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India's World Champion Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan Anand (Vishy), born 11 December 1969 Mayiladuthurai,in a small town in Tamil Nadu, India, known as the "Tiger of Madras" is the current World Chess Champion. He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 & defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. He then successfully defended his title in the World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov.Anand has been described by Lubomir Kavalek as the most versatile world champion ever, since Anand is the only player to have won the world chess championships in many formats including Knockout, Tournament, Match, Rapid, and Blitz.

Anand is one of six players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list, & 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. Anand regained the world number one ranking in November 1, 2010, having defeated the reigning world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the Bilbao Masters, but had to concede the top spot back to Carlsen in July 2011.

Anand became India's first grandmaster in 1987. He was also the first 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 first sportsperson to receive the award in Indian history.

In an August 31, 2011 interview with Vlad Tkachiev, Vladimir Kramnik (ex-World Champion 2000 to 2006) said that "I always considered him to be a colossal talent, one of the greatest in the whole history of chess", "I think that in terms of play Anand is in no way weaker than Kasparov", & "In the last 5-6 years he’s made a qualitative leap that’s made it possible to consider him one of the greatest chess players

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. 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 & the puzzles, and in the evening we solved them together. So we solved all these puzzles & 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.”

Anand holds a degree in commerce. His hobbies are reading, swimming, & listening to music.

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 title of International Master at the age of fifteen, in 1984. At the age of sixteen he became the national chess champion & 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 has been viewed as an unassuming person with a reputation for refraining from political and psychological ploys & focussing solely on the chessboard. This has made him a well-liked figure throughout the chess world for two decades, evidenced by the fact that Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, & Magnus Carlsen, all rivals for the World Championship throughout Anand's career, each aided him in preparing for the World Chess Championship 2010. 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 November 7, 2010.

National and international awards.

Arjuna award for Outstanding Indian Sportsman in Chess in 1985.

Padma Shri, National Citizens Award and Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1987.

The inaugural Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India's highest sporting honour in the year 1991–1992.

British Chess Federation 'Book of the Year' Award in 1998 for his book My Best Games of Chess.

Padma Bhushan - Third highest civilian award awarded by Government of India in 2000.

Jameo de Oro the highest honour given by the Government of Lanzarote in Spain on 25 April 2001. The award is given to illustrious personalities with extraordinary achievements.

Chess Oscar (1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008).

Sportstar Millennium Award in 1998, from India's premier Sports magazine for being the sportperson of the millennium.

Padma Vibhushan - Second highest civilian award awarded by Government of India in 2007.

'Global Strategist Award' for Mastering many formats of World Chess Championships by NASSCOM in 2011.