Grandmaster Boris Gelfand of Israel (photo above left) and Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk have advanced to the FIDE Candidates final match in Kazan. Gelfand and his opponent Gata Kamsky of the USA had to play a tie-break after ending their match tied by a score of 2-2. This situation also happened in the other semi-final match between Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk. As a result the two matches began the tie-break with rapid chess games. These two tie-break games ended in draws in both matches, which as a result of the rules for this competition, meant that the players would decide who would move onto the final by a blitz playoff. In the end Grischuk and Gelfand both won one of the blitz games to move onto the FIDE Candidates final match. Congratulations to both Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk. Congratulations also to Vladimir Kramnik and Gata Kamsky for making it to the semifinal round and for fighting until the last pawn.
The 2011 FIDE Candidates final match between Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk will begin this Wednesday in Kazan,Russia The match will consist of six games.: The time control for the Final is: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 60 minutes for 20 moves. plus an increment for each move made.
If the two players are tied in score at the end of six games, they will enter a tie-break to determine who will face India's Vishy Anand in the next FIDE World Chess Championship. According to Chessbase Megadatabase 2011 Grischuk holds a 12 win -5 loss -21 draw advantage over Gelfand in their head-to-head matchup over their chess careers. (These include blitz and rapid chess games).
Here are all of the playoff games from these two matches which concluded today:
