Chess Player of India, Former World Chess Champion
Birth
Viswanathan Anand was born as the third child on 11th December 1969 to Krishnamurthy Viswanathan and Sushila in Mayiladuthurai of TamilNadu. His father Krishnamurthy Viswanathan was a retired General Manager of Southern Railways. His mother was a housewife and a passion for chess. Anand has an elder brother and an elder sister.
Education
Anand completed his schoolings in Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Egmore, Chennai. He got a degree of Bachelor of Commerce from the Loyola College in Chennai.
Personal Life
Viswanathan Anand married Aruna in the year 1996. He has a son and his name is Akhil.
Life Career
When Anand was 6 years old, his mother taught him to play the Chess. He learned the peculiarities of Chess game in the Philippines, while he stayed with his parents from 1978 to 1980. At his 14th age, he got nine wins in nine games and won the Indian National Sub-Junior Championship. He was the first youngest Indian to receive the International master title at the age of 15. In 1987, Anand was the first Asian to win the world chess title after winning the 1987 FIDE World Junior Championship. For this competition, all players below 20years were eligible in which Anand won on his 17th age.
In 1988, he won the International Grandmaster title following the victory. He was no.1 in the list of FIDE official chess rating before Kasparov and Vladimair Kramnik in 1990’s. In 1991, Anand won the major international chess tournament by progressing before Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.
Chess Career
In 1991, Anand made his first try in the world chess Championship, where he lost his match in the quarterfinals to Karpov. Later in 1995, he got his first title and ranked two after he lost the PCA Championship to Kasparov. Next he won the title in 1998 defeating Karpov, who got back the FIDE title following Kasparov’s formation of the PCA. On defeating the Michael Adams in the finals, he won the candidates tournament.
Anand made the publication on his game, Anand: My Best Games of Chess. In which, he made the extension with new games in 2001.
In 2000, Anand by winning the knockout matches, won the FIDE World Chess Championship. Later in the same year, defeating the Alexei Shirov in the final match, he won the FIDE World Chess Championship that held in Tehran. By winning this, he became the first Indian to win that Championship title. In 2002, he lost to Vassily Ivanchuk in the semifinals, in which Ruslan Ponomarriov won the title. In 2005, his competition with Peter Svidler for second position became draw, in which Veselin Topalov won the title. In April 2006, he was the fourth player to pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE ranking list.
World Chess Championship
In the 1995 Classical World Chess Championship held at New York city, Anand faced the Garry Kasparov in the finals, where he lost the game and became the runner-up. But that was his first tournament victory in his career, since he won against the Oleg Romanishin and Michael Adams in quarterfinals and semi-final matches. Later in 1998, in the FIDE World Chess Championships, the final match held between Anand and Anatoly Karpov, where he lost his victory to Karpov. Next the FIDE World Chess Championship match in 2000, gave Anand the first World Champion title. In 2000, Anand met Alexei Shirov in the finals, in which he won the game and became the World Chess Champion for the first time. In Argentina, the FIDE World Chess Championship for the year 2005 took place. Anand went up to finals, but he lost against Veselin Topalov and became the runner-up.
Crucial Winning of Viswanathan Anand in World Chess Championship
Anand won the World Chess Championship title for the second time in 2007. In Mexico, this took place where Anand met Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand in the finals. He made a win against them and took the World Championship title. After this, Anand became the World Champion for three times through the three consecutive winnings. In 2008 World Chess Championship, Anand played against Vladimir Kramnik in the finals, in which he won the title with 3 wins. During the 2010 World championship, Anand met Veselin Topalov in the finals. Again he took the title for the fourth time, by making a tough winning against Veselin Topalov. In 2012, Anand got the victory against Boris Gelfand in the finals and won the title for the fifth time.
After this, in the 2013 World Chess Championship that took place in Chennai, Anand met Magnus in the finals. In this match, he lost to Magnus Carlsen and became the runner-up. Again in 2014, he lost the title in the finals against Magnus Carlsen and became the runner-up.
Fame for Viswanathan Anand
Anand got the nickname “The Lightning Kid” in India, is famous for fast tactical calculations. He allied himself to the board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest in August 2010, which is the organization to support the young sport talents. He had a passion in swimming, reading and hearing music. Anand had been away from political tricks by wholly concentrating on the Chess game. This attitude of Anand, gave him the huge fans in TamilNadu and throughout the country. Among his fans, he is known as “Tiger of Madras”.
On 7th November 2010, during the US President Barack Obama visit to India, Anand became the only sportsman who got the invitation to the dinner arranged by then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh. Anand was ignored the honorary doctorate from the University of Hyderabad due to his citizenship. Then the Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal made the apology for this issue and gave the statement that Anand would accept the doctorate title at his convenient time. Finally, Anand refused to receive that title.
Awards and Honors of Viswanathan Anand
For the year 1991-1992, Anand became the first recipient of the India’s highest sport honor Rajiv Gandhi Khel Award. In 1988, he won the Padma Shri Award. Later in 2007, he became the first sportsman to win the India’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan. He had been the five time winner of the World Chess championship from 2007 to 2013.