Chess Oscar

Chess Oscar was an international award given annually to the best chess player. The winner was selected by votes that are cast by chess journalists from across the world. The traditional voting procedure was to request hundreds of chess journalists from many countries to submit a list of the ten best players of the year. The voters were journalists who knew the game and followed it closely, and so the honor was highly prized. The award itself took the form of a bronze statuette representing a man in a boat.[1] The prize was created and awarded in 1967 by Spanish journalist Jorge Puig, and the International Association of Chess Press (AIP). The awards were given from 1967 until 1988. Then, after a pause, they resumed in 1995, and were then organized by the Russian chess magazine 64.[2][3]

64 ceased publication in 2014, and the awards have not been made since.

Statuette

The statuette's final form, a man in a boat, was carved by the sculptor Alexander Smirnov. It represented a figure known as "The Fascinated Wanderer", which refers to a short story written in 1873 by 19th-century Russian author Nikolai Leskov. In this story, the title character, Ivan Flyagin, is a horse trainer and a brute of a man. From his birth his mother has promised that Ivan's life would be devoted to the church. Ivan spends many years avoiding this fate, but eventually gives in and becomes a monk, not for spiritual reasons, but due to a poverty of opportunity.[4]

The Chess Oscar statuette originally took the form of "The Lady of the Umbrella", a figure based on a statue in Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona, Spain.[5][6][7]

Winners
YearPlayerCountry
1967Bent Larsen Denmark
1968Boris Spassky Soviet Union
1969Boris Spassky Soviet Union
1970Bobby Fischer United States
1971Bobby Fischer United States
1972Bobby Fischer United States
1973Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1974Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1975Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1976Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1977Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1978Viktor Korchnoi  Switzerland
1979Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1980Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1981Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1982Garry Kasparov Soviet Union
1983Garry Kasparov Soviet Union
1984Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union
1985Garry Kasparov Soviet Union
1986Garry Kasparov Soviet Union
1987Garry Kasparov Soviet Union
1988Garry Kasparov Soviet Union
1989–94no awards
1995Garry Kasparov Russia
1996Garry Kasparov Russia
1997Viswanathan Anand India
1998Viswanathan Anand India
1999Garry Kasparov Russia
2000Vladimir Kramnik Russia
2001Garry Kasparov Russia
2002Garry Kasparov[8] Russia
2003Viswanathan Anand[9][10] India
2004Viswanathan Anand India
2005Veselin Topalov[11] Bulgaria
2006Vladimir Kramnik[12] Russia
2007Viswanathan Anand[13] India
2008Viswanathan Anand[14] India
2009Magnus Carlsen[15] Norway
2010Magnus Carlsen[16] Norway
2011Magnus Carlsen[17] Norway
2012Magnus Carlsen[18] Norway
2013Magnus Carlsen[19] Norway

By person
PlayerCountryWins
Garry Kasparov Soviet Union, later  Russia11
Anatoly Karpov Soviet Union9
Viswanathan Anand India6
Magnus Carlsen Norway5
Bobby Fischer United States3
Boris Spassky Soviet Union2
Vladimir Kramnik Russia2
Bent Larsen Denmark1
Viktor Korchnoi  Switzerland1
Veselin Topalov Bulgaria1

By nation
CountryWins
 Soviet Union17
 Russia7
 India6
 Norway5
 United States3
 Bulgaria1
 Denmark1
  Switzerland1

References
  1. "64.ru". 64.ru. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  2. "Oscar of the Chess - SpeedyLook encyclopedia". Myetymology.com. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  3. Hill, Tata McGraw. General Knowledge Digest 2010. Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited. 2010
  4. Leskov, Nikolai. The Enchanted Wanderer: Selected Tales, Modern Library Classics, 2003. ISBN 0-8129-6696-1
  5. "ICC Weekly Newsletter. Vol. 3. Issue 22. May 30, 2008". Chessclub.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  6. "Postcard ES-107923: Lady with umbrella - Citadel Park - Barcelona, Spain From carronada". Postcrossing.com. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  7. "Oscar of the Chess - SpeedyLook encyclopedia". Myetlmology.com. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  8. Kasparov wins 2002 Chess Oscar, ChessBase News, 9-May-2003
  9. Anand wins Chess Oscar for third time, rediff.com, 6-May-2004
  10. Anand wins third Chess Oscar, ChessBase News, 8-May-2004
  11. Chess Oscar 2005 for Veselin Topalov, ChessBase News, 30-April-2006
  12. Chess Oscar 2006, The Week in Chess 654, 21-May-2007
  13. Anand Wins Chess Oscars for 2007, ChessBase News, 8-May-2008
  14. “Oscar” prize to be brought to Baku for the first time! Archived 2011-08-23 at the Wayback Machine, APA News, 21 Apr 2009, access date 2009-04-22.
  15. And the 2009 Oscar goes to ... Magnus Carlsen!, Chessvibes November 17, 2010.
  16. Carlsen beats Anand to 2010 Chess Oscar Archived 2012-06-18 at the Wayback Machine, Why Chess, 29 Jul 2011.
  17. Oscar 2011 - Magnus Carlsen, ChessPro, 2 Nov 2012.
  18. Oscar 2012 - Magnus Carlsen, Chess-news-ru, 12 Jun 2013.
  19. Oscar 2013 - Magnus Carlsen, Natalia Pogonina on Twitter, 29 Nov 2014.
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