The friendly and always open Hungarian, who despite his asceticism is very tolerant of other people, has meanwhile become a superstar in his homeland. Many times recently he has been selected as sportsman of the month and received numerous awards. Traditionally rich in very strong grandmasters, he is the first chess player in his country to play for the title of world chess champion. If he manages to pull off this coup he would become a national hero and put the whole of Hungary in a state of joy.

His unstoppable rise into the world elite took off properly in the year 1998. At strongly attended tournaments in Dortmund, Madrid and Tilburg he was already successful and on July 1, 1999 he achieved a place in the TOP TEN for the first time, from which afterwards he could no longer be ousted. 1999 was the year of his final international breakthrough. Leko convincingly won at the Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess Meeting before Kramnik, Anand and Karpov. A few months later, he outclassed the strong Russian grandmaster Alexander Khalifman 4.5:1.5 in his homeland. 5,000 chess fans followed this event in Budapest: after each game, he was applauded by minute long ovations from the hot-blooded Magyars.

Already four years ago, Peter Leko was close to making an attempt at the world championship. He recognised in good time, however, that, for the last step and the highest level of all, a few changes in his game were indispensable. In the year 2001, he thus became a little more reserved, withdrew himself more, but he and his team – above all his main trainer Arshak Petrosian – remained busy into the background and as from 2002 have reached new land. Leko’s transformation was evident for the first time in Wijk aan Zee (The Netherlands) and Cannes. In March 2002, he then won the Grand Prix Tournament in Dubai, displayed a fantastic performance at a preparation tournament in Essen (Germany) and came optimally prepared to his second home: Dortmund

July 21, 2002: After a five-hour struggle in the packed Goldsaal of the Dortmund Westfalenhalle, he was able to gain a draw in the fourth and decisive game after the incessant attacks of the strong Bulgarian Veselin Topalov and with 2.5:1.5 won the candidates final to the applause of the public. On the way there, he was able to eliminate such renowned elite players as Alexei Schirow (Spain), Jewgeni Barejew (Russia), Michael Adams (England), Alexander Morozevich (Russia) or Boris Gelfand (Israel).