Leko vs Anand chess match

Official website: http://www.lekoanand.hu/eng/1.html

Péter Lékó was born on 8 September 1979 in Szabadka. He has been living in Szeged since the age of one where he was awarded honorary citizenship in 2005 by the City Assembly. He has been playing chess since the age of seven. In 1994, he became grandmaster and U16 World Chess Champion breaking herewith Fischer’s record. He first appeared in the Hungarian national team at the Moscow Chess Olympiad in 1994. As a frequently invited participant of the strongest tournaments he moved forward rapidly on the world rank list.

He won the tournaments in Copenhagen, Havana and Yopal in 1995. In 1997, he came third in Tilburg and Madrid, in 1998 finished second in Tilburg. In 1999, he won the Category 19 Dortmund event leaving Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Michael Adams and Anatoly Karpov behind. He was the top-board player of the Hungarian Team in the European Championship in Baku where they won silver after 14 unsuccessful years. The start of the following year was also great for him. In Budapest he defeated Alexander Khalifman, the FIDE World Champion title-holder by 4,5-1,5 on a six-game match sponsored by WFG.

In January 2001, he played a twelve-game rapid match against Vladimir Kramnik. The World Champion was only able to win by a very tight 7-5. From that time on Peter has had a new coach. With Arshak Petrosian a new age has begun to our grandmaster. In the year 2002, he achieved several successes. He won the Dubai Grand Prix, came second in Essen and gained a very significant triumph by winning the World Championship Candidate’s Tournament becoming Kramnik’s challenger officially, too. At the Olympiad in Bled he was the undefeated top-board player of the silver-medalist Hungarian team. .

Here is the full bio of Leko.

Viswanathan Anand, the 15th world champion of chess was born in Madras, India on 11 December 1969. He was taught to play chess at the age of six by his mother. He was observed to play his games extremely fast. He became youth world champion in 1987 and, in 1988, he was awarded the title International Grandmaster. He qualified from the world championship interzone final in Manila as third in dead-heat. In world championship candidate’s duel he lost against Karpov by missing promising chances. He gained his first sensational triumph in 1991-92 in Reggio Emilia, where he prevailed against both Karpov and Kasparov. Anand, as others, had two strings to his bow in the 1993-95 world championship period, since he was fighting both for the FIDE and the PCA title.

As far as the FIDE series is concerned he was defeated at home by the American Gata Kamsky losing the play-off after 4-4. He was more successful in the PCA series as he could play for the world championship title with Kasparov in 1995 in New York. After eight draws, Anand took the lead but Kasparov equalized in a superb game and the defending of title could not be hindered.

Anand was brilliant in the FIDE world championship in 1997, which was organized in Groningen. He marched into the final overcoming six of his opponents, where, however, he was beaten in the rapid play-off by Anatolij Karpov, who did not have to qualify. In two years, as a warm-up, he won the World Cup and, furthermore, his biggest dream has come true. In the FIDE world championship in New Delhi, he was marching ahead and in the Teheran final he became world champion by knocking out the Spanish Anatolij Shirov. One year later, he attempted to defend his title in Moscow but he lost the semi-final against Vasilij Ivanchuk of the Ukraine.

The unexpected loss was followed by a trough of a wave for one and a half year, he could hardly bear that huge disappointment but since 2003 he has been the same again. His triumphs were also estimated by the trade press, after 1997 and 1998 he was chosen both in 2003 and in 2004 as the player of the year, he was awarded Oscar. In Wijk aan Zee, he repeated his success in 2003 in front of Judit Polgár, while in 2004 he won ahead of Péter Lékó and, furthermore, he won the super tournament in Dortmund. Four years ago, he came second behind Lékó in Wijk aan Zee and won silver in Sofia, too. He won several rapid tournaments and duels. He was placed second in the FIDE world ranking list at that time and was considered as the biggest favorite of the 2005 World Championship in Argentina where he, however, finished second in dead-heat with Svindler.

He was first in Wijk an Zee, nevertheless, he had to share the glory with Veszelin Topalov. That was the fifth first place for him in the Dutch seaside town. In Monaco he won again in dead-heat with the Russian Aleksander Morozevich. On the FIDE world ranking list of April he passed the dream limit of 2800 points. In Sofia he finished third, although he was on the lead after the first round in the M-tel tournament. In the rapid competition of Leon he overcame Topalov in the final, while in Mainz he won against the Azeri Tejmur Radzsabov.

Here is the full bio of Anand.