It will be foolish to take Gelfand lightly

KOLKATA: Going by form and record, Viswanathan Anand starts as strong favourite against Boris Gelfand of Israel in the World Chess Championship, beginning in Moscow on May 11.

Anand’s second, GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, though feels it will be foolish to take Gelfand lightly. “We have to remember that Gelfand is among the top chess players of the world for the last 10 years or so. He is a great positional player with a strong Soviet chess background. Also, Gelfand won the right to challenge Anand by winning the Candidates meet in which the world’s leading players took part,” Ganguly said here on Monday.

Anand held the World Championship title from 2000 to 2002, at a time when the world title was split. He became the undisputed world champion in 2007, and defended the title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008.

He successfully defended his title again in 2010 against Veselin Topalov. This will be Gelfand’s first shot at the championship. “He (Gelfand) will be very motivated and we expect him to come hungry and ready to give the 12-game championship everything,” Ganguly warned.

Gelfand, who was born on June 24, 1968, in Minsk, Belarus (formerly part of the USSR), emigrated to Israel in 1998 where he currently resides.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar