Viswanathan Anand

Chess Player

• Born: December 11, 1969
• Place of Birth: Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India

SPORT: Chess

Early Life

Viswanathan Anand was born on December 11, 1969, in Madras (now Chennai), in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, to Viswanathan and Susheela. Following Indian tradition, he took his father’s name, Viswanathan, and was given the name Anand. His father worked as general manager for Southern Railways, while his mother stayed at home. Anand was born the youngest of three children. He has an older brother, Shivakumar, and an older sister, Anuradha. After watching his siblings playing chess, he became curious about the game. From an early age, Anand exhibited a photographic memory. When Anand was six, his mother began teaching him how to play chess. He also began attending the Tal Chess Club in Madras in order to take lessons from chess master Manuel Aaron.

The Road to Excellence

In 1983, Anand won the Indian sub-junior chess championship. To capture this title, he won all nine games in which he competed. This was a remarkable achievement: For a competitor to earn a perfect score in a championship is rare. In the next year, Anand became the youngest Indian to capture the International Master Championship. Those close to Anand realized he was making extraordinary progress as a chess competitor. At the age of sixteen, he became the Indian national chess champion. When Anand was young, his father taught him the value of doing things in a disciplined manner. The self-control Anand learned as a child served him well in his future as a chess champion.

In 1987, Anand once again showed how much progress he had made as a chess player by winning the World Junior Chess Championship. At merely sixteen years old, he had captured a title that no other Indian ever had. Anand’s meteoric rise in the world of chess seemed to be without limit. In 1988, he became a grand master. He was the first Indian to achieve such an honored level in the game. In addition to his focus on chess, he received a degree in commerce from Loyola College in Madras.

The Emerging Champion

By the early 1990s, Anand had established himself as one of the best chess players in the world. During the decade, he won several important chess titles. Anand soon became a contender for the World Chess Championship. Chess has a long and illustrious history. Its origins are traced to the Gupta Empire of ancient India. During the sixth century CE, the game of chaturanga originated. Eventually, the game came to Europe and, over the centuries, transformed into chess. By the mid-fifteenth century, the modern game of chess had taken root. While the first world champion in chess was determined in 1886, the championship was not administered by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) until 1948. FIDE was the only official governing body of world chess competitions until 1993, when the world champion, Garry Kasparov, severed his ties with the organization. In 1993, Kasparov and Nigel Short established the Professional Chess Association (PCA). This organization was short-lived, though, and folded in 1996.

From 1993 to 2006, there existed the championship sanctioned by the FIDE and the Classical World Championship. Kasparov remained the Classical World Champion from 1993 until 2000. In 2000, Vladimir Kramnik became champion of this rival world chess championship. He remained the Classical World Champion until 2006. Anand became the FIDE world champion in 2000. With his victory, he became the first Indian to win the World Chess Championship. He held the title until 2002. The two rival championships did not resolve their differences and unify the title until 2006.

Continuing the Story

While Anand’s 2000 World Championship was a significant event, his 2007 World Chess Championship was a major event. The 2007 FIDE World Chess Championship was held in Mexico City, Mexico. Anand finished the double round-robin tournament with nine points out of a possible fourteen. Kramnik and Boris Gelfand tied for second place. With this victory, Anand had established himself as the undisputed champion. For the 2008 World Chess Championship, Anand had to defend his title against Kramnik. The championship was held in Bonn, Germany, from October 14 to November 2, 2008. Anand and Kramnik were to play a twelve-game match in which one of the two players had to score 6 1/2 points in order to claim victory. After playing eleven games, Anand retained his title by scoring the 6 1/2 points necessary to win. Over the course of the championship, he had three wins, seven draws, and one loss. In both the 2010 and 2012 World Chess Championships, Anand defended his title. He finally relinquished his championship in 2013, losing to Magnus Carlsen. He won the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship for a second time in 2017. This was his first win at a world championship since his 2013 loss to Carlsen. He defeated Carlsen again in 2022 at the Norway Chess Blitz. The same year, he was elected deputy president of FIDE. Through the early 2020s, he maintained the eleventh spot in FIDE's world rankings.

Summary

By becoming World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand became a national hero in his native India. At a young age, Anand was considered the first chess prodigy since the great American chess player Bobby Fischer. Although Anand appreciated the adulation, he came to realize that he had much expected of him. Over the years, he received several awards, including the 1985 Arjuna Award for outstanding Indian sportsman in chess, the 1987 Padma Shri Award, and the 1991-1992 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. He also won several Chess Oscars—in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008—the Sportstar Millennium Award in 1998, the Padma Vibhushan Award in 2007, and the CNN-News18 Indian of the Year Award in 2012. In modern chess history, Anand is one of the few chess champions from a country other than the old Soviet Union or Russia. With his brilliant mastery of the game and his disciplined approach to competition, he became recognized not only as a great champion but also as an inspiration to a whole generation of young Indian chess players.

Bibliography

Anand, Viswanathan, with John Nunn. Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess. 3rd ed. Gambit, 2012.

Benjamin, Joel. World Champion Chess for Juniors: Learn from the Greatest Players Ever. New in Chess, 2020.

Franco, Zenon. Anand, Move by Move. Everyman Chess, 2014.

Karmarkar, Amit. “Teammate Reveals the Process Behind Anand’s Success.” Times of India, 31 Oct. 2008, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/top-stories/teammate-reveals-the-process-behind-anands-success/articleshow/3656229.cms.

Keene, Raymond D. World Chess Championship: Kasparov versus Anand. New York: Holt, 1995.

Keene, Raymond D., with Julian Simpole. Vishy’s Victory: The Undisputed 2007 World Chess Championship in Mexico City. Impala, 2007.

Kravtsiv, Martyn, and Graham Burgess. Magnus Carlsen’s Most Instructive Games: Unlocking the Lessons from the World’s Best Chess Player. Gambit Publications, 2021.

Norwood, David. Vishy Anand: Chess Super-Talent. New York: Holt, 1995.

McClain, Dylan Loeb. “With Draw, Anand Keeps World Chess Title.” New York Times, 30 Oct. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/crosswords/30chess.html.

"Story Behind Magnus Carlsen Beating Viswanathan Anand in 10 Moves at Casablanca Chess." Indian Express, 23 May 2024, indianexpress.com/article/sports/chess/how-magnus-carlsen-beat-viswanathan-anand-in-10-moves-casablanca-chess-variant-9341850. Accessed 20 June 2024.