Viswanathan Anand Biography

The living legend of Chess, Viswanathan Anand was born on December 11, 1969 in Chennai. His awesome speed has earned him the nickname "Lightning Kid." In March 2007, Anand won the Morelia-Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament. He showed his genius early on as a child when he won the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship in 1983 at the age of fourteen. In 1984, Anand went on to become the youngest Indian to win the International Master Title. He became the National Champion at the age of sixteen.

His winning spree continued when in 1987, he became the first Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship and the next year, he became India's first Grandmaster. He qualified for the Professional Chess Association World Chess Championship final by beating the likes of Michael Adams and Gata Kamsky. At the age of 22, he won the Reggio Emilia, finished ahead of greats like Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. In 1995, he lost to Garry Kasparov in New York City's World Trade Center. He achieved victories at Dortmund in 2004, the Corus chess tournament in 2006 and Linares in 2007. This Chess whizkid won the Chess Oscar in 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2004.

Anand won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000 after defeating Alexei Shirov in the final match held in Teheran. In 2003, he won the World Rapid Chess Championship. In 2006, he became the fourth player in history to cross the 2800-mark in ELO ratings. Among the many awards he has won, mention may be made of the Arjuna award in 1985, the Padma Shri in 1987, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for the year 1991-1992 and the Padma Bhushan in 2000

Vishwanathan Anand has added another feather to his cap by winning the World Chess Championship in Moscow against Boris Gelfand of Israel giving a reason to his friends to rejoice once again. Having won the title previously in 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2010 and now in 2012 this was his fifth victory at the World Chess Championship where he was also the defending champion.