India's Grand Master Viswanathan Anand won his sixth Chess Oscar award before the start of the President Cup at Baku, Azerbaijan. The chess maestro received the prestigious award from the FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on Thursday (May 7). He was nominated for Chess Oscar at the end of last season in October after he defended his world championship against Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn.

 

Previously he was conferred with the award in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2007. After handing over the award to Anand, Ilyumzhinov informed that the Indian chess maestro has beaten second-placed Veselin Topalov by a huge margin. Chess Oscar is given to the best chess player of the year on the basis of poll carried out amongst chess journalists and experts.

 
Viswanathan Anand is the only non-Russian to have won the award more than 5 times. The chess genius from US, late Robert J. Fischer won the title for three times while Garry Kasparov of Russia claimed it for a record 11 times. The prestigious annual chess award is given by Russian chess magazine '64 — Chess Review'.