Viswanathan Anand

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. 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 (which was a record for the opening of a world championship match until November 21, 2018), Anand won game nine with a powerful exchange sacrifice, but then lost four of the next five. He lost the match 10½–7½.

Viswanathan Anand participated in several high-level tournaments in 2017 including the World Rapid and Blitz championship, the Isle of Man Championship, the Norway chess tournament, the Zurich Chess Challenge, the Leon Chess Masters Rapid Tournament and the FIDE World Cup, to which he returned after fifteen years. He also played in the Grand Chess Tour a series of five events: the Paris, Leuven and St. Louis rapid and blitz tournaments, the 2017 Sinquefield Cup and the 2017 London Chess Classic, with Anand declining to participate in the Paris Rapid and Blitz tournament. Anand made more than $450 000 in prize money in 2017.

Viswanathan Anand was a participant in the 2nd Grand Chess Tour, a series of four supertournaments featuring the world's elite players: the Paris, France and Leuven, Belgium Rapid and Blitz tournaments (replacements for the Norway Chess tournament), 2016 Sinquefield Cup, and the 2016 London Chess Classic. The three best tournament results for each participant would be used to determine his final tour standings at the end of the year. Anand declined to participate in the Paris Rapid and Blitz tournament, meaning his results in Leuven, the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic would count toward the overall standings. Additionally Anand qualified for the 2016 World Chess Championship Candidates tournament by virtue of losing the 2014 World Chess Championship match.

In 2015, Viswanathan Anand was a participant in the inaugural 2015 Grand Chess Tour, a series of 3 supertournaments featuring the world's elite players. The three tournaments that Anand participated in were Norway Chess, Sinquefield Cup, and London Chess Classic. Among these tournaments, Anand also participated in the Berlin World Rapid and Blitz Championships, GRENKE Chess, Zurich Chess Challenge, Bilbao Chess Masters Final, and Shamkir Chess.

Overall, because of his performances in the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic, Anand finished 8th out of the main 9 Grand Chess Tour main participants - 14 Grand Chess tour points out of 39 maximum.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov commented that Anand's victory in the 2014 Candidates Tournament "...proved that he is one of the strongest and greatest players of modern times."

In an interview in 2014 Alexander Grischuk said about Anand: "I have to say that of all the players I've played against Anand has personally struck me as the strongest, of course after Kasparov."

The match consisted of 12 games. In Game 1, Topalov quickly defeated Anand in 30 moves, utilizing a very sharp line of attack that broke through Anand's Grunfeld Defence. It was revealed afterwards that Topalov had found the line during his opening preparation, with the help of a powerful supercomputer loaned to him by Bulgaria's Defense Department. Anand quickly responded with a win in Game 2, employing a novelty out of the Catalan Opening that was not easily recognized by computers at the time (15. Qa3!?, followed by 16. bxa3!). Anand would win again with the Catalan in Game 4, only to drop Game 8 and leave the score level once again. 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 game and the match. Topalov chose to accept a pawn sacrifice by Anand, hoping to force a result and avoid a rapid chess tiebreak round. But after Topalov's dubious 31st and 32nd moves, Anand used the sacrifice to obtain a strong attack against Topalov's relatively exposed king. Topalov subsequently resigned, allowing Anand to retain the World Championship.

Anand lost the defence of his title in the World Chess Championship 2013 at Chennai. The winner was Magnus Carlsen, the winner of the 2013 Candidates Tournament. The first four games were drawn, but Carlsen won the fifth and sixth games back to back. The seventh and eighth games were drawn, while the ninth game was won by Carlsen. On November 22, the tenth game was drawn making Carlsen the new world champion.

Anand won the double round-robin FIDE Candidates tournament at Khanty-Mansiysk (13–30 March) and earned a world championship rematch with Magnus Carlsen. Anand went through the tournament undefeated, winning his first-round game against Levon Aronian, his third-round game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and his ninth-round game against Veselin Topalov. He drew all his other games, including his twelfth-round game against Dmitry Andreikin, where Anand agreed to a draw in a complex, but winning position. He faced Carlsen in the world championship match in Sochi, Russia, in November. Carlsen won the match 6.5 to 4.5 after eleven of twelve scheduled games.

Anand participated in several high-level tournaments in 2013, including the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Grenke Chess Classic, Zurich Chess Challenge, Alekhine Memorial, Tal Memorial, the 1st Norway Chess Tournament, and the London Chess Classic. He also participated in the 2013 World Chess Championship match against Magnus Carlsen.

In 2012, Viswanathan Anand participated in several high level tournaments, including the London Chess Classic and the Bilbao Masters Grand Slam. Earlier in 2012, he also played a World Championship match against Boris Gelfand in Moscow, Russia.

Anand married Aruna in 1996 and has a son, Akhil, born on 9 April 2011, and is named in the traditional patronymic way Anand Akhil.

In an interview in 2011, Kramnik said about Anand: "I always considered him to be a colossal talent, one of the greatest in the whole history of chess"; and "I think that in terms of play Anand is in no way weaker than Kasparov but he's simply a little lazy, relaxed and only focuses on matches. In the last 5–6 years he's made a qualitative leap that's made it possible to consider him one of the great chess players." In an interview in 2020, Kramnik, while talking about his World Chess Championship match against Anand in 2008, mentioned: "Vishy is such a great player and he was in a fantastic form. He was such a powerful force that I do not know who could have stopped him then. Even Kasparov could not have managed it."

In August 2010, Anand joined the board of directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation for promoting and supporting India's elite sportspersons and potential young talent. On 24 December 2010, Anand was the guest of honour on the grounds of Gujarat University, where 20,486 players created a new world record of simultaneous chess play at a single venue.

Anand has been regarded as an unassuming person with a reputation for refraining from political and psychological ploys and instead focusing on his game. 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, of whom the first two were rivals for the World Championship throughout Anand's career, each aided him in his preparations for the World Chess Championship 2010. Anand is sometimes known as the "Tiger of Madras".

Anand was the only sportsperson to be invited for the dinner hosted by the Indian PM Manmohan Singh for US President Barack Obama on 7 November 2010.

Before the World Chess Championship 2010 match with Veselin Topalov, Anand, who had been booked on the flight Frankfurt–Sofia on 16 April, 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 19 April. Anand eventually reached Sofia on 20 April, after a 40-hour road journey. Consequently, the first game was delayed by one day.

As a result of Anand's victory in the World Chess Championship 2010, he defended his title in the World Chess Championship 2012; the location of the event was the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. His opponent was Boris Gelfand, the winner of the 2011 Candidates Matches. After losing in the 7th game to Gelfand, Anand came back to win the 8th game in only 17 moves – the shortest decisive game in World Chess Championship history. The match was tied 6–6 after regular games with one win each. Anand won the rapid tie break 2½–1½ to win the match and retain his title. After the match, Russian president Vladimir Putin greeted Anand and Gelfand by calling both to his official residence.

Anand won the 2017 World Rapid Chess Championship by defeating Vladimir Fedoseev 2-0 in the final tiebreak after he, Fedoseev and Ian Nepomniachtchi tied for first with 10.5/15 points. He won the tournament ahead of reigning Classical World Champion Magnus Carlsen and this was his first victory in a world championship since losing the classical championship to Carlsen in 2013.

In 2010, Anand announced that he would expand his tournament schedule, beginning in late 2010, in an effort to regain the world number one ranking from Magnus Carlsen. He achieved that goal on 1 November 2010 list with a rating of 2804, two points ahead of Magnus Carlsen, but was once again overtaken by Carlsen in July 2011.

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

Anand convincingly defended the title against Kramnik in the World Chess Championship 2008 held 14–29 October in Bonn, Germany. The winner was to be the first to score 6½ points in the twelve-game match. Anand won by scoring 6½ points in 11 games, having won three of the first six games (two with the black pieces). 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.

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, making Anand number one in the April 2007 list.

The finish of the 2005 World Chess Championship qualified Anand for the 2007 championship, an eight-player double round-robin tournament held in Mexico City from 12 September to 30 September 2007. In 2006, Vladimir Kramnik took Topalov's place in the event after his victory over the latter to re-unify the world title. Anand entered the tournament as the world's top-ranked player, and was considered a favourite to win alongside the defending champion Kramnik.

In the April 2007 FIDE Elo rating list, Anand was ranked first in the world for the first time, 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 No. 2 behind Vladimir Kramnik (equal rating, but Kramnik held the No. 1 spot due to more games played). He dropped to No. 5 in the October 2008 list, the first time he had been outside the top 3 since July 1996.

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.

Anand's 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 Melody Amber tournament Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championships in years 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2006. He is the first player to have won five titles of the Corus chess tournament, succeeded by Magnus Carlsen. 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), and Dortmund (1996, 2000, 2004).

Anand's triumph in Mexico City represented his second world chess championship, and first since the re-unification of the title in 2006. As a result of the win, Anand gained nine rating points to break the 2800 Elo rating barrier for the second time in his career in October 2007. In the post-event press conference, Anand commented on his final game and his feelings on winning the tournament:

In 2005, Anand finished in a tie for second place at the 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship, won by Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov.

In October 2003, the governing body of chess, FIDE, organised a rapid time control tournament in Cap d'Agde 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 rating in the rapid section of 2939. 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.

Anand is a five-time world chess champion. He defeated Alexei Shirov in a six-game match to win the 2000 FIDE World Chess Championship, a title he held until 2002. He later became the undisputed World Champion in 2007, and successfully defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008, Veselin Topalov in 2010, and Boris Gelfand in 2012. In 2013, he lost the title to challenger Magnus Carlsen, and lost a rematch to Carlsen in 2014 after winning the 2014 Candidates Tournament.

From 25 November to 27 December 2000, the FIDE World Chess Championships were held as a 100-player single-elimination tournament in New Delhi, India and Tehran, Iran. Following his victory in the 2000 FIDE World Cup, Anand entered the event as the #1 overall seed and one of the favourites to win alongside Veselin Topalov, Boris Gelfand, and Alexei Shirov. Anand decided to join the event after skipping the 1999 edition, due to ongoing negotiations for a title match with reigning classical world champion Garry Kasparov that ultimately fell through. Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, who defeated the former in a match for the lineal world title earlier in the year, did not participate in the event. Anand's second and preparation partner for the tournament was Spanish grandmaster Elizbar Ubilava.

The final match, played from 20–26 December 2000 in Tehran, Iran, saw Anand face fourth-seeded Alexei Shirov, who was denied a chance to play Kasparov for the world title two years prior. After a draw in Game 1, Anand entered a sharp line in the Ruy Lopez in Game 2, ultimately converting a passed pawn into a winning endgame after placing Shirov in zugzwang on the 41st move. Anand then seized control of the match with a 41-move win in Game 3 after successfully neutralizing a rook sacrifice by Shirov on the 19th move, and sealed victory in the match with another win in Game 4.

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." In 2010 Anand donated his gold medal to the charitable organisation "The Foundation" to be auctioned off for the benefit of underprivileged children.

On his way to winning the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000, Anand, playing White, defeated Grandmaster Viktor Bologan:

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, the regular match ended 3–3, which led to a rapid playoff, which Karpov won 2–0. Karpov thus remained the FIDE champion.

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

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

In a radical departure from previous tournaments, the 1998 world championship was structured as a 100-player knockout tournament, with each round consisting of two-game matches and tie-breaks resolved by rapid and blitz games. Controversially, the defending champion Anatoly Karpov was seeded directly into the final, which was to be held just three days after the conclusion of the three week-long tournament. This format gave Karpov a significant advantage in terms of rest time and preparation; classical world champion Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik both declined to participate as a result. The latter explained his absence bluntly: "Is it fair to expect Sampras to only play one match and defend his Wimbledon title?"

The twenty-game championship match was held from 10 September to 16 October 1995, on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in New York City. The match started with a then-record eight consecutive draws before Anand broke open the match in Game 9, pressing and eventually breaking through Kasparov's Sicilian Defense with a powerful exchange sacrifice. However, Anand scored just ½ a point in the next five games, losing twice to Kasparov's Sicilian Dragon defense, and eventually conceded a 10½-7½ loss. Afterwards, Kasparov commented on Anand's psychological approach to the match:

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. Kamsky went on to lose the 1996 FIDE championship match against Karpov.

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 1990 runner-up Anatoly Karpov.

In 1993, the newly formed Professional Chess Association (PCA) held a 54-player, 11-round Swiss-style qualifying tournament in Groningen on 19–30 December, an equivalent to FIDE's Interzonal. Anand scored 7½/11 to finish in a tie for first and secure a berth in the 1994 Candidates' Tournament. In the single-elimination tournament, Anand handily dispatched Oleg Romanishin and Michael Adams in the quarterfinal and semifinal matches, held in New York City and Linares. Facing Gata Kamsky in a 12-game final match held at Las Palmas, Anand lost Game 1 on time in a winning position; however, he recovered with wins in Game 3, 9, and 11 to secure a 6½-4½ victory and a match against reigning champion Garry Kasparov for the World Chess Championship. It was the first Candidates' Tournament victory of Anand's career.

Anand was 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 sportsperson to receive the award.

Anand's rise in the Indian chess world was meteoric. National level success came early for him when he won the national sub-junior championship with a score of 9/9 points in 1983, at the age of fourteen. In 1984 Anand won the Asian Junior Championship in Coimbatore earning a norm for the title International Master (IM) in the process. Soon afterwards, he participated in the 26th Chess Olympiad, held in Thessaloniki, where he made his debut in the Indian national team. Here Anand scored 7½ points from 11 games, gaining also his second IM norm. He became the youngest Indian to achieve the title of International Master, at the age of fifteen, in 1985 by winning the Asian Junior Championship for the second year in a row, this time in Hong Kong. At the age of sixteen he became the national chess champion. He 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 18, he became India's first Grandmaster by winning the Shakti Finance International chess tournament held in Coimbatore, India. He was awarded Padma Shri at the age of eighteen.

Known for his rapid playing speed as a child, Anand earned the sobriquet of "Lightning Kid" during his early career in the 1980s. He has since developed into a universal player, and is considered by many to be the greatest rapid chess player of his generation. He won the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship in 2003 and 2017, the World Blitz Cup in 2000, and numerous other top-level rapid & blitz events.

Anand learned chess from age six from his mother Sushila, but learned the intricacies of the game in Manila where he lived with his parents in 1978 up to the '80s while his father was contracted as a consultant by the Philippine National Railways.

Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and former world chess champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of 2800, a feat he first achieved in 2006.

Viswanathan Anand was born on 11 December 1969 in an Iyer family at Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu, India where he grew up. His father Krishnamurthy Viswanathan, a retired general manager of Southern Railways, had studied in Jamalpur, Bihar, and his mother Sushila was a housewife, chess aficionado and an influential socialite.

With the win, Anand became the first undisputed world champion to win the title in a tournament, rather than in matchplay, since Mikhail Botvinnik in 1948. In addition to the world title, Anand received a $390,000 cash prize.

Immediately following his victory over Adams, Anand arranged a flight with his team to the International Olympic Committee museum in Lausanne, Switzerland to play Karpov in a six-game match for the FIDE world title. Playing on just four hours of pre-match preparation, Anand lost Game 1 after Karpov surprised him with a bold queen sacrifice on the 31st move. He quickly bounced back, however, winning Game 2 in 42 moves from a disadvantaged position after accepting a sharp exchange sacrifice and outplaying Karpov in the resulting endgame. After losing Game 4, Anand entered the final game of the match needing a win to force the match into a playoff. Playing with the white pieces, he opened with the Trompowsky Attack. Karpov defended well until 28...Qd8?, a critical mistake that lost him a piece and the game.