The year 2003 has again been one where Anand has achieved tremendous success. With six wins in nine starts tournaments, it has been stupendous, for the other three events have also seen him figure in top three.

The star performance of the year came from the World Rapid Championships in Capd'Agde where Anand beat Vladimir Kramnik in the finals to clinch the title. That kind of performance won him the exalted chess Oscars for the third time. In a poll conducted over 65 countries, Anand was placed first in 232 lists while Peter Svidler who was placed first got a first place in 35 lists. With the Oscar, Anand joined the chess legend Bobby Fischer in being the only two non-Russians to have won the Oscars after the tradition was reinitiated.

Anand enjoys playing different varieties of chess. He especially enjoys the advanced chess, wherein computers are at hand for calculations and database searches. Anand has won three editions of the Leon Advanced Chess tournament in Spain (1999,2000 and 2001).

The Rapid Chess King also created a record of sorts by winning the Paul Keres memorial in Tallinn, Estonia with a perfect 5/5 score. A very tough record to beat. Anand is the winner of the First and Second FIDE World Cup held in Shenyang (2000) and Hyderabad (2002). The World Cups are a series of prestigious knock out tournaments.