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World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand
Born on
11 December 1969 in Chennai Viswanathan Anand acclaimed to be the Fastest Brain
in the world, is the absolute World Champion. It is his success in the world scene
that has made this ancient Indian game, a mass sport in India.
The critics
rate Anand as one of the biggest natural talents ever in the history of Chess. His
hallmark lightening speed and intuitive play came to be recognized when he became
the first Indian Grandmaster in 1987. His win against the Israeli, Boris Gelfand
during the World Chess Championship 2012 at Moscow, will be remembered as one of
the closest and tense struggle for the World title.
With this
win, Anand has cemented his place among the greatest Champions of all times, becoming
the only Non Soviet to successfully retain a World Championship title three times.
He has the distinction of winning four World Championship titles consecutively (2007,
2008, 2010 & 2012). He joins the select club of five who have won the title 5 times.
He is the only player apart from Lasker to have won the title 4 times consecutively
against four different contenders.
Anand is
the only person in Chess history to have won a World championship title in all formats
- match, knock and tournament. 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 in the years 1989, 1998, 2003,
2004 & 2006. He has won the prestigious Linares Chess event 3 times (1998, 2007,
and 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 in 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. 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 Chess in schools program in India, the NIIT MindChampions' Academy
that has taken the game of Chess to over 1.5 million students. His travels have
taken him close to 50 countries. Anand is a keen follower of current affairs, world
business and astronomy.
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