Grandmaster Boris Gelfand has been selected as the first Israeli chess player ever to be inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis.
The hall recognizes world champions, historians and visionaries who have made exceptional contributions to the development of chess. Gelfand will now join a distinguished list that includes Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar.
Boris Gelfand
(Photo: AP)
Gelfand, who immigrated to Israel from Belarus in 1998, is widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players in the country’s history. He remains the only Israeli to have won an Olympic chess title, earning a gold medal at the 1990 Chess Olympiad as a member of the Soviet Union team.
Later in his career, he became the only Israeli to win the Chess World Cup, taking the title in 2009. Two years later, he won the Candidates Tournament and qualified for a match for the world championship.
The defining moment of his career came in 2012, when he challenged Indian world champion Viswanathan Anand for the title. Their 12-game match ended in a 6-6 draw, with Anand retaining the crown only after winning the rapid tiebreaks.