This is an unofficial page made by one of Anand's many fans around the world. Last updated 10 November 1998.
Anand won the Fontys tournament in Tilburg, scoring 4 wins (all as White), 7 draws, and no losses. Leko and Sadler were also undefeated, but with fewer wins. See the Fontys web site for more information and for pictures of our hero.
Put that together with Anand's other major tournament victories in 1998, and it sure looks like Anand is the best in the world! The Linares tournament he won was particularly impressive, a Category 21 event pitting the seven best players in the world against each other in a double-round-robin format (see the cross-table below). Anand also won the grandmaster tournament in Madrid and tied for first at Wijk aan Zee this year. Sure, Karpov and Kasparov both have plausible claims to the World Championship, and both are great players. Affable gentleman that he is, Anand has pretty much steered clear of the debate over whose "World Championship" tournament is more valid, and simply piles up the wins. Here's the Linares cross-table:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Anand 7.5 xx 1= 0= == 1= =1 =1
Shirov 7.0 0= xx == =1 10 10 11
Kasparov 6.5 1= == xx == == == ==
Kramnik 6.5 == =0 == xx =1 == 1=
Svidler 5.5 0= 01 == =0 xx 10 =1
Ivanchuk 5.0 =0 01 == == 01 xx 0=
Topalov 4.0 =0 00 == 0= =0 1= xx
Below is Anand's win over Ivanchuk, featuring a surprising
rook sacrifice.