Personal life
Anand was born on 11 December 1969 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu,[2] to Vishwanathan, who retired as General Manager, Southern Railways, and Susheela, housewife and chess/film/club aficionado and an influential socialite. He has a brother and a sister.[3]
He was taught to play by his mother. He described his start in chess in a conversation with Susan Polgar:[4]
I started when I was six. My mother taught me how to play. In fact, my mother used to do a lot for my chess. We moved to the Philippines shortly afterward. I joined the club in India and we moved to the Philippines for a year. And there they had a TV program that was on in the afternoon, one to two or something like that, when I was in school. So she would write down all the games that they showed and the puzzles, and in the evening we solved them together.
Of course my mother and her family used to play some chess, and she used to play her younger brother, so she had some background in chess, but she never went to a club or anything like that.
So we solved all these puzzles and sent in our answers together. And they gave the prize of a book to the winner. And over the course of many months, I won so many prizes. At one point they just said take all the books you want, but don't send in anymore entries.
Anand did his schooling in Don Bosco, Egmore,Chennai and holds a degree in commerce from Loyola College,Chennai. His hobbies are reading, swimming & listening to music. He lives in Collado Mediano in Spainwith his wife Aruna.[5]
Viswanathan Anand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
2007–present (undisputed)
(No. 2 on the July 2009 FIDE ratings list)
Viswanathan Anand (pronounced [ʋiɕˈʋəˌnɑːˌt̪ʰən ɑːnˌənd̪], Tamil: விசுவநாதன் ஆனந்த்) (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess Grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion.
Anand 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. With this win, he became the first player in chess history to have won the World Championship in three different formats: Knockout, Tournament, and Match. He will next defend his title in the World Chess Championship 2009 against Veselin Topalov, the winner of a challenger match against Gata Kamsky in February 2009.[1]
Anand is one of four players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list. He was at the top of the world rankings five out of six times, from April 2007 to July 2008. In October 2008, he dropped out of the world top three ranking for the first time since July 1996.
In 2007 he was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. He is also the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991–92, India's highest sporting honour.
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