Vishwanathan Anand bags Chess Oscar for sixth time

Anand received the award from International Chess Federation (FIDE) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov before the start of the President's Cup, being contested between teams of Azerbaijan and FIDE World, which started in Baku on Friday.
The Indian ace has earlier won the honour in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2007 while Russia's Garry Kasparov has claimed it 11 times and Bobby Fischer of America has taken it home thrice.
The Chess Oscar is awarded by Russian chess magazine '64 - Chess Review' on the basis of a poll carried out among chess journalists and experts. The Oscar comes in the form of a statuette also called the "Fascinated Wanderer".
Meanwhile, in President's Cup, the FIDE World team comprising Anand, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Alexei Shirov of Spain and Sergei Karyakin of Ukrain, is leading after the first two rounds played on the inaugural day yesterday.
The Azerbaijan team consists of Teimour Radjabov, Vugar Gashimov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Gadir Guseinov and Rauf Mamedov, all above Elo 2700 ratings.
Anand defeated Gashimov to put the FIDE World team in the lead by 4.5:3.5 points after the second round.

The first round saw a well-prepared Mamedyarov take a point from Shirov, who defeated Guseinov in round two.
Rajdabov drew with Anand and Hasimov signed peace with former World Champion Kramnik. The only win of the day was registered by Mammedyarov, who defeated Shirov.
Huseynov found himself in a very difficult situation but managed to take half point from Karyakin due to right moves in the endgame.
The FIDE World team showed itself in the second round as Shirov and Anand defeated Qadir and Vuqar, respectively.
Rajdabov, who played against Kramnik, and Shahriyar, who faced Karyakin, gained half point each.
Anand and Mammedyarov have 1.5 points each, more than what their colleagues have managed so far.
The tournament, being held in commemoration of Haydar Aliyev, the National Leader of Azerbaijan, is an eight-round rapid chess tournament pitting the best players in the Republic of Azerbaijan against a FIDE selection of top players from the rest of the world.