The Leko-Gelfand match in Miskolc

Miskolc in Hungary was again the venue for Leko's annual match against an elite opponent.
This year it was Boris Gelfand who went head-to-head against Peter Leko in an eight game rapid match from the 25th to the 29th of August.
Gelfand eventually shading it 4.5-3.5.

This is the sixth year running that Peter Leko has taken on a high profile challenger in a short match in Miskolc. In previous years Leko played the following: Adams, Karpov, Kramnik, Carlsen and Anand.

Miskolc is the third largest city in Hungary (after Budapest and Debrecen) with a population of 175,000 and is situated in the north-east corner of the country.

Eight games of rapid play over a few days saw the World Cup winner Boris Gelfand take the initiative with wins in the first and fifth games. Leko's win in game four was somewhat fortunate as it was on time.

Here is a summary of the results:

1 Boris Gelfand27391-0Peter Leko2734Semi-Slav Defence 86
2 Peter Leko27340.5-0.5Boris Gelfand2739Semi-Slav Defence78
3 Boris Gelfand27390.5-0.5Peter Leko2734Semi-Slav Defence71
4 Peter Leko27341-0Boris Gelfand2739Petroff Defence76
5 Boris Gelfand27391-0Peter Leko2734Semi-Slav Defence45
6 Peter Leko27340.5-0.5Boris Gelfand2739Semi-Slav Defence101
7Boris Gelfand27390.5-0.5Peter Leko2734Semi-Slav Defence28
8Peter Leko27340.5-0.5Boris Gelfand2739Semi-Slav Defence38

One could say that the Semi-Slav was popular!

The mayor makes the first move! © official site.

Peter Leko has certainly taken on some of the world's biggest names in these matches, and all of them have been fairly close, but he has now lost the last four.

YearLeko's OpponentCountryRank at time (opponent's)Rank (Leko's)Leko's score
2005Michael AdamsEngland744/8
2006Anatoly KarpovRussia4064.5/8
2007Vladimir KramnikRussia383.5/8
2008Magnus CarlsenNorway5103/8
2009Viswanathan AnandIndia293/8
2010Boris GelfandIsrael13163.5/8

In general Peter Leko has taken on similar strength opponents as can be seen above from their respective world rankings at the time of the matches.

For more information concerning the event go to the Official site