Boris Gelfand

Inducted 2026 1968-Present

Israel

Biography

A six-time World Championship Candidate (1991, 1994-1995, 2002, 2007, 2011, and 2013), Boris Gelfand also won the 2009 World Cup and the 2011 Candidates Tournament. In the 2012 World Championship, Gelfand tied the reigning title holder Viswanathan Anand 6-6 in regulation but lost the tiebreaker. Gelfand, who was born in Belarus but has lived in Israel since 1998, led his adopted homeland to silver in the 2008 Chess Olympiad and bronze in 2010. He also won team gold playing for the Soviet Union in 1990. Gelfand is a renowned coach and trained the Indian national team, who later became the Olympiad champions. Gelfand won dozens of top-level international tournaments, including Wijk aan Zee, Vienna, Alekhine Memorial, Cannes, and the Tal Memorial, among others. Gelfand is the author of several outstanding books, including Positional Decision Making in Chess (2015), which won the English Chess Federation Book of the Year Award.

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