he was encouraged by the example of Korchnoi who, now 80, had played for the world championship twice in his 40s. Gelfand said, "Korchnoi is kind of inspiration for me and for all of us and like Korchnoi says: If you have to improve, you have to learn new things all the time." Gelfand said he had overhauled his repertoire before the Candidates matches. You can read the full article at The New York TImes.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Boris gelfand, Candidates Chess Matches 2011, World Chess Championship 2012
Congratulations to GM Boris Gelfand for winning Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everybody,
Here is a prediction - Our next world chess champion will be older than 40 years in 2012!
Congratulations to Grandmaster Boris Gelfand for winning and congratulations to Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk for such fighting chess.
Indeed, Grandmaster Boris Gelfand of Israel has beaten Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk of Russia to win the Candidates Chess Matches in Kazan and has earned the right to challenge the current World Chess Champion Vishy Anand for the title in 2012.
After five draws which included a miracle save by the Israeli grandmaster, he went on to win a strategical game - the sixth one. Here is the game that you can rerun in our gameplayer that works on all kinds of platforms including your iPad. (You can find great photos of GM Boris Gelfand at www.chesspics.com.)
The Candidates matches were scheduled from May 3-27 in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. Levon Aronian (Armenia), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) were knocked out in the quarter-finals. In the semis, Alexander Grischuk (Russia) won against Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Boris Gelfand beat Gata Kamsky (USA). The quarter-finals and semi-finals consisted of four classical games and tie-breaks; there are six classical games in the final.
GM Boris Gelfand's card
World Rank |
World (all players): 17 |
World (active players): 16 |
National Rank ISR |
National (all players): 1 |
National (active players): 1 |
Continent Rank Europe |
Rank (all players): 15 |
Rank (active players): 14 |
FIDE Titles (year) |
Grand Master (GM) 1989 |
International Master (IM) 1987 |
You can access the official website at this link. Also, just in case you missed our blogpost a few days earlier - Here is the link again. Enjoy.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan 2011 Final: Gelfand, Grischuk draw Game 5 also
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
The news from Kazan is another draw. The fifth game. The competition is pretty tough and neither Boris Gelfand nor Alexander Grischuk are going to give way - But naturally. After all, we are going to find a candidate to take on the current world chess champion next year. You can access lots of nice photos and videos plus a super hi-res live broadcast at the official website here. Meanwhile, here is the fifth game for you to check out. Enjoy.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan 2011 Final: Gelfand, Grischuk draw Game 4
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
As things go, the obviously quite tired Alexander Grischuk of Russia and Boris Gelfand of Israel decided to draw their fourth game of the Candidates Chess Matches final being played in Kazan.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk'swww.chessblog.comAlso see her personal blog atwww.chessqueen.com Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Sweet agony of a chess game: The emotions of GM Boris Gelfand
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Chess defies definitions and a game can take you through the trickiest roller coaster of emotions. Today is a rest day in Kazan where Grandmasters Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk are fighting playing the finals of the Candidates Matches 2011 to decide a challenger for the current World Chess Champion Vishy Anand.
We couldn't resist compiling a few photos with the title 'The Chess Emotions of Grandmaster Boris Gelfand'. Of course you can find lots of nice photos of all the other candidates too at the official website link but surely GM Gelfand expresses the 'oh such sweet agony' of a chess game like no one else.
Photos aside, you can also experience the agony of it all in the second game of the final that GM Boris played at our www.chessblog.com link:
Also, if you are looking for great photos of top chess players - men and women - be sure to check out our fantastic database of photos at www.chesspics.com. Enjoy.
Let's finish and go home...
It hasn't even begun...
I have the courage to go through this...
Why should I let him take it easy...Why I began this...
Labels: Boris gelfand, Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan 2011 Final - Third game drawn
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
After yesterday's high-tension match it seems both Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk were happy making a comparatively short draw today in the third game of the Candidates Matches currently being held in Kazan. This, of course, is the final to decide who will go on to compete against current World Champion Vishy Anand early next year for the top title. Here is the game.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan 2011: Grischuk nearly wins but Gelfand forces draw
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
After a fighting first draw in the previous game, Alexander Grischuk was on the top of everything after Boris Gelfand tried his chances with a not-so-popular plan. Fighting like a true warrior Gelfand clawed out a draw when apparently there was none! Gelfand decided to open with 1.c4 and went for a daring 7.b4 and a 9.Ng5 novelty but by the 21st move things were looking up for Black.
Still, the game was such a fighting one that at no point did Grischuk have it easy. Grischuk missed and Gelfand got his well-earned draw.
You can access the official website at this link and check out this fighting second game in our pop-down menu below. You can watch a live hi-res broadcast at this link. Enjoy.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk'swww.chessblog.comAlso see her personal blog atwww.chessqueen.com Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan 2011 - Gelfand and Grischuk in final, Kamsky and Kramnik knocked out
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
The finalists: Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk with press officer Boris Kutin in Kazan.
The Candidates Chess Matches have come down to the final stage. It's going to be Boris Gelfand versus Alexander Grischuk to decide who will take on current World Chess Champion in early 2012 for the top chess title.
The FIDE Candidates matches are being held in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, with eight strong GMs competing to qualify as Challenger for the 2012 World Champion match from May 3 to 27. Time controls in the four regular games are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. In case of a tie there will be four rapid chess games, and if the tie is still not broken then up to five two-game blitz matches 5'+3". Finally there may be a sudden-death final decider. The prize fund of the candidates is 500,000 Euros.
After all the four games in the semi-finals ended in draws both for the Kamsky-Gelfand and Kramnik-Grischuk pairs, the quartet went into the tiebreak. Here is the final tally.
Scoreboard | Nat. | Rtg | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Blitz | Tot. |
Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2785 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0.5 | 4.5 |
Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2747 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1.5 | 5.5 |
Scoreboard | Nat. | Rtg | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Blitz | Tot. |
Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2733 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 2.0 | 6.0 |
Gata Kamsky | USA | 2732 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 4.0 |
You can access the official website here. Meanwhile, the games from the tiebreak can be viewed through our pop-down menu game player below. Enjoy.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan Semi-final: Fourth games drawn too
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Even as you read this, possibly the four players in the semifinals of the Candidates Chess Matches 2011 are heading for the tiebreak clash today. Even the fourth games between them were drawn! Here are the games. Though, the Kamsky-Gelfand game was quite a draw easily accepted, Kramnik tried his chances against Grischuk but eventually that game ended in a draw as well.
Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk at the post-match press conference.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan 2011 - Two more draws in third set of games
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
If you think just because the score line reads 'draw' the Candidates Chess Matches must be dull then you could take a look at the games. In the semifinals of the matches, both Gata Kamsky-Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk-Vladimir Kramnik games were draws. Here are the nice games. You can access the official website here.
From May 3 to 27, 2011 the FIDE Candidates matches are being held in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, with eight strong GMs competing to qualify as Challenger for the 2012 World Champion match. Time controls in the four regular games are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. In case of a tie there will be four rapid chess games, and if the tie is still not broken then up to five two-game blitz matches 5'+3". Finally there may be a sudden-death final decider. The prize fund of the candidates is 500,000 Euros.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan 2011: Semifinal games drawn after Gelfand, Kramnik miss wins
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Both games were extremely exciting in the second round at the Candidates Chess Matches in Kazan. However, the results could have just been different because both Alexander Grischuk and Gata Kamsky (both Black) held on tenaciously to survive the onslaught and draw with Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik!
The Candidates matches take place May 3-27 in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. Levon Aronian (Armenia), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Gata Kamsky (USA) respectively. The semi-final matches consist of four games; there are six games in the final. The winner qualifies for a World Title match against Vishy Anand next year. Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov, Veselin Topalov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were knocked out in the quarter finals.
Here are the games. Enjoy.
You can access the official website here.
From Alexanra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan Semi-final: Both Kamsky-Gelfand, Grischuk-Kramnik games drawn
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everybody,
After the highly tense first round matches we had two draws in the first game of the semifinals at the Candidates Chess Matches 2011 in Kazan on Thursday. Here are the day's games.
The matches are being held from May 3 to 27 to select a challenger for the current World Chess Champion Vishy Anand.. Time controls in the four regular games are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. In case of a tie there will be four rapid chess games, and if the tie is still not broken then up to five two-game blitz matches 5'+3". Finally there may be a sudden-death final decider. The prize fund of the candidates is 500,000 Euros. You can access the official website here.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011, chess blog
A chess arbiter's interesting view of the ongoing Candidates Matches in Kazan
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everybody,
Chess arbiters are the silent and hard working people behind all these lovely chess tournaments that the rest of us enjoy so much. We seldom get around to thanking them or wondering how they view our intense battles on the board.
 Here is a very nice article by Alex McFarlane - one of three chess arbiters overseeing the candidates tournament in the Russian city of Kazan – the highest honour ever attained by any Scottish chess player or official. The winner of the elite eight-player knockout goes on to face world champion Vishy Anand in a match next year.
Alex talks about all the interesting stuff happening around in Kazan apart from the matches!!!
Some of these include:
- sniffer dogs and presence of military
- phone jamming stuff
- enthusiastic spectators almost coming to blows
- the 'historic' clock mess between Kramnik and Radjabov... and more.
One interesting observation by Alex McFarlane will make you smile:
The hotel seems to think I’m a chess player rather than an arbiter. On the first morning, my room was made up by 10am, but they now leave it until mid-afternoon. If it’s known that he’s with the chess, the assumption is that he will be in bed until midday.
Just a fun and nice article to read which you can access in full here.
Enjoy.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Also see her personal blog at Labels: alex mcfarlane, Candidates Chess Matches 2011, chess arbiter, chess blog
Candidates Chess Matches Kazan 2011 R1 down to tie-breaks: Grischuk, Kramnik progress to semi-finals
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hi everybody,
The first round of the Candidates Chess Matches 2011 in Kazan have come down to the semi-finals. It's going to be Alexander Grischuk, Vladimir Kramnik, Gata Kamsky and Boris Gelfand who will progress to the semi-finals.
The blitz tie-break saw Aronian tied with Grischuk, but losing the fourth game. Kramnik tied Radjabov in all four rapids, and then lost the first blitz (of two). With a dead drawn position and 15 seconds left each, the clock just reset itself to zero! When the clocks were restarted somehow, 13 minutes later, (with help from the time shown on the live broadcast) Radjabov ended up losing quickly only with Kramnik following up by winning the second blitz match.
 Kramnik and Radjabov - What's up with the clock?
Scoreboard
| Nat. | Rtg | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Tot. |
| Levon Aronian | ARM | 2808 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 3.5 |
| Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2747 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 4.5 |
| Nat. | Rtg | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Tot. |
| Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2785 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 7.0 |
| Teimour Radjabov | AZE | 2744 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0 |
| Nat. | Rtg | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Tot. |
| Veselin Topalov | BUL | 2775 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | | | | | 1.5 |
| Gata Kamsky | USA | 2732 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | | | | | 2.5 |
| Nat. | Rtg | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Tot. |
| Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2733 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | | | | | 2.5 |
| Shak. Mamedyarov | AZE | 2772 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | | | | | 1.5 |
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From May 3 to May 27 2011 the FIDE Candidates matches are being held in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, with eight strong GMs competing to qualify as Challenger for the 2012 World Champion match. Time controls in the four regular games are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. In case of a tie there will be four rapid chess games, and if the tie is still not broken then up to five two-game blitz matches 5'+3". Finally there may be a sudden-death final decider. The prize fund of the candidates is 500,000 Euros.
You can access the official website here. Semi-finals start on May 12. In the semi-finals, it would be Gata Kamsky vs Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk vs Vladimir Kramnik. You're going to be tuned in? Right?!
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com Labels: Candidates Chess Matches 2011, chess blog
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