Viswanathan Anand

About Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess Grandmaster and a 5 time World Chess Champion.

Career Success:

• Anand is the only person in Chess history to have won a World championship title in all formats, match, knock and tournament.
  
• He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. He then defended his title in the World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov and in the World Chess Championship 2012 against Boris Gelfand. In the World Chess Championship 2013 he lost to challenger Magnus Carlsen and he lost again to Carlsen in the World Chess Championship 2014.
  
• In April 2006 Anand became the fourth player in history to pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE rating list, after Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov.He occupied the number one position for 21 months, the 6th longest on record.
  
• He is the first Asian to win the World Championship in 2000.He has won every classical, rapid and blind Chess event in the Chess circuit.
  
• He has won the prestigious Leon Magistral nine times, Corsica Masters six times & the Strongest Rapid Championship, the Mainz Classic a staggering eleven times. His results in rapid Chess make him one, if not the greatest player ever in Chess history.
  
• If his talent as a Rapid Chess player is legendary, his records in classical Chess have been superlative. In January 2006, he became the only player in Chess history to win the Corus Chess event 5 times in the tournament's 69-year history. He has won the prestigious Corus event 5 times (1989, 1998, 2003, 2004 & 2006). He has won the prestigious Linares Chess event 3 times (1998, 2007, 2008), Dortmund Sparkassen 3 times (1996, 2000 & 2004) Madrid Masters, and Biel etc
  
• Anand is the winner of the First and Second FIDE World Cup held in Shenyang (2000) and Hyderabad (2002).The World Cups are a series of prestigious knock out tournaments.
  
• One of the few non-Soviet players in the sport, Viswanathan Anand has been feted with many international awards. He is the proud recipient of the Chess Oscars given for the best player of the year . He received this award six times. (1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008). Thus becoming the only non-Russian to win the award six times. In India he has received the high civilian awards of Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan , Padma Shri and Arjuna Award. 
  
• Viswanathan Anand became India's first grandmaster in 1988.He was also the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991–92, India's highest sporting honour. In 2007, he was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, making him the first sports person to receive the award.
  
• He is also the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award Known as the Gentleman Champion in the Chess world, Anand is a spokesperson for children with cerebral palsy (Vidyasagar) . He is fluent in German, Spanish and French. He is involved in a Chess in schools program in India, the NIIT Mind Champions Academy that has taken the game of Chess to over one million students. His travels have taken him close to 50 countries. Anand is a keen follower of current affairs, world business and astronomy.
  

Viswanathan Anand Achievements

Notable tournament successes:

Rapid/exhibition tournaments:

• 1989 2nd Asian Active Chess Championship, Hong Kong 1st
  
• 1994 Melody Amber Tournament, Monaco 1st
  
• 1994 PCA Grand Prix (Rapid), Moscow 1st
  
• 1996 Credit Swiss Rapid Chess Grand Prix, Geneva 1st
  
• 1996 Torneo Magistral de Ajedrez, Leon
  
• 1997 Melody Amber Tournament, Monaco 1st
  
• 1997 Chess Classic Rapid Tournament, Frankfurt
  
• 1998 Torneo Magitral Communidad De Madrid, Madrid 1st
  
• 1998 Siemens Nixdorf Duell (Rapid), Frankfurt 1st
  
• 1999 Wydra Memorial Chess (Rapid), Haifa 1st
  
• 1999 Torneo Magistral de Ajedrez, Leon beat Karpov 5–1
  
• 2000 Wydra International Tournament (Rapid), Haifa 1st
  
• 2000 Torneo Magistral de Ajedrez, Leon beat Shirov 1½–½
  
• 2000 Fujitsu Siemens Giants Chess (Rapid), Frankfurt 1st
  
• 2000 Corsica Masters (Rapid), Corsica 1st
  
• 2002 Eurotel (Combined Rapid plus Classical), Prague 1st
  
• 2011 Botvinnik Memorial, Moscow, 1st
  
• 2011 Corsica Masters Knockout (Rapid), Corsica 1st
  
• 2014 World Rapid Chess Championship (Rapid), Dubai 3rd
  

Classical tournaments:

• 1986 Arab-Asian International Chess Championship, Doha 1st
  
• 1987 Sakthi Finance Grandmasters Chess Tournament, Coimbatore 1st
  
• 1989 51st Hoogovens Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 1st
  
• 1990 Asian Zonal Tournament, Qatar
  
• 1990 Manchester Chess Festival, Manchester 1st
  
• 1990 Triveni Super Grandmasters Tournament, Delhi Joint 1st
  
• 1992 Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament, Reggio Emilia 1st
  
• 1992 Goodrich Open International Tournament, Calcutta 1st
  
• 1992 Alekhine Memorial, Moscow 1st
  
• 1993 PCA Interzonal, Groningen 1st
  
• 1996 Dortmunder Schachtage, Dortmund (joint 1st with Kramnik)
  
• 1997 Torneo de Ajedrex, Dos Hermanas 1st
  
• 1997 Invesbanka Chess tournament, Belgrade 1st
  
• 1997 Credit Suisse Classic Tournament, Biel 1st
  
• 1998 60th Hoogoven's Schaak Tornoi, Wijk aan Zee 1st
  
• 1998 Torneo International De Ajedrez, Linares 1st
  
• 1998 Fontys-Tilburg International Chess Tournament 1st
  
• 2003 65th Corus Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 1st
  
• 2004 66th Corus Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 1st
  
• 2006 68th Corus Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 1st
  
• 2007 Linares Chess Tournament, Linares 1st
  
• 2007 FIDE World Championship Tournament, Mexico City 1st
  
• 2008 Linares Chess Tournament, Linares 1st
  
• 2010 Bilbao Chess Masters Final - Third Grand Slam Masters Final, Bilbao 2nd
  
• 2010 London Chess Classic - London 2nd
  
• 2011 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2nd
  
• 2013 Grenke Chess Classic, Baden Baden 1st
  
• 2013 Zurich Chess Challenge, Zurich 2nd
  
• 2014 Candidates Tournament, Khanty Mansiysk 1st
  
• 2014 Bilbao Chess Masters Final (Grand Slam Chess Final), Bilbao 1st
  
• 2014 London Chess Classic, London 1st
  
• 2015 Zurich Chess Challenge (classical section), Zurich 1st
  
• 2015 Shamkir Chess (Vugar Gashimov Memorial), Shamkir 2nd
  
• 2015 Norway Chess (Grand Chess Tour), Stavanger 2nd
  

Matches:

• 1991 World Chess Championship Candidates, Madras, Brussels Quarter-finalist
  
• 1992 Linares match Anand vs Vassily Ivanchuk 5–3
  
• 1994-5 PCA World Championship Candidates Cycle, Linares, Las Palmas won
  
• 1997 Aegon Man vs Computers chess event (clock simultan vs 6 programs) won 4–2
  

Awards:

Anand has received many national and international awards.

Indian national honours:

• Arjuna Award for Outstanding Indian Sportsman in Chess in 1985.
  
• Padma Shri – Fourth highest civilian award awarded by Government of India in 1987.
  
• The inaugural Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India's highest sporting honour in the years 1991–1992.
  
• Padma Bhushan – Third highest civilian award awarded by Government of India in 2000.
  
• Padma Vibhushan – Second highest civilian award awarded by 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 Millennium Award in 1998, from India's premier Sports magazine for being the sportperson of the millennium.
  
• "Global Strategist Award" for Mastering many formats of World Chess Championships by NASSCOM in 2011.
  
• Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa honoured 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 honoured with the top country award at the Spanish embassy, Delhi on January 8.It is given to the eminent people of Indian origin who helped to bring glory to both India and Spain.
  
• 4538 Vishyanand (provisional designation 1988 TP) is a main-belt minor planet. It was discovered by Kenzo Suzuki in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on October 10, 1988.