The Playing Style of Boris Gelfand

Gelfand is noted for his strong positional awareness and precise strategic play. In Gelfand's autobiography My Most Memorable Games, Kramnik wrote in the preface, "He is not only - and this is accessible only to a few - a highly universal player, capable of playing equally well in the most varied types of positions...This inexorable consistency in the realisation of his strategic conceptions is, in my view, the main trait of Boris Gelfand the chess player." Jacob Aagaard commented "But Gelfand is not a natural attacker; instead he is a deep strategic player who likes to get into the logic of a position - and to keep control".

Gelfand is noted for opening as White with 1.d4 and as a specialist in the Najdorf Sicilian, Petroff Defence, Slav Defense, and King's Indian Defence as Black. During the World Championship Match in 2012, the Anand team noted his abrupt change from the expected Sicilian Najdorf and Petroff openings to the Sicilian Sveshnikov and the Grunfeld.

At the Tigran Petrosian school, he met the former world champion in person and received advice: 'I remember Tigran Petrosian saying to me: "Never make a move without there being an idea behind it, even when playing blitz. Always think!"'.