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A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:

1. One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentrated into a relatively short time interval.
2. A competition involving multiple matches, each involving a subset of the competitors, with the overall tournament winner determined based on the combined results of these individual matches. These are common in those sports and games where each match must involve a small number of competitors: often precisely two, as in most team sports, racket sports and combat sports, many card games and board games, and many forms of competitive debating. Such tournaments allow large numbers to compete against each other in spite of the restriction on numbers in a single match.

These two senses are distinct. All golf tournaments meet the first definition, but while match play tournaments meet the second, stroke play tournaments do not, since there are no distinct matches within the tournament. In contrast, football (soccer) leagues like the Premier League are tournaments in the second sense, but not the first, having matches spread across many stadia over a period of up to a year. Many tournaments meet both definitions; for example, the Wimbledon tennis championship.

A tournament-match (or tie or fixture or heat) may involve multiple game-matches (or rubbers or legs) between the competitors. For example, in the Davis Cup tennis tournament, a tie between two nations involves five rubbers between the nations' players. The team that wins the most rubbers wins the tie. In the later rounds of UEFA Champions League of football (soccer), each fixture is played over two legs. The scores of each leg are added, and the team with the higher aggregate score wins the fixture, with away goals used as a tiebreaker and a penalty shootout if away goals cannot determine a winner.

Knock-out tournaments[link]

A knockout tournament is divided into successive rounds; each competitor plays in at most one fixture per round. The top-ranked competitors in each fixture progress to the next round. As rounds progress, the number of competitors and fixtures decreases, and the final round consists of just one fixture, the winner of which is the overall champion.

In a single-elimination tournament, only the top-ranked competitors in a fixture progress; in 2-competitor games, only the winner progresses. All other competitors are eliminated. This ensures a winner is decided with the minimum number of fixtures. However, most competitors will be eliminated after relatively few matches; a single bad or unlucky performance can nullify many preceding excellent ones. Some single-elimination tournaments such as NBA use a multiple-game format, in which teams would play each other more than one game (e.g. best-of-seven series in NBA) in order to determine who is the winner of this round. Other knockout formats provide a "second chance" for some or all losers.

A double-elimination tournament may be used in 2-competitor games to allow each competitor a single loss without being eliminated from the tournament. All losers from the main bracket enter a losers' bracket, the winner of which plays off against the main bracket's winner.

Some formats allow losers to play extra rounds before re-entering the main competition in a later round. Rowing regattas often have repechage rounds for the "fastest losers" from the heats. The winners of these progress, but are at a disadvantage in later rounds owing to the extra effort expended during the repechage.

A family of tournament systems that grew from a system devised for the Victorian Football League, the historic predecessor to the Australian Football League (AFL), allow the teams with the best record before the playoffs to lose a game without being eliminated, whereas lesser qualifiers are not. Several of the most prominent leagues in Australia use such a system, such as the AFL, the National Rugby League in rugby league, and the A-League of association football. Similar systems are used in the Super League of European rugby league, cricket's Indian Premier League, and most curling tournaments.

In athletics meetings, fastest losers may progress in a running event held over several rounds; e.g. the qualifiers for a later round might be the first 4 from each of 6 heats, plus the 8 fastest losers from among the remaining runners.

An extreme form of the knockout tournament is the stepladder format where the strongest team (or individual, depending on the sport) is assured of a berth at the final round while the next strongest teams are given byes according to their strength/seeds; for example, in a four team tournament, the fourth and third seed figure in the first round, then the winner goes to the semifinals against the second seed, while the survivor faces the first seed at the final. Four American sports organizations either currently use this format or have in the past:

• For over 30 years (generally from the mid-1960s to 1997), most events on the PBA Tour of ten-pin bowling used a stepladder final, usually involving five bowlers.
• Two U.S. college conferences operate a tournament format in basketball that combines two stepladder tournaments into one—that is, both halves of the bracket are organized as stepladder tournaments. The bottom four teams play in the first round; the survivors will face the #3 and #4 seeds, and the winners of those matches take on the top two seeds in the semifinals. This format was adopted by the West Coast Conference for its men's and women's tournaments in 2003, and by the Ohio Valley Conference for both sexes in 2011. Once the WCC expanded to nine teams with the entry of BYU in the 2011–12 academic year, the conference added one round to one half of the bracket for both tournaments starting in 2012.
• Women's Professional Soccer (currently suspended) has used this format since its inaugural 2009 season. For an example of its playoff system, see 2009 Women's Professional Soccer Playoffs.

Group tournaments[link]

A group tournament, league, division or conference involves all competitors playing a number of fixtures. Points are awarded for each fixture, with competitors ranked based either on total number of points or average points per fixture. Usually each competitor plays an equal number of fixtures, in which case rankings by total points and by average points are equivalent. The English County Championship in cricket did not require an equal number of matches prior to 1963.^[1]

In a round-robin tournament, each competitor plays all the others an equal number of times, once in a single round-robin tournament and twice in a double round-robin tournament. This is often seen as producing the most reliable rankings. However, for large numbers of competitors it may require an unfeasibly large number of rounds. A Swiss system tournament attempts to determine a winner reliably, based on a smaller number of fixtures. Fixtures are scheduled one round at a time; a competitor will play another who has a similar record in previous rounds of the tournament. This allows the top (and bottom) competitors to be determined with fewer rounds than a round-robin, though the middle rankings are unreliable.

There may be other considerations besides reliability of rankings. In some professional team sports, weaker teams are given an easier slate of fixtures as a form of handicapping. Sometimes schedules are weighted in favour of local derbies or other traditional rivalries. For example, NFL teams play two games against each of the other three teams in their division, one game against half of the other twelve teams in their conference, and one game against a quarter of the sixteen teams in the other conference.

American sports are also unusual in providing fixtures between competitors who are, for ranking purposes, in different groups. Another, systematic, example of this was the 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup: each of the teams in Group A played each of the teams in Group B, with the groups ranked separately based on the results. (Groups C and D intertwined similarly.) An elaboration of this system is the Mitchell movement in duplicate bridge, discussed below, where North-South pairs play East-West pairs.

In 2-competitor games where ties are rare or impossible, competitors are typically ranked by number of wins, with ties counting half; each competitors' listings are usually ordered Wins–Losses(–Ties). Where draws are more common, this may be 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw, which is mathematically equivalent but avoids having too many half-points in the listings. These are usually ordered Wins–Draws–Losses. If there are more than two competitors per fixture, points may be ordinal (for example, 3 for first, 2 for second, 1 for third).

Multi-stage tournaments[link]

Many tournaments are held in multiple stages, with the top teams in one stage progressing to the next. American professional team sports have a "regular season" (group tournament) acting as qualification for the "post season" or "playoffs" (single-elimination tournament). In the FIFA World Cup, each continent has one or more qualifying tournaments, some of which are themselves multi-stage. The top teams in each qualify for the finals tournament. There, the 32 teams are divided into eight round-robin groups of four, with the top two in each progressing to the knockout phase, which involves four single-elimination rounds including the final.

Sometimes, results from an earlier phase are carried over into a later phase. In the Cricket World Cup, the second stage, known as the Super Eight since 2007 and before that the Super Six, features two teams from each of four preliminary groups (previously three teams from two preliminary groups), who do not replay the teams they have already played, but instead reuse the original results in the new league table. Formerly in the Swiss Football League, teams played a double round-robin, at which point they were split into a top "championship" group and a bottom "relegation" group; each played a separate double round-robin, with results of all 32 matches counting for ranking each group. A similar system is also used in the Scottish Premier League since 2000. After 33 games, when every club has played every other club three times, the division is split into two halves. Clubs play a further 5 matches, against the teams in their half of the division. This can (and often does) result in the team placed 7th having a higher points total than the team placed 6th, because their final 5 games are considerably easier.

The top Slovenian basketball league has a unique system. In its first phase, 12 of the league's 13 clubs compete in a full home-and-away season, with the country's representative in the Euroleague (an elite pan-European club competition) exempt. The league then splits. The top seven teams are joined by the Euroleague representative for a second home-and-away season, with no results carrying over from the first phase. These eight teams compete for four spots in a final playoff. The bottom five teams play their own home-and-away league, but their previous results do carry over. These teams are competing to avoid relegation, with the bottom team automatically relegated and the second-from-bottom team forced to play a mini-league with the second- and third-place teams from the second level for a place in the top league.

Promotion and relegation[link]

Where the number of competitors is larger than a tournament format permits, there may be multiple tournaments held in parallel, with competitors assigned to a particular tournament based on their ranking. In chess, Scrabble, and many other individual games, many tournaments over one or more years contribute to a player's ranking. However, many team sports involve teams in only one major tournament per year. In European sport, including football, this constitutes the sole ranking for the following season; the top teams from each division of the league are promoted to a higher division, while the bottom teams from a higher division are relegated to a lower one.

This promotion and relegation occurs mainly in league tournaments, but also features in Davis Cup and Fed Cup tennis:

• In the Davis Cup:
  • The first-round losers in the top-level World Group compete in playoff ties against the winners of the second-round ties in Group I of the competition's three regional zones, with the winners of each playoff tie remaining in or promoted to the World Group.
  • In the three regional zones, Group II is conducted in a knockout format. The winner of the knockout tournament is promoted to Group I of its zone. The first-round losers then play relegation ties, with the losers relegated to Group III.
  • Groups III and IV in each zone are contested in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each group are promoted, while the bottom two teams are relegated (assuming there is a lower group in their zone).
• In the Fed Cup:
  • The four first-round losers in World Group I compete in playoff ties against the four winners in World Group II, with the winners remaining in or promoted to World Group I.
  • The losers in World Group II play ties against the four zonal Group I winners (two from Europe/Africa and one each from Asia/Oceania and Americas), with the winners playing in World Group II the following season.
  • Groups I and II in all zones, plus Group III in the Europe/Africa Zone only, are conducted in a round-robin format. The bottom two teams in each group are relegated to the next group down, assuming one exists, while the top two teams in Groups II and III are promoted to the next-higher group.

The hierarchy of divisions may be linear, or tree-like, as with the English football league pyramid.

Bridge tournaments[link]

In contract bridge a "tournament" is a tournament in the first sense above, composed of multiple "events", which are tournaments in the second sense. Some events may be single-elimination, double-elimination, or Swiss style. However, "Pair events" are the most widespread. In these events, a number of deals (or boards) are each played several times by different players. For each such board the score achieved by each North-South (NS) pair is then measured against all the other NS pairs playing the same board. Thus pairs are rewarded for playing the same cards better than others have played them. There is a predetermined schedule of fixtures depending on the number of pairs and boards to be played, to ensure a good mix of opponents, and that no pair plays the same board or the same opponents twice (see duplicate bridge movements).

Poker tournaments[link]

In poker tournaments, as players are eliminated, the number of tables is gradually reduced, with the remaining players redistributed among the remaining tables. Play continues until one player has won all of the chips in play. Finishing order is determined by the order in which players are eliminated: last player remaining gets 1st place, last player eliminated gets 2nd, previous player eliminated gets 3rd, etc.

In a "shootout" tournament, players do not change tables until every table has been reduced to one player.

Alternatives to tournament systems[link]

This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed facts are reliably sourced. See the relevant discussion on the talk page. (January 2011)

While tournament structures attempt to provide an objective format for determining the best competitor in a game or sport, other methods exist.

Challenge

In this format, champions retain their title until they are defeated by an opponent, known as the challenger. This system is used in professional boxing (see lineal championship), and the World Chess Championship. The right to become a contender may be awarded through a tournament, as in chess, or through a ranking system: the ranking systems used by boxing's governing bodies are controversial and opaque. If the champion retires or dies, then the current top challenger may be declared champion or the title may be vacant until a match between two challengers is held. Prior to 1920, the reigning Wimbledon champion received a bye to the final; the official name of the FA Challenge Cup reflects a similar arrangement which applied only in that tournament's very early years. The America's Cup is decided between the winners of separate champion and challenger tournaments, respectively for yachts from the country of the reigning champion, and of all other countries. The Ranfurly Shield in New Zealand rugby union is a challenge trophy between provincial teams, in which the holders of the Shield retain it until they are beaten by a challenging province.

Ladder tournament

The ladder is an extension of the challenge system. All competitors are ranked on a "ladder". New contestants join the bottom of the ladder. Any contestant can challenge a competitor ranked slightly higher; if the challenger wins the match (or the challenge is refused) they swap places on the ladder. Ladders are common in internal club competitions in individual sports, like squash and pool. Another ladder system is to give competitors a certain number of ranking points at the start. If two competitors play each other, then the winner will gain a percentage of the loser's ranking points. In this way competitors that join later will generally start in the middle, since top competitors already have won ranking points and bottom competitors have lost them.

Selection

A champion may be selected by an authorised or self-appointed group, often after a vote. While common in non-competitive activities, ranging from science fairs to cinema's Oscars, this is rarely significant in sports and games. Though unofficial, the polls run by the Associated Press and others were prestigious titles in American college football prior to the creation in 1998 of the Bowl Championship Series, a quasi-official national championship (to this day, the NCAA does not officially award a championship in the top division of college football). As of the 2005 season, the AP Poll operates independently of the BCS and can crown a different national champion, while two other polls are part of the BCS formula.

See also[link]

• Playoff format
• Apertura and Clausura
• Tennis tour

References[link]

Levon Aronian
Full name	Levon Aronian
Country	Armenia
Born	(1982-10-06) 6 October 1982 (age 29) Yerevan, Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2825 (May 2012) (No. 2 in the May 2012 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating	2825 (May 2012)

Levon Grigor Aronian (Armenian: Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. On the May 2012 FIDE list, he had an Elo rating of 2825, making him number two in the world^[1] and third highest of all time.

Aronian won the Chess World Cup 2005. He led the Armenian national team to the Gold medals in the 2006 (Turin) and 2008 (Dresden) Chess Olympics^[2] and at the World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo 2011. He won the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012, where he was knocked out in the first round. He was also the World Chess960 Champion in 2006 and 2007, the World Rapid Chess Champion in 2009, and is the current World Blitz Chess Champion.^[3]

Aronian was declared the best sportsman of Armenia in 2005^[4] and was awarded the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia" in 2009.

Early years[link]

Aronian was born on 6 October 1982 in Yerevan, Armenia, to Seda Sarkisovna, a mining engineer and Grigory Leontievich, a physicist. He was taught to play chess by his sister Lilit at the age of nine. His first coach was the Grandmaster Melikset Khachiyan. An early sign of his ability came when he won the 1994 World Youth Chess Championship (under-12) in Szeged with 8/9, ahead of future luminaries Étienne Bacrot, Ruslan Ponomariov, Francisco Vallejo Pons, and Alexander Grischuk.^[5]

Aronian holds a diploma from the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture.^[6]

Career[link]

2001[link]

In 2001 Aronian scored seven out of nine in the Cappelle-la-Grande Open, half a point behind the joint winners Einar Gausel and Vladimir Chuchelov. A few months later, he won the Young Masters tournament at Lausanne.^[7]

2002[link]

In 2002 he won the Armenian Chess Championship.^[8] In the same year he became World Junior Champion, scoring 10/13 and finishing ahead of Surya Ganguly, Artyom Timofeev, Luke McShane, Bu Xiangzhi, Pendyala Harikrishna, and others.^[9]

2004[link]

In 2004 he progressed to the third round of the 2004 FIDE World Championship before being knocked out by Pavel Smirnov.^[10]

2005[link]

Levon Aronian became part of the international elite in 2005, shooting up to fifth place in the world. In 2005 he was part of a five-way tie for first place at the Gibtele.com Masters in Gibraltar with Zahar Efimenko, Kiril Georgiev, Alexei Shirov, and Emil Sutovsky.^[11] He was the sole winner of the Karabakh 2005 International "A" Tournament.^[12] In the Russian Team Championship, he scored +5 −0 =3 with an Elo performance rating of around 2850. In December he beat Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the final round to win the World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. After a draw in two regular games, Aronian won both Rapid games to win the event and emerge undefeated in seven rounds.^[13]

2006[link]

In March 2006 he took sole first place at the annual Linares chess tournament, half a point ahead of Teimour Radjabov and FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov. In 2006 he also tied for first in the Tal Memorial. The April–July 2006 FIDE rating list ranked Aronian the number three player in the world.^[14]

2007[link]

In January 2007 Aronian shared first place at the category 19 Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee along with Veselin Topalov and Radjabov.^[15] In May 2007 he defeated World Champion Vladimir Kramnik 4–2 in a Rapid chess match.^[16]

His 2005 World Cup victory qualified him for the Candidates Tournament of the World Chess Championship 2007, scheduled for May–June 2007. In this tournament he played GM Magnus Carlsen, and they tied 3–3 in the initial six games, then 2–2 in Rapid chess, and finally Aronian won 2–0 at Blitz chess. In the finals, he defeated Shirov 3½–2½. This qualified him for the final stage of the championship, which was played in Mexico. There, he scored only six points out of 14, finishing seventh out of eight players.^[17]

2008[link]

In January 2008 he won the prestigious Corus chess tournament jointly with Magnus Carlsen, scoring 8/13.^[18] In March 2008 he won the Melody Amber Blindfold/Rapid tournament held in Nice, France, 2½ points ahead of the nearest competitors.^[19] Apart from his first place win in the overall tournament, he also took sole first place in the Rapid section of the tournament (winning by a margin of 1½ points) and shared first place in the Blindfold section with three other chess grandmasters: Kramnik, Morozevich, and Topalov. In June 2008, Aronian won the Karen Asrian Memorial Rapid chess tournament in Yerevan. He finished 8½/14 ahead of Peter Leko.^[20]

2009[link]

In March 2009 he won the 18th Melody Amber Blindfold/Rapid tournament held in Nice, France for the second time, scoring a combined 14 points in 22 games. In the same year he took clear first place with four wins, one draw, and one loss in the second Bilbao Masters.^[21] On August 3, 2009 Aronian won the World Rapid Chess Championship.^[3] In November 2009 he competed in the Mikhail Tal Memorial, at the time the strongest tournament in history (in terms of average Elo, 2763). He finished fourth with 5/9, and in the final round memorably demolished World Champion Viswanathan Anand with the black pieces in just 25 moves.^[22] In December 2009, he was awarded the title of "Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia".^[23]

2010[link]

Aronian played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2008–2010, and won the Grand Prix with one tournament to go, qualifying him for the Candidates tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012.

In August 2010, he attempted to defend the World Rapid Chess title, but lost to eventual champion American Gata Kamsky.^[24] In September 2010, Aronian played in the preliminary stage of the Bilbao Grand Slam in Shanghai against Vladimir Kramnik, Alexei Shirov, and Wang Hao, but could not qualify for the final tournament after losing to Kramnik in an Armageddon game after they drew the tiebreaker match. His next tournament was the Chess Olympiad, where he was Armenia's first board, leading them to a seventh place finish, winning the silver medal on board one, and raising his rating to a career-high 2794.^[25]

In November 2010, he finished shared first at the category XXI Tal Memorial.^[26] Following this tournament, he competed in the World Blitz Championship in Moscow, where he scored 24.5/38 to win the title ahead of Teimour Radjabov and defending champion Magnus Carlsen; Aronian clinched the title with a round to spare.^[27]

2011[link]

In January 2011, he tied for 3rd–4th with Magnus Carlsen in the 73rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee.^[28]

In March 2011 in Monaco, he won the 20th and final Melody Amber Blindfold/Rapid tournament for the third time, scoring a combined 15/5 points in 22 games.^[29]

Over his career, Aronian has a 5–1 record against Anand in classical chess. His high ranking and the fact that he was playing in the 2011 world championship Candidates tournament suggested that Aronian was a hot favorite for winning the title from Anand. However, Aronian suffered a setback by losing to Alexander Grischuk 2½–1½ in a quarter final Rapid play tiebreaker following a 2–2 split in their regulation classical matches.^[30]

In November 2011 Aronian played in the category 22 Tal Memorial in Moscow in a round robin with ten players. He won two games, against Ivanchuk and Svidler, and drew the rest. He tied for first with Magnus Carlsen, each scoring 5.5/9.^[31]

2012[link]

In January 2012, Aronian competed in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee; the field included world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, defending champion Hikaru Nakamura, and former world champion Veselin Topalov, among others. The average rating of the field was 2755, making this thirteen-round event a category 21 tournament.^[32] After twelve rounds, Aronian was in clear first place with 8.5 points going into the final round, one point ahead of Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov.^[33] In the final round, Aronian drew against Radjabov with the white pieces in the King's Indian Defense. With the draw, Aronian finished with 9/13 (+5), a tournament performance rating of 2891, and took clear first place a point ahead of Carlsen, Radjabov and Fabiano Caruana.^[34][35]

Team competitions[link]

Aronian played for Armenia in the Chess Olympiads of 1996, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010.^[36] He took team bronze medal in 2004 and team gold medal in 2006 and 2008. In the 2010 Chess Olympiad he won the silver medal for his individual performance on board one.^[37] He was a member of the gold-medal winning Armenian team at the World Team Chess Championship in 2011.^[38]

Elo rating[link]

Aronian broke the 2800 rating barrier in the November 2010 FIDE world ranking with a rating of 2801.^[39] He is only the sixth player to cross the 2800 rating mark, joining Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, and Magnus Carlsen.

Standing on each top 100 FIDE list:^[40]

• bold, new peak rating

Chess960[link]

In 2003 Aronian won the Finet Chess960 open at Mainz; this qualified him for a match against Chess960 World Champion Peter Svidler at Mainz the following year, a match which he lost 4½–3½. He won the Finet Chess960 open tournament again in 2005^[41] which earned him a rematch with Svidler in 2006, and won the match this time 5–3 to become Chess960 World Champion.^[42]

In 2007 he successfully defended his title of Chess960 World Champion by beating Viswanathan Anand.^[43] He lost the title in 2009 to Hikaru Nakamura.^[44]

Internet Chess Club[link]

Aronian's handle on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) is "L-Aronian".^[45]

Personal life[link]

As of the end of 2009, his girlfriend is Australian Woman International Master Arianne Caoili.^[46][47]

Notable games[link]

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Position after 17. Qa1

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Aronian, as Black, defeats GM Ivan Sokolov (2676) in 19 moves, using 10½ minutes on his clock:^[48]

Sokolov–Aronian, Turin 2006 Chess Olympiad
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c5!? 7.dxc5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.Bxb8!?

10.e3; 10.Be5

10...Qf6!

10...Rxb8?? 11.Qa4+ +−

11.Bg3 Nxc3 12.a3 Bf5! 13.Qd2 Ba5 14.b4? Ne4 15.Qc1 Rc8!! 16.Ra2?! Rxc5 17.Qa1 (see diagram) Qc6!

The threat of back-rank mate is crushing.

18.Qe5+ Kd8 19.Qxh8+ Kd7 0-1

If 20.e3, 20...Rc1+ 21.Ke2 Bg4+! and 22...Qc4#. Analysis by A. J. Goldsby.^[49]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Levon Aronian

• Levon Aronian player profile at ChessGames.com
• Levon Aronian at 365Chess.com
• Grandmaster Games Database - Levon Aronian
• OlimpBase
• Biography of Levon Aronian
• Interview with Levon Aronian
• Aronian Interview: Hey Ladies...
• Aronian breaks 2800 ELO

Boris Gelfand
Gelfand at a 2006 tournament
Full name	Boris Abramovich Gelfand
Country	Israel
Born	(1968-06-24) 24 June 1968 (age 44) Minsk, Belarussian SSR, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2727 (May 2012) (No. 20 in the May 2012 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating	2761 (January 2010)

Boris Abramovich Gelfand (Belarusian: Барыс Абрамавіч Гельфанд; Hebrew: בוריס אברמוביץ' גלפנד‎; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and faced World Champion Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012. Although the match was level at 6–6, Gelfand lost in the rapid tie break games.^[1]

Biography[link]

Boris Gelfand was born in Minsk, Belarussian SSR, on 24 June 1968. His parents, Abram and Nella, were engineers. His father bought him a book about chess, Journey to the Chess Kingdom, by Averbakh and Beilin, when he was four years old.^[2] In 1980–1983, he attended the Tigran Petrosian School, where he met the former world champion in person and received advice that impacted on his life as a chess player: “I remember Petrosian saying to me that I shouldn’t make a single move without having an idea: ‘Even when you’re playing blitz, always think!’"^[2]

In 1998, Gelfand immigrated to Israel and settled in Rishon LeZion, where he became Israel's top ranking chess player. He is married to Maya.^[3]

Chess career[link]

Early career[link]

Gelfand was Junior Champion of the Soviet Union at 17,^[4] and European Junior Champion two years later. In 1988 he tied for first in the World Junior Championship, the title however going to Joël Lautier. The next year he earned the GM title. He has won about 30 tournaments in his professional career, including tournaments at Wijk aan Zee (in 1992 and 1994) and first places in Biel (1993), Dos Hermanas (1994), Belgrade (1995), Tilburg (1996), Malmö (1999), and Pamplona (2004).

Early World Championship results[link]

Gelfand has qualified several times for Candidates Tournaments for the World Chess Championship. In the World Chess Championship 1993, he qualified for the Candidates via the Interzonal. He won his first Candidates match, but was knocked out in the second (quarter-final) round by Nigel Short. In the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 he won the Interzonal, then won his first two Candidates matches, before being eliminated in the semi-final by Anatoly Karpov. He had numerous strong results in the knockout tournaments for the FIDE World Chess Championships 1998–2004, with his best result being a semi-finalist in 1997. He played in the 8-player 2002 Dortmund Tournament, which was the Candidates for the Classical World Chess Championship 2004, but failed to reach the semi-finals.

2007 World championship[link]

Gelfand finished in the top 10 in the 2005 FIDE World Cup, which qualified him for the Candidates for the World Chess Championship 2007. He won his Candidates matches against Rustam Kasimdzhanov (in rapid tie-breaks) and Gata Kamsky (+2 −0 =3), to qualify for the championship tournament in September 2007. Gelfand was not one of the favourites for the World Chess Championship 2007, but he surprised most observers by finishing joint second with reigning world champion Vladimir Kramnik (third after tie breaks); the World Championship was won by Viswanathan Anand.

2012 World championship[link]

In the Chess World Cup 2009, Anil was the top seed, and defeated Judit Polgár, reigning World Junior Champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Dmitry Jakovenko, and Sergey Karjakin to reach the final. He then faced former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov for the championship, and won the match 7–5 in a playoff.^[5] By winning the Chess World Cup 2009, Gelfand qualified for the World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates Tournament.

In May 2011, Gelfand participated in the World Chess Championship 2012 Candidates tournament in Kazan, Russia where he was seeded fourth. In the quarterfinals, he won a complex struggle on the black side of the Najdorf Defense in game three to defeat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2.5–1.5 and advance to the semifinals, where he faced American Gata Kamsky. After splitting the first four games 2–2, Kamsky won game three in the rapid playoff to go ahead 2–1, forcing Gelfand to win with black in the final rapid game in order to avoid elimination. Gelfand was up to the task, and then won the blitz playoff 2–0 to advance to the final. In the final, he faced Alexander Grischuk. After drawing the first five games, Gelfand won the sixth and final game on the white side of a Gruenfeld Defence to win the match and the tournament 3.5–2.5.
As winner of the Candidates Tournament, Gelfand faced Anand for the 2012 World Championship.^[6] His victory in game seven gave him the lead in the match, only to lose the lead in game 8 in a 17-move miniature. The match after its conclusion was level at 6 points each, but Anand won the rapid playoff 2.5–1.5 to maintain the title. Gelfand will be the top seed in the 2013 Candidates Tournament to determine who will face Anand in the World Chess Championship 2013.

Notable tournament victories[link]

• European Youth Championship, 1989
• Majorca (GMA), 1989
• Moscow, 1992
• Manila, 1993
• Chalkidiki, 1993
• Dos Hermanas, 1994
• Debrecen, 1995
• Vienna, 1996
• Tilburg, 1996
• Polanica Zdroj, 1998
• Polanica Zdroj, 2000
• Cannes, 2002
• Pamplona, 2004
• Biel, 2005
• ACP World Rapid Cup, 2009^[7]
• Chess World Cup, 2009^[8]
• Candidates Tournament, 2011

Individual results[link]

(Through 2007)

YEAR COUNTRY CITY EVENT CAT. RESULT 2007 Moscow II Tal Memorial 20 III–VI 2007 Calatrava II Chess Festival (rapid) open I–IV 2007 Odessa 1st ACP Cup (rapid) k.o. ½ F 2007 Prague Match vs David Navara 2719 2–2 2006 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting 19 III–V 2005 Biel XXXVIII Biel Int. Chess Festival 16 I–II 2005 Hamilton Bermuda Int. Invitational Tnt 17 I–II 2004 Pamplona XIV Torneo Int. de Ajedrez 16 I 2004 Ashdod The Int. Invitational Tnt 16 I–IV 2004 Hamilton Fourways International 16 II 2003 Mérida XVI Carlos Torre Memorial k.o. ½ F 2003 Bastia VII Corsica Masters (rapid) k.o. ¼ F 2003 Paks Match vs Judith Polgar (rapid) 2718 6–2 2003 Enghien V Masters 17 III–IV 2002 Cap d'Agde V Grand Prix (rapid) k.o. I 2002 Moscow Russia vs Rest of the World 19 PR 2788 2002 Monte Carlo XI Melody Amber (rapid) 18 I 2002 Cannes First NAO Chess Masters 18 I–II 2001 Biel XXXIV Biel Int. Chess Festival 16 III 2001 Portorož XIV Vidmar Memorial 14 II 2001 Astana Independence Tournament 20 III 2001 Monte Carlo X Melody Amber (rapid) 18 I–II 2000 Polanica Zdroj XXXVII Rubinstein Memorial 17 I 2000 Shenyang World Cup (rapid) k.o. ½ F 2000 Haifa Wydra Memorial (rapid) 16 II–III 1999 Pamplona IX Torneo Int. de Ajedrez 15 II–III 1999 Malmö Sigeman & Co 14 I 1999 Tel Aviv National Superchampionship 14 I–III 1998 Cap d'Agde World Cup (rapid) k.o. Runner Up 1998 Polanica Zdroj XXXV Rubinstein Memorial 17 I 1997 Polanica Zdroj XXXIV Rubinstein Memorial 16 II 1997 Biel XXX Biel Int. Chess Festival 17 III 1996 Groningen XXXV Int. Chess Tournament 16 II–III

YEAR COUNTRY CITY EVENT CAT. RESULT 1996 Cap d'Agde European Champ (rapid) k.o. ¼ F 1996 Tilburg Fontys 16 I–II 1996 Vienna Millenium Festival 18 I–III 1996 Dortmund XXIV Dortmunder Schachtage 18 III 1995 Belgrade Investabanka 17 I–II 1995 Biel XXVIII Biel Int. Chess Festival 15 III–IV 1994 Cap d'Agde Rencontres Internationales open I 1994 Cap d'Agde Macth vs A. Karpov (rapid) 2765 4–2 1994 Dos Hermanas VI Torneo Int. Dos Hermanas 16 I 1993 Chalkidiki Afytos, Nikiti 16 I 1993 Munich SKA – Mephisto Turnier 16 II 1992 Moscow Alekhine Memorial 18 I–II 1992 Tilburg XVI Interpolis k.o. Runner Up 1992 Munich SKA – Mephisto Turnier 15 II–III 1992 Wijk aan Zee LIV Hoogovens Schaaktoernoi 14 I–II 1991 Reggio–Emilia XXXIV Torneo di Cappodanno 18 II–III 1991 Belgrade Investabanka 15 I 1991 Munich SKA – Mephisto Turnier 14 II–V 1990 Tilburg XIV Interpolis 16 III 1990 Dortmund XVIII Dortmunder Scachtage 13 II 1990 Linares XIII Torneo Internacional 16 II 1989 Palma GMA Open open I 1989 Odessa LVI  USSR Champ 13 II–V 1989 OHRA B LVI  USSR Champ open I–III 1989 Debrecen Barcza Memorial 12 I 1988 Arnhem European Championship U20 open I–II 1988 Adelaide World Championship U20 open I–IV 1988 Vilnius USSR Championship U26 9 I–II 1987 Arnhem European Championship U20 open I 1986 Minsk Minsk International 9 II–III 1985 Yurmala USSR Championship U18 open I 1985 Minsk National Championship tt I 1984 Minsk National Championship tt I

Team results[link]

Gelfand appeared in a total of nine Chess Olympiads, representing the Soviet Union once, Belarus twice, and Israel six times.^[9]

• In 1990, he won the team gold medal playing board two for the Soviet Union.
• In 2008, he won the team silver medal, and also an individual silver medal, playing board one for Israel.
• In 2010, he won the team bronze medal playing board one for Israel.

YEAR COUNTRY CITY EVENT TEAM RESULT 2007 Sochi Russian League Elara III 2005 St.Vincent XXI Euro Club Cup Polonia GSM Plus II 2005 Mérida Spanish League Gros Xake Taldea III 2005 Gothenburg XV Euro National Team Championship Israel II 2005 Dagomys Russian League (blitz) Termosteps Samara III 2004 Sochi Russian League (rapid) Termosteps Samara I 2003 Plovdiv XIV Euro National Team Championship Israel II 2003 Rethymnon XIX Euro Club Cup Polonia Warsaw (POL) II

YEAR COUNTRY CITY EVENT TEAM RESULT 2002 Tel Aviv Israeli League (rapid) Rishon-le-Zion I 2001 Tel Aviv Israeli League (rapid) Rishon-le-Zion I 2000 France French League Montpellier II 1999 Bugojno XV Euro Club Cup Agrouuniversal Zemun (SM) II 1999 Tel Aviv Israeli League Rishon-le-Zion II 1990 Novi Sad XXIX Olympiad USSR I 1989 Haifa IX Euro National Team Championship USSR I

Playing style[link]

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Gelfand is notable as a 1.d4 opener as White, and as a specialist in the Najdorf Sicilian, Petroff Defence, Slav Defense, and King's Indian Defence as Black. He is noted for his strong positional awareness and low proneness to mistakes.

Published works[link]

• Gelfand, Boris (2005). My Most Memorable Games. Olms. ISBN 3-283-00453-6. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Boris Gelfand

• Boris Gelfand player profile at ChessGames.com
• Rating data
• Interview with Boris Gelfand