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 Viswanathan Anand, popularly known as “Vishy” is an Indian chess grandmaster. He became the 2007 World Chess Champion on September 29, 2007. He was born on December 11, 1969 in Chennai to Vishwanathan and Susheela. His father is a retired general manager, Southern Railways.
Anand completed his schooling from Don Bosco school in Chennai. He finished his B.Com from Loyola College in Chennai. He was conferred the Honorary Doctorate degree by the Jawaharlal Technology University at the age of 18.
Anand started playing chess at the age of 6. He learnt chess from his mother. His first national level success came at the age of 14 when he won the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship in 1983. He was the champion of the National Junior Championship (under 19) from 1983 to 1986. He was the winner of the Asian Junior Championships for 2 consecutive years - 1984 and 1985.
Anand became the First Asian and First Indian to win the 1987 World Junior Championship and earned the grandmaster title in 1988 at the age of 18. He made it to the quarter finals of the FIDE Candidates Tournament in 1991.
Anand won the Reggio Emilia Tournament in 1991. He lost to Kasparov in the Professional Chess Association World Chess Championship final in 1995. He has won three consecutive Advanced Chess tournaments in Leon since 1998.
Anand became the first Indian to win the 2000 FIDE World Chess Championship title. He lost the title when Ruslan Ponomariov won the FIDE knockout tournament in 2002. He tied for second with Peter Svidler in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. He was also the winner of the 2003 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship.
Anand is the only player to win the Corus Chess Tournament titles 5 times for the years (1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006). He was the winner of the Monaco Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championships in the years 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2006. He has also won the Linares Tournament 2 times (1998, 2007) and the Dortmund Tournament 3 times (1996, 2000 and 2004).
Anand’s memorable achievements in the year 2007 were wining the Linares-Morelia Tournament and the World Chess Championship.
Anand has signed an endorsement deal with Parle Products Private Limited. He is the global ambassador of Spastics Society of India (Earlier known as Vidyasagar) and National Institute of Information Technology Ltd (NIIT).
Anand has won several awards and honors such as:
• Arjuna award (1985)
• Padma Shri Award (1987)
• National Citizens Award (1987)
• Soviet Land Nehru Award (1987)
• Shri Rajiv Gandhi Award – “Outstanding Sports Person” (1988)
• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (1991-1992)
• K. K. Birla Award – “1995 Person of the Year”
• Sportstar Millenium Award (1998)
• Padma Bhushan Award (2000)
• “James De Oro” – an honor given by the Lanzarote Government in Spain in 2001.
• Chess Oscar 4 times (1997, 1998, 2003 and 2004)
He has also won the 1998 Book of the Year Award for his book “My Best Games of Chess” by the British Chess Federation.
Anand married Aruna in 1996. He is widely recognized as World’s Best Advanced Chess Player.
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