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Defending champion |
Challenger | |||||
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 Anatoly Karpov |
 Viswanathan Anand | |||||
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Born 23 May 1951 46 years old |
Born 11 December 1969 28 years old | |||||
| Winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 | Winner of the Candidates Tournament 1997 | |||||
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Rating: 2735 (World No. 6) |
Rating: 2770 (World No. 3) | |||||
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The FIDE World Chess Championship 1998 was contested in a match between the FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the challenger Viswanathan Anand. The match took place between 2 January and 9 January 1998 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The challenger was determined in a tournament held in Groningen, Netherlands, between 9 December and 30 December 1997. After the championship match ended in a draw, Karpov won the rapid playoff, becoming the 1998 FIDE World Chess Champion.