by About Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand is an Indian chess grandmaster and five times World Chess Champion in standard, rapid, and blitz time controls. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is among first four players to have surpassed an Elo rating of 2800, in 2006. He was introduced to chess by his mother who was a big chess aficionado. He started playing chess at the age of 6. V. Anand earned a nickname “Lightning Kid” due to his quick tactical calculations and won numerous “speed chess” titles as well. He is fondly called as Vishy and Tiger of Madras. Unique distinction of being only chess player who had won the world championship playing in Match, Tournament and Knockout formats.
Born: 11 December 1969 (age 50 years), Mayiladuthurai
Ranking: No. 9 (JUNE 2023)
FIDE rating: 2754 (JUNE 2023)
Chess Achievements:
- National Sub-Junior Chess Champion at 14 years of age
- Achieved International Master (IM) at 15 years of age.
- National chess champion at 16 years of age
- Won the World Junior Chess Championship 1987
- India’s first Grandmaster at 18 years of age, 1988
- Won Reggio Emilia tournament, finishing ahead of world champions Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, 1991
- Won World Chess Championship by defeating Alexei Shirov, 2000
- Won the World Rapid Chess Championship, 2003
- Won the World Championship by defeating Vladimir Kramnik, 2008
- Won the World Chess Championship by defeating Veselin Topalov, 2010
- Won the World Chess Championship by defeating Boris Gelfand, 2012
Awards and Accolades:
- National and International Awards won:
- Arjuna Award, 1985
- Padma Shri, 1987
- National Citizens Award and Soviet Land Nehru Award, 1987
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, 1991
- Sportstar Best Sportsperson of the Year, 1995
- Sportstar Millennium Award, 1998
- Chess Oscar, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008
- Padma Bhushan, 2000
- First Indian sportsperson to win the award, Padma Vibhusha, 2008
- Won the Global Strategist Award by NASSCOM, 2011
Style of Chess Play:
Vishy has traditionally played an opportunistic, yet sound, attacking style, marked by very good opening preparation. He was always a quick calculator and an excellent defender as well. In his later years he has played a more positional game with a slower pace. He still produces the occasional attacking brilliance every now and then.
Social Presence:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vishy64theking
