Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess Grandmaster and former World Chess

Champion. Described by grandmaster and chess commentator Lubomir Kavalek as one of the most versatile world
champions ever,[3] Anand has won the World Chess Championship five times[4] (2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012), and
was the undisputed World Champion from 2007 to 2013. Anand was the World Blitz Chess champion in 2000[5].
Anand was the FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion in 2003, and is widely considered the strongest rapid player of
his generation.[6][7]. He is one of the two world champions who won the Classical, Rapid and Blitz world
championships[8].
Anand became India's first grandmaster in 1988.[9] He was also the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel
Ratna Award in 199192, India's highest sporting honour. In 2007, he was awarded India's second highest civilian
award, the Padma Vibhushan, making him the first sportsperson to receive the award in Indian history. Anand has
won the Chess Oscar six times (1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008).
He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002, at a time when the world title was split. He became
the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. He then
successfully defended his title in the World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov and in the World
Chess Championship 2012[10] against Boris Gelfand. In theWorld Chess Championship 2013 he lost to
challenger Magnus Carlsen. He won the right to face Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2014 by winning the
2014 Candidates Tournament.[11]
Anand is one of six players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list. He occupied the number one
position in severalrating lists between 2007 and 2011.
Contents
[hide]

1 Early life

2 Personal life

3 Chess career
o

3.1 Early career

3.2 World Chess championships

3.2.1 FIDE World Champion 2000

3.2.2 World Champion 2007

3.2.3 World Champion 2008

3.2.4 World Champion 2010

3.2.5 World Champion 2012

3.2.6 World Championship 2013

3.2.7 World Championship 2014

3.3 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion 2003

3.4 2013

3.5 Other results

3.6 Rating

4 Assessment

5 Head-to-head record versus selected grandmasters

6 Notable tournament victories

o

6.1 Rapid/exhibition tournaments

6.2 Classical tournaments

7 Tabulation number of wins in major recurring chess tournaments

8 Awards
o

8.1 Indian national honours

8.2 Other honours

9 Sample game

10 See also

11 References

12 Further reading

13 External links

Early life[edit]
Viswanathan Anand was born on 11 December 1969 at Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu in a Brahmin family.[12][13] Shortly
thereafter, his family moved to Chennai (formerly Madras), where he grew up.[1] His father, Viswanathan Iyer, is a
retired General Manager of Southern Railways, and his mother Susheela, housewife and chess/film/club aficionado
and an influential socialite. He has an elder brother, Shivakumar who is a manager at Crompton Greaves in India and
an elder sister Anuradha who is a professor at the University of Michigan.[14][15] Anand is 11 years younger than his
sister and 13 years younger than his brother.
He was taught how to play chess by his mother and a close family friend named Deepa Ramakrishnan. He described
his start in chess thus:
I started when I was six. My mother taught me how to play. In fact, my mother used to do a lot for my chess. We
moved to the Philippines shortly afterward. I joined the club in India and we moved to the Philippines for a year. And
there they had a TV program that was on in the afternoon, one to two or something like that, when I was in school. So
she would write down all the games that they showed and the puzzles, and in the evening we solved them together.

Of course my mother and her family used to play some chess, and she used to play with her younger brother, so she
had some background in chess, but she never went to a club or anything like that.
So we solved all these puzzles and sent in our answers together. And they gave the prize of a book to the winner.
And over the course of many months, I won so many prizes. At one point they just said take all the books you want,
but don't send in any more entries.[16]
Anand was educated at Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School,[17] Egmore, Chennai and holds a degree
of Bachelor of Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai.[18]

Personal life[edit]
In August 2010, Anand joined the board of directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation for promoting and
supporting India's elite sportspersons and potential young talent.[19][20][21] On 24 December 2010 Anand was guest of
honour on the grounds of Gujarat university, Ahmedabad, where 20,486 players created a new world record of
simultaneous chess play at single venue.[22]
His hobbies are reading, swimming, and listening to music. He is married to Aruna Anand and has a son born on 9
April 2011.[23] Anand's son is named Akhil and in the Tamil tradition will be called "Akhil Anand" (no surname). Anand
lives with his wife Aruna in Madrid, Spain.[24]
Anand has been regarded as an unassuming person with a reputation for refraining from political and psychological
ploys and instead focusing on his game.[25] This has made him a well-liked figure throughout the chess world for two
decades, evidenced by the fact that Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, and Magnus Carlsen, of whom the former two
were rivals for the World Championship throughout Anand's career, each aided him in preparing for the World Chess
Championship 2010.[26][27] Anand is sometimes known as the "Tiger of Madras".[28]
Anand was the only sportsperson to have been invited for the dinner hosted by the Indian PM Manmohan Singh for
US President Barack Obama on 7 November 2010.[29]
Anand was denied an honorary doctorate from University of Hyderabad because of confusion over his citizenship
status; however, later Kapil Sibal, India's Minister of Human Resource Development apologised and said "There is no
issue on the matter as Anand has agreed to accept the degree at a convenient time depending on his availability".
[30]

According to The Hindu, Anand finally declined to accept the doctorate.[31]

Chess career[edit]
Early career[edit]
Anand's rise in the Indian chess world was meteoric. National level success came early for him when he won the
National Sub-Junior Chess Championship with a score of 9/9 in 1983 at the age of fourteen. He became the youngest
Indian to win the title of International Master at the age of fifteen, in 1984. At the age of sixteen he became
the national chess champion and won that title two more times. He played games at blitz speed. In 1987, he became
the first Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship. In 1988, at the age of eighteen, he became India's first
Grandmaster by winning the Shakti Finance International chess tournament held in Coimbatore, India. He was
awarded Padma Shri at the age of 18.