What's with that "Boris Gelfand, turning 41 in exactly one month, but still going strong" caption? I think 35-40 is the age a chessplayer reaches his best. I think Gelfand will show great performance for years to come.

In the current world's top 50, Ivanchuk and Gelfand are the only two players above 40. Don't get me wrong, I also think Boris will continue to be successful for many years, but at the absolute top you just don't see it too often anymore at his age.

Also a nice performance by the the Alekhine

Good to see that the PETROFF was highly popular in this tournament!

Untypical how Svidler ruined his good positions in the final...

Have there been four rapid games in the final or two rapid and two blitz?

Although many sites reported two rapid and two blitz games, I found the information on the official website: "In the final, four games will be played." So no need to reply! :)

Luckily we weren't one of those many sites... Check the third paragraph! ;-) (Which could have been written more clearly, I admit.)

congrats Boris!

I enjoy your games. you should stop vishys victories in rapid in Mainz.
your chess is better than his!

LOL! Better than the fact that you could find the info on the official site. But I was totally worried, that ChessBase (german) for example wrote about two blitz games. Meanwhile it has been corrected.

And to the other comment: If I'm not totally wrong, Gelfand was very very lucky in two last games against Svidler. I honestly doubt that Vishy would have overlooked the mate in game 4 for example. And I also doubt that Vishy would blunder the Queen as Jakovenko did against Boris.

But I must agree that Gelfand would be an interesting opportunity for our Chess Classic in Mainz. He is one of the small number of top players who have not been in Mainz yet.

If his chess is really better than Vishy's ... well, I fear you are quite alone with this statement ...

additional to my previous post: I even doubt that Gelfand himself thinks that he is better than Vishy! ;)

gelfand is just too modest. he has a unique understanding and style. he's able to play every type of position. from very complex tactical battles to dry positional ones.
I understand aronian very good, when he says, that gelfands games had the biggest impression on him and he learned the most from him compared to the other top players today.
gelfand always had exceptional results in rapid. for instance crushing wins (6-2) against polgar and many others.
here's some outdated rapid-ratinglist:
http://www.rediff.com/sports/1999/jul/17anand.htm

Rivaldo, all you write about Gelfand is true - so he deserves to be more in the spotlight than he is at present. As far as I am concerned, I only realized that Gelfand is such a strong and 'complete' player when I bought and read his "My most memorable games".
But all of this is also true concerning Anand. And if ratings, tournament victories and WCh titles mean anything, there is no evidence whatsoever that Gelfand is better than Anand. Incidentally, the link you provide (while at most marginally relevant at present, from 1999!) supports that picture:
" 1. Vishwanathan Anand (India) 2840, 2. Vladimir Kraminik (Russia) 2760, 3. Boris Gelfand (Israel) 2730"

What I liked most from the tournament is a picture published in Chessbase, where Karpov and Korchnoi are sitting next to each other, both in very good mood. This only shows that in chess, the boundary between being enemies (1970-80's) and friends (today) is somewhat blurred now... I really wellcome this, as both Karpov and Korchnoi helped so much to shape the state of the art in highly competitive chess... A really nice caption!