Viswanathan Anand is a former Chess grandmaster and former World Chess Champion from India. At the age of 19 he turns out to be the first grandmaster from India in 1988. Anand is a five-time world chess champion. In April 2006 Anand turned the fourth participant in historical past to cross the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE ranking checklist, after Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, and Veselin Topalov. He occupied the primary place for 21 months, the sixth-longest on the record.
Anand was the primary recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991–92, India’s highest sporting honor. In 2007, he was awarded India’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, making him the primary sportsperson to obtain the award.
Viswanathan Anand was born on 11 December 1969. His father Krishnamurthy Viswanathan, a retired common supervisor of Southern Railways and his mom Sushila was a housewife, chess aficionado, and an influential socialite. Anand has one brother and Sister His elder brother, Shivakumar, is a manager at Crompton Greaves in India, and his elder sister, Anuradha, is a professor within the United States at the University of Michigan. Anand was studied at Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai and he holds a Degree of Bachelor of Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai.
| Biography | Description |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Viswanathan Anand |
| Nick Name | Vishy |
| Proffesion | chess Grand Master |
| Date of Birth (DOB) | 11 December 1969 |
| Country | India |
Table of Contents
Personal Life
Anand married Aruna in 1996 and has a son, Akhil, born on 9 April 2011. In August 2010, Anand joined the board of administrators of Olympic Gold Quest, a basis for selling and supporting India’s elite sportspersons and potential younger expertise. Anand was the one sportsperson to be invited for the dinner hosted by the Indian PM Manmohan Singh for US President Barack Obama on 7 November 2010.
| Personal Life | Description |
|---|---|
| Father | Krishnamurthy Viswanathan (Retired general manager of Southern Railways) |
| Mother | Sushila |
| Brother | Shivakumar (Manager at Crompton Greaves) |
| Sister | Anuradha (Professor in the United States at the University of Michigan) |
| Spouse | Aruna |
| Son | Akhil |
| Daughter | – |
| Educational Qualification | Degree in Bachelor of Commerce |
| School | Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, egmore, chennai. |
| College/ University | Loyola College, Chennai. |
Career
- In 1991, his first attempt to win FIDE’s World Chess Championship ended when he lost quarter-finals to Karpov.
- In 1995, Viswanathan Anand in the PCA World Chess Championship played against Garry Kasparov and lost the match.
- He cleared the candidates round by defeating Michael Adams in 1998 and faced the reigning champion Karpov in the World Chess Championship finals.
- In 2000, he won his first title in World Chess Championship and beat Alexei Shirov.
- In 2002, he lost in the semi-finals to Russia’s Vassily Ivanchuk.
- In 2003, Viswanathan Anand won the World Rapid Chess Championship.
- In 2006, he became the fourth player in history to cross 2800-mark in ELO ratings.
- In 2007, he won the double round-robin tournament against most of the best players in the world.
- He won the World Championship in 2008 against Kramnik.
- In 2010, he won World Chess Championship against Veselin Topalov.
- In the 2012 World Chess Championship, he won against Boris Gelfand who was the winner of 2011 Candidates Matches.
- In 2013, World Chess Championship, Anand lost the game, and the winner was a 22-year-old Magnus Carlsen who was the winner of the 2013 Candidates Tournament.
Achievements and awards
Indian national honours
- Arjuna Award for Outstanding Indian sportsperson in Chess in 1985.
- Padma Shri – Fourth highest civilian award awarded by the Government of India in 1987.
- The inaugural Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honor in the years 1991–1992.
- Padma Bhushan – Third highest civilian award awarded by the Government of India in 2000.
- Padma Vibhushan – Second highest civilian award awarded by the Government of India in 2007.
Other honours
- National Citizens Award and Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1987
- British Chess Federation “Book of the Year” Award in 1998 for his book My Best Games of Chess.
- Anand has won the Chess Oscar in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008. The Chess Oscar is awarded to the year’s best player according to a worldwide poll of leading chess critics, writers, and journalists conducted by the Russian chess magazine 64.
- Sportstar Best Sportsperson of the Year for 1995
- Sportstar Millennium Award in 1998, from India’s premier sports magazine for being the sportsperson of the millennium.
- “Global Strategist Award” for mastering many formats of World Chess Championships by NASSCOM in 2011.
- Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa honored Anand with a cheque of Rs 2 crores, for winning the World Chess Championship for the fifth time.
- In 2012, he received the “Indian sportsperson of the year” and “Indian of the year” awards.
- In 2014 Anand was awarded the Russian Order of Friendship for the development of economic, scientific, and cultural ties with Russia. The Order of Friendship was awarded to Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand, the participants in the FIDE World Chess Championship Match that was held at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 2012.
- In 2015 Anand was honored with the top country award at the Spanish embassy, Delhi on 8 January. It is given to the eminent people of Indian origin who helped to bring glory to both India and Spain.
