Gelfand won his Candidates matches against Rustam Kasimdzhanov 5½-3½ and Gata Kamsky 3½-1½, to qualify for the Championship tournament, held in Mexico City. Despite being ranked seventh in the World Chess Championship 2007 by FIDE rating, Gelfand caused an upset in finishing joint second (third on tiebreak) with Vladimir Kramnik, a point behind Viswanathan Anand. He also drew a match with David Navara 2-2, reached the semi finals of the ACP Rapid Cup in Odessa, shared first place with Shirov, Ivan Sokolov and Fridman at the Calatrava rapid and shared third place at the Tal Memorial. He competed for Israel at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel.