Meet the Legends: Vishwanathan Anand

If I had to name one person who changed the Chess landscape in India, it would be Viswanathan Anand. He has revolutionized the game of Chess, and we see many young players in India taking up the sport and excelling, with the best examples being D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa. Viswanathan Anand is one name that comes to mind whenever there is a discussion about Chess legends. An absolute beast. How did it all start for him? Let’s talk about it here.

Viswanathan Anand was born on December 11, 1969, in Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu and was just six years of age when his mother taught him the game. He won the 1984 Asian Junior Championships and became an international master at the age of just 15 (The youngest Indian to do so). That shows the talent he had. He did not stop there as Anand went on to win the Indian Chess Championships every year from 1986 to 1988, and he also won the World Junior Championship in 1987, the first Asian to do so. 

Vishwanathan Anand was just 19 when he won the Grandmaster title. By 1990, he was strong enough to take part in the Inter-zonal tournament for the 1993 cycle. In 1991, Anand won his first major tournament as he finished ahead of Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, both legends of the game. It was the first time since Bobby Fischer abandoned the title of World Champion that a non-Russian had emerged as a favorite to become the World Champion. In 1998, FIDE removed the Inter-zonal tournament in favour of Knockout tournaments. Karpov was in the final, and Anand defeated Predrag Nikolic, Alexander Khalifman, Zoltán Almasi, Alexei Shirov, Boris Gelfand, and Adams to reach the final. 

The Indian Grandmaster broke through in 2000 when he won the FIDE Championship. It was a bit controversial, as many fans did not recognize Anand as legitimate because of a tradition where the winner had to beat the previous champion in a long match. There were also some misgivings regarding the short formats and quick time controls. It was in 2007 when Anand finally found himself on the list of generally recognized Chess Champions after he won the FIDE World Championship. 

Anand was not done, though, as he defended his title after he defeated Vladimir Kramnik. The first two games ended in a stalemate before Anand won three of the next four games and coasted to a victory. He continued to dominate as he successfully defended his world title in 2010 and 2012. It was 2013 when Magnus Carlsen replaced Anand as World Champion. By the time the 2014 tournament came around, Anand was 44 years old. He was not done yet as he gave a tough fight to Carlsen, but it was the Norwegian who clinched the title yet again. 

Viswanathan probably played his best game of his career in 2013 against Levon Aronian at Wijk aan Zee when he won with Black in just 23 moves. The highlight of his career has to be his longevity. He also made a name for himself as one of the quickest players. He proved it by winning the World Rapid Championships in 2003 and 2017. Anand won the World Chess Championship Candidates tournament which earned him a rematch against Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship. Magnus had dominated him from 2017 till 2022, when Anand won his first game in 5 years against the Norwegian at the Norway Blitz.

Awards:

Viswanathan Anand is the first Indian to win the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, which is India’s top sporting honour. He was awarded the Padma Shri award in 1988 and won the Padma Bhushan Award in 2001. To add to his list, he won the Padma Vibhushan Award as well in 2008. Anand was awarded the Indian Sportsperson of the Year award in 2012. In 2014, Anand was honoured with the Russian Order of Friendship for the development of Economic, Cultural, and Scientific ties with Russia. 

He also published a collection of his games in 1998  titled Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess, and he expanded it with more games in 2001. In 2019, Anand wrote a book named Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life.

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