Gélfand was one of the most prominent chess players in the world for many years.

One of the few who was thought to be able to challenge the dominance of Gari Kasparov and Anatoli Karpov. He won the World Junior Championship and, a year later, he was European Champion in 1987 ahead of Vasili Ivanchuk. He regularly played the Linares Tournament. His best result in the tournament was second place in 1990,after Kasparov.

He won two inter-zonal tournaments in a row: Manila 1990 and Biel 1993. In 1998, he emigrated to Israel and became a citizen of that country.