Viswanathan Anand, (Tamil: விசுவநாதன் ஆனந்த்; pronounced IPA: [ʋiʃʋə

ˈn̪aːt̪ən ˈaːnən̪d̪]; born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess Grandmaster and the
current World Chess Champion.

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. With this win, he became the first player in
chess history to have won the World Championship in three different formats: Knockout,
Tournament, and Match. He then successfully defended his title in the World Chess
Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov. As the reigning champion, he will face the
winner of the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2012.

Anand is one of five players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list,
and in April 2007 at the age of 37, he became the world number-one for the first time. He
was at the top of the world rankings five out of six times, from April 2007 to July 2008,
holding the number-one ranking for a total of 15 months. In October 2008, he dropped
out of the world top three ranking for the first time since July 1996.

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. He was also the
first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991–92, India's highest sporting
honor.

Personal life
Anand was born on 11 December 1969 in Mayiladuthurai, a small town in Tamil Nadu,
India. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to Chennai, erstwhile 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 teacher at the University of Michigan.[2][3]
Anand is 11 years younger than his sister and 13 years younger than his brother.

He was taught to play chess by his mother. He described his start in chess in a
conversation with Susan Polgar:

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.[4]

Anand did his schooling in Don Bosco, Egmore, Chennai and holds a degree in
commerce from Loyola College, Chennai. His hobbies are reading, swimming, and
listening to music. He is married to Aruna Anand and lives in Collado Mediano in Spain.
[5]

In August 2010, Anand joined Board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation
for promoting and supporting the India's elite sportspersons and potential young talent.[6]
[7][8]

[edit] Controversies
Anand's was denied honorary doctrate on confusions over his citizenship, however later
Kapil Sibal, 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".[9] But as per Hindu's news told that Anand finally refused
to accept the doctorate.

[edit] Chess career

[edit] Early career

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 International
Master title 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 Shakti Finance
International chess tournament held in Coimbatore, India. He was awarded Padma Shri at
the age of 18.
Anand at the Manila Olympiad 1992, age 22

"Vishy", as he is sometimes called by his friends, burst upon the upper echelons of the
chess scene in the early 1990s, winning such tournaments as Reggio Emilia 1991 (ahead
of Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov). Playing at such a high level did not slow him
down, and he continued to play games at blitz speed.

In the World Chess Championship 1993 cycle Anand qualified for his first Candidates
Tournament, winning his first match but narrowly losing his quarter-final match to
Anatoly Karpov.[10]

In 1994–95 Anand and Gata Kamsky dominated the qualifying cycles for the rival FIDE
and PCA world championships. In the FIDE cycle (FIDE World Chess Championship
1996), Anand lost his quarter-final match to Kamsky after leading early.[11] Kamsky went
on to lose the 1996 FIDE championship match against Karpov.

In the 1995 PCA cycle, Anand won matches against Oleg Romanishin and Michael
Adams without a loss, then avenged his FIDE loss by defeating Gata Kamsky in the
Candidates final.[12] In 1995, he played the PCA World Chess Championship 1995 against
Kasparov in New York City's World Trade Center. After an opening run of eight draws
(a record for the opening of a world championship match), Anand won game nine with a
powerful exchange sacrifice, but then lost four of the next five. He lost the match 10½–
7½.

In the 1998 FIDE cycle, the reigning champion Karpov was granted direct seeding by
FIDE into the final against the winner of the seven-round single elimination Candidates
tournament. The psychological and physical advantage gained by Karpov from this
decision caused significant controversy, leading to the withdrawal of future World
Champion Vladimir Kramnik from the candidates tournament. Anand won the candidates
tournament, defeating Michael Adams in the final, and immediately faced a well-rested
Karpov for the championship. Despite this tremendous disadvantage for Anand, which he
described as being "brought in a coffin" to play Karpov,[13] Anand was able to draw the
regular match 3-3, forcing a rapid playoff. However, the rapid playoff was won 2-0 by
Karpov, allowing him to defend his FIDE championship.

[edit] World Chess Champion

[edit] FIDE World Chess Champion 2000

Main article: FIDE World Chess Championship 2000

After several near misses, Anand won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000 for
the first time after defeating Alexei Shirov 3½–0½ in the final match held at Tehran,
thereby becoming the first Indian to win that title.

He failed to defend the title in 2002, losing in the semifinals to Vassily Ivanchuk. The
2002 FIDE world championship was ultimately won by Ruslan Ponomariov. Anand tied
for second with Peter Svidler in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 with 8½
points out of 14 games, 1½ points behind the winner, Veselin Topalov.

[edit] World Chess Champion 2007

Main article: World Chess Championship 2007

In September 2007 Anand became World Champion again by winning that year's FIDE
World Championship Tournament held in Mexico City. He won the double round-robin
tournament with a final score of 9 out of 14 points, a full point ahead of joint second
place finishers Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand.

In 2000, when Anand won the FIDE World Championship, there was also the rival
"Classical" World Championship, held by Kramnik. By 2007, the world championship
had been reunified, so Anand's victory in Mexico City made him undisputed World
Chess Champion. He became the first undisputed champion to win the title in a
tournament, rather than in matchplay, since Mikhail Botvinnik in 1948.

In October 2007, Anand said he liked the double round robin championship format (as
used in the 2007 championship in Mexico City), and that the right of Kramnik to
automatically challenge for the title was "ridiculous".[14]

[edit] World Chess Champion 2008

Main article: World Chess Championship 2008

Anand convincingly defended the title against Kramnik in the World Chess
Championship 2008 held between October 14 and October 29 in Bonn, Germany. The
winner was to be the first to score 6½ points in the twelve-game match.[15] Anand won by
scoring 6½ points in 11 games, having won three of the first six games (two with the
black pieces).[16] After the tenth game, Anand led 6–4 and needed only a draw in either of
the last two games to win the match. In the eleventh game, Kramnik played the Najdorf
Variation of the Sicilian Defense. Once the players traded queens, Kramnik offered a
draw after 24 moves since he had no winning chances in the endgame.[17]

Anand vs. Kramnik, 2008 World Championship

a b c d e f g h
8 8
7 7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
a b c d e f g h
Final position of the match

Final Game
Anand,V (2783) – Kramnik,V (2772)

WCh Bonn GER (11), 29.10.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.f5
Qc5 10.Qd3 Nc6 11.Nb3 Qe5 12.0–0–0 exf5 13.Qe3 Bg7 14.Rd5 Qe7 15.Qg3 Rg8
16.Qf4 fxe4 17.Nxe4 f5 18.Nxd6+ Kf8 19.Nxc8 Rxc8 20.Kb1 Qe1+ 21.Nc1 Ne7
22.Qd2 Qxd2 23.Rxd2 Bh6 24.Rf2 Be3 ½–½[18]

On his winning the championship his mother—and his first coach—said "To me, it was
like the first chess match he won in a school tournament. It's just the same, only the
degree has changed." [19]

Responding to Anand's win, Garry Kasparov said "A great result for Anand and for
chess. Vishy deserved the win in every way and I'm very happy for him. It will not be
easy for the younger generation to push him aside... Anand out-prepared Kramnik
completely. In this way it reminded me of my match with Kramnik in London 2000. Like
I was then, Kramnik may have been very well prepared for this match, but we never saw
it." [20]
[edit] World Chess Champion 2010

Main article: World Chess Championship 2010

Prior to the World Chess Championship 2010, Anand, who had booked on the flight
Frankfurt-Sofia on April 16, was stranded due to the cancellation of all flights following
the volcano ash cloud from Eyjafjallajökull. Anand asked for a three day postponement,
which the Bulgarian organisers refused on April 19. Anand eventually reached Sofia on
April 20, after an exhausting 40-hour road journey.[21] Consequently, the first game was
delayed by one day.[22]

The match consisted of 12 games. After 11 games the score was tied at 5½-5½. Anand
won game 12 on the Black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined to win the match and
retain the World Championship. In game 12, after Topalov's dubious 31st and 32nd
moves, Anand was able to achieve a strong attack against Topalov's relatively exposed
king. Topalov subsequently resigned.

[edit] World Chess Championship 2012

Main article: World Chess Championship 2012

As a result of Anand's victory in the World Chess Championship 2010, he will defend his
title in the World Chess Championship 2012, tentatively scheduled to be held in London,
England. His opponent will be the winner of the Candidates Matches to be played in
2011.

[edit] FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion 2003

In October 2003, the governing body of chess, FIDE, organized a rapid time control
tournament in Cap d'Agde[23][24] and billed it as the World Rapid Chess Championship.
Each player had 25 minutes at the start of the game, with an additional ten seconds after
each move. Anand won this event ahead of ten of the other top twelve players in the
world, beating Kramnik in the final. His main recent titles in this category are at: Corsica
(six years in a row from 1999 through 2005), Chess Classic (nine years in a row from
2000 through 2008), Leon 2005, Eurotel 2002, Fujitsu Giants 2002 and the Melody
Amber (five times, and he won the rapid portion of Melody Amber seven times). In the
Melody Amber 2007, Anand did not lose a single game in the rapid section, and scored
8½ /11, two more than the runners-up, for a performance in the rapid section of 2939.[25]
In most tournament time control games that Anand plays, he has more time left than his
opponent at the end of the game. He lost on time in one game, to Gata Kamsky.
Otherwise, he took advantage of the rule allowing players in time trouble to use dashes
instead of the move notation during the last four minutes only once, in the game Anand
versus Svidler at the MTel Masters 2006.[26]

[edit] Other results

Anand won three consecutive Advanced Chess tournaments in Leon, Spain, after Garry
Kasparov introduced this form of chess in 1998, and is widely recognized as the world's
best Advanced Chess player, where humans may consult a computer to aid in their
calculation of variations.

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.

His game collection, My Best Games of Chess, was published in the year 1998 and was
updated in 2001.

Anand's recent tournament successes include the Corus chess tournament in 2006 (tied
with Veselin Topalov), Dortmund in 2004, and Linares in 2007 and 2008. He has won the
annual event Monaco Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championships in years 1994,
1997, 2003, 2005 and 2006. He is the only player to have won five titles of the Corus
chess tournament. He is also the only player to win the blind and rapid sections of the
Amber tournament in the same year (twice: in 1997 and 2005). He is the first player to
have achieved victories in each of the three big chess supertournaments: Corus (1989,
1998, 2003, 2004, 2006), Linares (1998, 2007, 2008), Dortmund (1996, 2000, 2004).

In 2007 he won the Grenkeleasing Rapid championship, which he won for the tenth time
defeating Armenian GM Levon Aronian. Incidentally, just a few days before Aronian had
defeated Anand in the Chess960 final.

In March 2007, Anand won the Linares chess tournament and it was widely believed that
he would be ranked world No.1 in the FIDE Elo rating list for April 2007. However,
Anand was placed No.2 in the initial list released because the Linares result was not
included. FIDE subsequently announced that the Linares results would be included after
all,[27] making Anand number one in the April 2007 list.[28]

Anand won the Mainz 2008 Supertournament Championship by defeating rising star
Magnus Carlsen, earning his eleventh title in that event.[29]

[edit] Rating

In the April 2007 FIDE Elo rating list, Anand was ranked first in the world for the first
time,[30] and (as of July 2008) he held the number one spot in all ratings lists but one since
then until July 2008, the exception being the January 2008 list, where he was rated #2
behind Vladimir Kramnik (equal rating, but Kramnik held the #1 spot due to more games
played).[31] He dropped to #5 in the October 2008 list, the first time he had been outside
the top 3 since July 1996.[32]

In 2010, Anand announced that he would increase his tournament schedule, beginning in
late 2010, in an effort to regain the world number-one ranking from Magnus Carlsen.[33]
[34]
[edit] Personality
Anand has been viewed as an unassuming, benevolent person with a reputation of
refraining from political and psychological ploys as much as possible in order to focus
solely on the chessboard.[13] 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, all rivals for the World Championship throughout Anand's career, each
aided him in preparing for the World Chess Championship 2010.[35][36] Anand is
sometimes known as the 'Tiger of Madras'.[37]