By IANS,
Baku, (Azerbaijan) : India’s Grand Master Viswanathan Anand received his sixth Chess Oscar and third in a row before the start of the President Cup here.
Anand, who won the annual award in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2007, Thursday received it from the FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who stated that the reigning World Champion has left second-placed Veselin Topalov behind by a large margin.
Anand became the only non-Russian to win it more than five times. The late Robert J. Fischer, chess genius from the US, won it three times while Russian Garry Kasparov bagged it a record 11 times.
“I first received Chess Oscar in 2007, and now once again I am the laureate. But I have to be grounded as the competition is quite tough in the President’s Cup,” said Anand, who received an invitation from Azerbaijan for the tournament.
The Chess Oscar is awarded to the best player by the Russian chess magazine “64 — Chess Review” on the basis of a poll carried out amongst chess journalists and experts.
The Oscar comes in the form of a statuette called the “Fascinated Wanderer”.
Anand was declared the winner for 2008 at the end of last season in October after he defended his world championship against Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn.