#90. Boris Gelfand, Live From Cyprus!

#90. Boris Gelfand, Live From Cyprus!

From New In Chess Podcast by New In Chess

April 10, 2026 · 42 min · Episode 90

About this episode

Boris Gelfand discusses his experiences and insights from the Candidates tournament in Cyprus.

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with grandmaster Boris Gelfand. Today’s interview reaches you from Paphos, in Cyprus, on a rest day of the Candidates tournament, after ten of the fourteen rounds have been played. With four rounds to go it looks like Uzbek star Javokhir Sindarov is heading for first place and a World Championship match against World Champion Gukesh from India at the end of this year. Boris has himself successfully played in the Candidates, won Interzonals and a World Cup and was the Challenger of Vishy Anand in the World Championship match in Moscow in 2012. Together with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Boris reflects on his own participation in the Candidates tournament and the unique pressures of playing at such high stakes. 0:10 - Intro 2:47 - Boris reflects on his own experiences at the Candidates Tournament 14:48 – AD BREAK 15:19 – Qualifying for the World Championship in 2012 23:50 – The difficulty of dedicating one’s self completely to one chess tournament 27:51 – Jakovhir Sindarov’s performance 34:56 – How did Boris psychologically deal with losing his lead over Anand in 2012? 35:43 – AD BREAK 36:42 – Boris thinks Fabiano has…

People in this episode

Host: Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

Guest: Boris Gelfand

Topics covered

  • chess
  • Candidates tournament
  • Boris Gelfand
  • World Championship
  • psychological aspects of chess
  • performance analysis

Keywords

  • Boris Gelfand
  • Candidates tournament
  • World Championship
  • Javokhir Sindarov
  • Vishy Anand

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Paphos

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