Chess Oscar
{{short description|World's best player award (1967–88; 1995–2014)}}
Chess Oscar was an international award given annually to the best chess player. The winner was selected by votes that were 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.{{cite web |date=2006-04-30 |title=Chess "Oscar" to Veselin Topalov |url=http://www.64.ru/?/en/news/item=766 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920024808/http://www.64.ru/?/en/news/item=766 |archive-date=2013-09-20 |accessdate=2014-11-22 |publisher=64.ru}} The prize was created and awarded in 1967 by Spanish journalist Jorge Puig, and the {{ill|International Association of Chess Press|ru|Международная ассоциация шахматной прессы}} (AIPE). 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 64Hill, Tata McGraw. General Knowledge Digest 2010. Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited. 2010 until 2014.
The Oscar for the best women chess player of the year was established in 1982.{{Cite web |date=2023-04-23 |title=Ten Highlights in the Life and Career of Chess Grandmaster Pia Cramling |url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/ten-highlights-in-the-life-and-career-of-chess-grandmaster-pia-cramling |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=Chess News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Segura |first=Joan |date=1986-03-04 |title=Los "Oscars" del tablero |url=http://hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com/EMD01/HEM/1986/03/04/MD19860304-028.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225245/http://hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com/EMD01/HEM/1986/03/04/MD19860304-028.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 |access-date=2023-05-04 |website=Mundo Deportivo}}{{efn|This award is not related to the more recent {{ill|FIDE Caissa Award|uk|Каїсса (нагорода)}}, established in 2009,{{Cite web |last=Alexandra Kosteniuk |title=Caissa and Golden Organizer Award |url=http://www.chessblog.com/2009/10/caissa-and-golden-organizer-award.html |access-date=2023-05-04 |language=en}} occasionally referenced also as a Women Chess Oscar.}}
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.Leskov, Nikolai. The Enchanted Wanderer: Selected Tales, Modern Library Classics, 2003. {{ISBN|0-8129-6696-1}}
File:Font de la Dama del Paraigua (Barcelona) - 1.jpg
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.{{cite web|url=http://www6.chessclub.com/mailing/2008/05e/news.html|title=ICC Weekly Newsletter. Vol. 3. Issue 22. May 30, 2008|publisher=Chessclub.com|accessdate=22 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702184639/http://www.chessclub.com/mailing/2008/05e/news.html|archive-date=2 July 2012|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/ES-107923|title=Postcard ES-107923: Lady with umbrella - Citadel Park - Barcelona, Spain From carronada|publisher=Postcrossing.com|accessdate=22 November 2014}}{{cite web |title=Oscar of the Chess - SpeedyLook encyclopedia |url=http://www.myetymology.com/encyclopedia/Oscar_of_the_Chess.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129090951/http://www.myetymology.com/encyclopedia/Oscar_of_the_Chess.html |archive-date=2014-11-29 |accessdate=22 November 2014 |publisher=Myetlmology.com}}
Winners
:
=Women=
:
class="sortable wikitable"
!Year !!Player !!Country | ||
1982 | {{sortname|Nona| Gaprindashvili}} | {{URS}} |
1983 | {{sortname|Pia| Cramling}}{{Cite web |title=The chess games of Pia Cramling |url=https://www.chessgames.com/player/pia_cramling.html?kpage=8 |access-date=2023-05-04 |website=www.chessgames.com}} | {{SWE}} |
1984 | {{sortname|Maya| Chiburdanidze}} | {{URS}} |
1985 | {{sortname|Maya| Chiburdanidze}} | {{URS}} |
1986 | {{sortname|Maya| Chiburdanidze}} | {{URS}} |
1987 | {{sortname|Maya| Chiburdanidze}} | {{URS}} |
1988 | {{sortname|Judit|Polgár}}{{Cite web |last= |title=Biography |url=https://juditpolgar.com/bio |access-date=2023-05-04 |website=Judit Polgar official website |at=Outstanding awards and recognitions}} | {{HUN}} |
1995
|{{sortname|Judit|Polgár}} |{{HUN}} | ||
1996
|{{sortname|Judit|Polgár}} |{{HUN}} | ||
2000
|{{sortname|Judit|Polgár}} |{{HUN}} | ||
2001
|{{sortname|Judit|Polgár}} |{{HUN}} | ||
2002
|{{sortname|Judit|Polgár}} |{{HUN}} |
By person
:
class="sortable wikitable"
!Player !!Country !!Wins | ||
{{sortname|Garry|Kasparov}} | {{URS}}, later {{RUS}} | 11 |
{{sortname|Anatoly|Karpov}} | {{URS}} | 9 |
{{sortname|Viswanathan|Anand}} | {{IND}} | 6 |
{{sortname|Magnus|Carlsen}} | {{NOR}} | 5 |
{{sortname|Bobby|Fischer}} | {{USA}} | 3 |
{{sortname|Boris|Spassky}} | {{URS}} | 2 |
{{sortname|Vladimir|Kramnik}} | {{RUS}} | 2 |
{{sortname|Bent|Larsen}} | {{DEN}} | 1 |
{{sortname|Viktor|Korchnoi}} | {{CHE}} | 1 |
{{sortname|Veselin|Topalov}} | {{BUL}} | 1 |
By nation
:
class="sortable wikitable"
!Country !!Wins | |
{{URS}} | 17 |
{{RUS}} | 7 |
{{IND}} | 6 |
{{NOR}} | 5 |
{{USA}} | 3 |
{{BUL}} | 1 |
{{DEN}} | 1 |
{{CHE}} | 1 |
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.historiadelajedrezespanol.es/desvan/oscar.htm Los Oscar del ajedrez español], winners of the Spanish categories of the award and photos