Viswanathan Anand’s Victory at the Madrid Super Tournament (February 21 – March 10, 1998)

In 1998, Viswanathan Anand dominated a super Grandmaster tournament in Madrid, Spain, defeating some of the world’s strongest players. This tournament, held from February 21 to March 10, 1998, featured a double round-robin format with seven elite grandmasters.

Alexei Shirov (1.5 – 0.5)

Peter Svidler (1.5 – 0.5)

Vassily Ivanchuk (1.5 – 0.5)

Veselin Topalov (1.5 – 0.5)

Vladimir Kramnik (1 – 1)

Garry Kasparov (0.5 – 1.5)

Elite Field: The tournament featured seven of the strongest grandmasters at the time, including Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov, Shirov, Svidler, and Ivanchuk.

Dominant Performance: Anand scored multiple victories against top players, proving his readiness to challenge for the World Chess Championship.

Only Loss to Kasparov: His only setback came against Garry Kasparov, his biggest rival at the time.

Reinforced His Status: This performance established Anand as one of the strongest contenders for the Classical World Chess Championship.

Won the Madrid Super GM Tournament in March.

Won the Category 21 Linares Tournament in Spain, defeating Kasparov and Kramnik.

Became the FIDE World Chess Champion in 2000, defeating Alexei Shirov in the final.

Anand’s 1998 Madrid victory was one of the key moments in his journey toward becoming World Champion.