Viswanathan Anand

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Viswanathan Anand bigraphy, stories - Indian chess grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion

Viswanathan Anand : biography

11 December 1969 –

Viswanathan Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess Grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion. Anand has won the World Chess Championship five times (2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012), and has been the undisputed World Champion since 2007. Anand was the FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion in 2003, and is widely considered the strongest rapid player of his generation.

Anand became India’s first grandmaster in 1987., research.ibm.com He was also 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 in Indian history. Anand has won the Chess Oscar six times (1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008).

He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002, at a time when the world title was split. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. He then successfully defended his title in the World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov and in the World Chess Championship 2012. Moscow2012.fide.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-31. against Boris Gelfand. As the reigning champion, he will face Magnus Carlsen, the winner of the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2013.

Anand is one of six players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list, and in April 2007 at the age of 37, he became the world number one for the first time. He was at the top of the world rankings five out of six times, from April 2007 to July 2008, holding the number-one ranking for a total of 15 months. In October 2008, he dropped out of the world top three ranking for the first time since July 1996. Anand regained the world number one ranking on the November 2010 list, but had to concede the top spot back to Carlsen in July 2011.

Early life

Viswanathan Anand was born on December 11, 1969 in Mayiladuthurai, a town in Tamil Nadu. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to Chennai (formerly Madras), where he grew up. His father, Viswanathan Iyer, is a retired General Manager of Southern Railways, and his mother Susheela, housewife and chess/film/club aficionado and an influential socialite. He has an elder brother, Shivakumar who is a manager at Crompton Greaves in India and an elder sister Anuradha who is a professor at the University of Michigan. Anand is 11 years younger than his sister and 13 years younger than his brother.

He was taught to play chess by his mother and a close family friend named Deepa Ramakrishnan. He described his start in chess thus:

Anand was educated at Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Egmore, Chennai and holds a degree of Bachelor of Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai.

Sample game

On his way to winning the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000, Anand, playing White, defeated Grandmaster Viktor Bologan (analysis by GM Ľubomír Ftáčnik): Anand–Bologan, New Delhi, 2000 World Championship;. Retrieved 15 April 2007. Ruy Lopez, Breyer (ECO C95) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0-0 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 c5 15. d5 c4 16. Bg5 Qc7 17. Nf5 Kh8 18. g4 Ng8 19. Qd2 Nc5 20. Be3 Bc8 21. Ng3 Rb8 22. Kg2 a5 23. a3 Ne7 24. Rh1 Ng6 25. g5! b4!?

Anand has a strong kingside attack, so Bologan seeks counterplay with the sacrifice of a pawn.

26. axb4 axb4 27. cxb4 Na6 28. Ra4 Nf4+ 29. Bxf4 exf4 30. Nh5 Qb6 31. Qxf4 Nxb4 32. Bb1 Rb7 33. Ra3 Rc7 34. Rd1 Na6 35. Nd4 Qxb2 36. Rg3 c3 (see diagram) 37. Nf6!! Re5

If 37…gxf6, 38.gxf6 h6 39.Rg1! Qd2! 40.Qh4 leaves White with an irresistible initiative.

38. g6! fxg6 39. Nd7 Be7 40. Nxe5 dxe5 41. Qf7 h6 42. Qe8+ 1–0

White forces mate in 12 moves if the game were to continue, with 42…Bf8 43.Rf3 Qa3 44.Rxf8+ Qxf8 45.Qxf8+ Kh7 46.d6 exd4 47.Ba2 h5 48.dxc7 Nb4 49.Qg8+ Kh6 50.f4 g5 51.f5 g4 52.h4 Bxf5 53.exf5 Nxa2 54.Qh8#