Israeli grandmaster qualifies for World Chess Cup

 Israeli chess grandmaster Boris Gelfand on Wednesday won the final qualification competitions for the World Chess Cup in 2012, Interfax news agency reported.

In the last and sixth game played in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Tatarstan republic, Gelfand has outplayed Russian Alexander Grishchuk on the 35th move. The five previous games all ended in a draw.

During the qualification games, the 43-year-old Belarus-born Israeli player defeated Shahriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan in quarterfinal and Gata Kamski from the United States in semifinal.

This is Gelfand's first attempt to seize the world chess crown.

He will compete for the prize with the current world champion, India's Vishvanatan Anand.

A total of eight players from Russia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Israel, U.S. and Azerbaijan participated in the qualifications started on May 5 in Kazan.

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