Career

Leading finishes and other significant achievements of Viswanathan Anand since 1991

2005

Anand second at Corus Super Grandmasters in Holland
Attempting an unprecedented hat-trick of titles at Corus GM tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, Anand finished second in the 13-round tournament.

Anand third at Linares
Anand returning to Linares after a gap finished third in this strong tournament, which was also the last for Garry Kasparov, who after the event announced his retirement, making Anand the highest ranked active player in the world.

Anand awarded 2004 Chess Oscar for second year running and fourth time overall
Anand has become the first non-Russian to win the coveted Chess Oscar for the fourth time. The Indian ace was voted as the winner by a huge margin by the Chess community in the poll conducted by the Russian chess magazine ‘64’. This is the second straight year Anand has been elected winner of the Award and is the fourth time overall after previous wins in 1997, 1998 and 2003.

As many as 445 chess specialists people from 75 countries voted for the winner. Anand figured on each and every list, and in 279 of them he was voted first. The year before Anand had received 232 firsts. His points for 2004 were a whopping 5205, and he towered over the second placed Garry Kasparov, who aggregated 3664 points, which included 60 first places. For the 2003 award, Anand had finished ahead by 1575 points, and for the 2004 award he broke 1541 points clear of Kasparov. Peter Leko (Hungary) was third with 3485 points including 43 first places.

Anand overtook the record of non-Russian Bobby Fischer who won the Oscar three times (1970, 71 and 72). In the Oscar’s modern history the award has changed hands between Kasparov and Anand with Kramnik winning only once in 2000. Between Anand and Kaparov they have won it nine times in 10 years.

Anand makes a clean sweep of three titles at Melody Amber
Playing in Monaco at the famous Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament, started with a string of 2-0 victories, which helped him build a huge lead. He won the Rapid, Blindfold and Overall sections, marking only the second time any player has performed a clean sweep. And the first to do so, was none other than Anand himself!

Anand second at M-Tel Masters in Sofia, Bulgaria
Anand after a modest start with a string of draws in the strongest Grandmasters tournament ever held in Bulgaria came into contention and ended second behind home star, Veselin Topalov in the inagural event, which was also the first GM tournament to be played under the rule of “No agreed draws”. Players were not allowed to agree to draws among themselves, and only the arbiter could decide if the game was a dead draw.

Anand win the Leon Rapid Chess Challenge
Anand playing in Leon after a gap of two years, emerged winner for the fifth time in six years. Anand won the title beating Rustam Kasimdzhanov in the final. Anand’s earlier victories in Leon have included a match against Miguel Illescas in 1997; match against Anatoly Karpov in 1998, Advanced Chess title in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He was second in 2002.

Main events Coming Up in 2005

• Chess Classic of Mainz – Anand is the defending champion for the past five years
• World Championships in San Luis, Argentina, where world’s top 8 players will play a double round robin event to decide world’s top player
• Corsica Masters – Anand is the winner of the title for five years now.

2004

Anand retains Corus Super Grandmasters title in Holland
Retained the 2004 Corus Grandmasters Chess tournament title in Wijk Aan Zee, Holland. Anand retained the Corus Grandmasters chess title in Wijk Aan Zee with 8.5 points from 13 rounds with five wins, seven draws and one loss.

Anand wins Blitz Match against Vesselin Topalov in Sofia, Bulgaria
Anand won the Blitz Match for Bulgarian TV beating Veselin Topalov 1.5-0.5 in his first appearance in Bulagria.

Anand wins Rapid Title in Melody Amber at Monaco
In Monaco, where he has been a champion many times in the past at the Melody Amber tournament, Anand won the rapid title, once again re-iterating that he was the best player in the world in rapid. He also finished third overall. The joint winners were Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Morozevich.

Anand officially takes over No. 2 spot again
In April officially became the World No. 2 once again. Anand returned to the No. 2 spot in world chess according to the latest ratings list in April. He became second to Garry Kasparov, and is now ahead of Vladimir Kramnik.

Anand leads World Squad to Win over All-Star Armenian Team (Team Petrosyan) in Russia
In a unique match in Russia captained a Rest of the World team, which beat an all-star Armenian team that also had Garry Kasparov in it. This was the second time he has led a world team to such a win. In the past, he led a Rest of the World team to a win over a Russian team.

Anand awarded 2003 Chess Oscar
In May 2003, Anand, the World No. in 2002, won the 2003 Chess Oscar, the game's most prestigious annual award for the third time in his career. In a worldwide poll, involving the leading chess writers, critics and journalists from over 50 countries, Anand totaled 4150 points and won by one of the biggest margins in recent times as he finished 1575 points ahead of his nearest rival, Peter Svidler (2575). Anand, who has twice earlier won the Chess Oscar in 1997 and 1998, is only the second non-Russian after Bobby Fischer (1970, 71, and 72) to win the award and both now share the record of three Oscars each.

Anand wins the Dortmund Super Grandmasters Chess Title
In a masterly display at Dortmund Super GM tournament, Anand won the title in a convincing manner making it two out of two in Super GM classical events for 2004. Winning two major classical events like Corus and Dortmund is indeed a matter of great prestige.

Anand Wins the Chess Classic of Mainz for Fourth Time in a Row
Anand outplayed Alexey Shirov in his favourite international venue, Mainz, as he won the Chess Classic of Mainz, an annual event, where he has been winning for last four years. In he past he has beaten Vladimir Kramnik, Ruslan Ponomariov and Judit Polgar in the one-on-one battles on the banks of River Rhine.

Anand leads Indian team to best finish in Chess Olympiad at Calvia, Spain
Anand returning to the Indian team after 12 years took them to their best-ever sixth place finish in Calvia, Spain. Anand scored eight points from 11 games.

Anand wins Corsica title for record fifth time
Anand, steamrollered over Russian Sergei Rublevsky for his fifth successive Corsica Masters Chess title in Bastia, France. The Indian ace won 2-0, the third time in this tournament he had achieved this wipeout result.

Anand won the Sao Paolo Rapid Chess Challenge
Anand won the Sao Paolo Rapid Chess Challenge with a three-point margin over the runner-up. He beat each of his other rivals at least once in the round robin event. His victims included Anatoly Karpov.

Anand wins the Paul Keres Challenge in Tallinn, Estonia
Anand demolished the field in a tournament held to mark the memory of Paul Keres in Estonia. Anand outplayed each of his five rivals to win the title by an unprecedented margin.

2003

Anand won six of the nine events he played and is a very strong contender for the Chess Oscar, the biggest chess award for the year. Anand has won the Oscar in the past.

• Wins Corsica Open Rapid Chess for the 4 th year in running
• Wins official World Rapid Chess Championships in Cape d'Agde re-affirming his position as the world's best rapid chess player winning the official World Rapid chess title
• Chess Classic Winner at Mainz, Germany, fourth success in as many years
• Dortmund Super GM Chess finished second
• Highest scorer in the German league
• SIS-MH Masters, Denmark winner with an incredible score of 5.5/6
• Melody Amber Blind and Rapid Chess champion for the third time
• Tied for third place in Linares
• Winner at the 65 th Corus Super GM Chess 2003

2002

• Winner of the The Corsica Masters three times in a row
• Winner of World Cup Chess Championship in Hyderabad.
• Successfully led the ‘Rest of the World' team against Russia in ‘The New Match of the Century' at Moscow.
• Won the Chess Classic Championship at Mainz, Germany

2001

• Wins the Corsica Masters title in Bastia, in November
• Won the Rapidplay event in Villarrobledo in Spain
• Drew the WDR TV Match with Peter Leko in Cologne in August. But as per rules, having played black and drawn, Anand will qualify to play the match next year.
• Won the Duel of World Champions in a 10-game rapid clash with Vladimir Kramnik in Mainz, Germany in June
• Won the Merida International tournament in Mexico
• Won "Torneo Magistral” an Advanced Chess Tournament, where players can use Computers in Leon
• Second in Corus International in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands

2000

• Won FIDE World Championships final in Teheran beating Shirov 3.5-0.5
• Won FIDE World Qualifier in New Delhi, won five rounds without losing a game
• Won the FIDE World Cup in Shenyang, China beating Bareev 1.5 - 0.5 in final
• Joint first with Kramnik in Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund
• Won the Fujitsu Siemens Giants Rapid in Frankfurt
• Won "Torneo Magistral" an Advanced Chess Tournament, where players can use Computers in Leon beat Shirov in final
• Won the Wydra Int'l Rapid in Haifa
• Runner-up in Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk Aan Zee to Kasparov
• Won the Plus GSM World Blitz Cup in Warsaw

1999

• Won the Torneo Magistral de Ajedrez in Leon by defeating Anatoly Karpov 5-1
• Won the Chess Oscar for the second straight year!
• Runner-up in Toreno Int'l De Ajedrez Ciudad in Linares
• Runner Up in the Hoogoven's Schaak Tornoi in Wijk Aan Zee with a record plus 6 score
• Won the 1999 Wydra Memorial Rapid Chess in Haifa

1998

• Won the Fontys-Tilburg International in Tilburg
• Won the Siemens Nixdorf Duell which had Computers in the field in Frankfurt
• Won the Siemens Nixdorf Duell Rapid event in Frankfurt
• Won the strong "Torneo Magistral Communidad de Madrid
• Won the Category 21 Linares Super torneo
• Tied for first place at the Hoogoven's Schaak Tornoi in Wijk Aan Zee
• Won the Chess Oscar for the first time

1997

• Won the Knock-Out Championships in Groningen which was the qualifier for the world championship finals. He beat 3 out of the top 10 in the world, Shirov, Gelfand & Adams in the final tiebreak.
• Won the Invesbanka Chess tournament", Belgrade
• Won the Credit Suisse Classic Tournament in Biel (also won prize for most beautiful game)
• Runner-up in Dortmunder Schachtage, Dortmund
• Won the Chess Classic Rapid Tournament, Frankfurt beating Karpov in the Final.
• Won 4-2 in an Exhibition against 6 computers at the Aegon Man Vs Computers chess event. One of the few players to play 6 computers simultaneously and win.
• Won the 6th Melody Amber Tournament, Monaco. Finished overall first and individually first in blindfold and rapid to become the first player in the history of the tournament to do so.
• Won the Torneo de Ajedrez, Dos Hermanes. This was a Category 19 Tournament.

1996

• Second in Las Palmas"Super Torneo De Ajedrez". The six-player event was the strongest tournament of all time till then.
• Won the Credit Swiss Rapid Chess Grand Prix, Geneva beating Kasparov in the final.
• Joint winner at Dortmunder Schachtage, Dortmund with Kramnik.

1995

• Lost the final of the PCA World Championship, New York to Kasparov
• Attained the World No. 2 position in the PCA Ranking list
• Beat Gata Kamsky in PCA World Candidates Final in Las Palmas and qualified for final against Kasparov

1994

• Qualified for PCA World Championship Candidates Final, after beating Michael Adams
• 1994 World Championship Candidates Cycle, New York Champion Beat Romanishin
• 1994 PCA Grand Prix, Moscow Champion Won ahead of Kasparov
• 1994 Melody Amber Tournament, Monaco Champion Won ahead of stalwarts like Karpov, Kramnik, Ivanchuk

1993

• Won the PCA Interzonal, Groningen Champion. The strongest Swiss tournament ever
• Qualified for the FIDE Candidates Cycle Interzonal, Biel
• 1992
• Won the Alekhine Memorial (Category 18) in Moscow. Won the tournament ahead of Karpov. Attained a 2700 rating, only the 8th person ever to do so in the World
• Second in Immopar Trophy, Paris -- Lost final to Kasparov
• Beat Vassily Ivanchuk (then World No. 3) 5-2 in a match in Linares
• Captained the Indian team in Olympiad in Manila, remained unbeaten
• Joint champion in Goodricke Open International Tournament

1991-1992

• Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament (Category 18) Champion ahead of Kasparov and Karpov in the strongest tournament ever held until this time.

1991

• World Championship, Brussels Quarter Finalist Lost to Anatoly Karpov
• First World Candidates Cycle Match, beat Alexey Dreev in Madras