History of VA
VISWANATHAN ANAND
(born Dec-11-1969, 45 years old) India [ what is this? ]
Vishwanathan Anand ("Vishy" to his fans) was the 15th
undisputed World Champion, reigning from 2007 until
2013. He was also FIDE World Champion from
2000-2002. He was born in 1969 in Mayiladuthurai, a
small town in southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, but
grew up in Chennai. His mother taught him to play chess
at age 6.
Trailblazer
As an Indian and as an Asian chess player he blazed a
trail with a number of firsts, including in 1984 becoming
the youngest Indian to earn the title of IM (aged 15),
becoming the youngest ever Indian Champion at 16,
becoming in 1987 the first Indian to win the World Junior
Championship and India’s first grandmaster, and
becoming India’s (and Asia’s) first World Champion. He
was also the first World Champion since Robert James
Fischer and the second since Max Euwe who did not
originate from Russia or eastern Europe. Moreover, he
was the first and only player to have won the putative
world championship via knockout tournament, round
robin tournament and traditional match play.
Championships
: Anand’s first serious impact in
Indian chess was as a 14 year old, winning the 1983-84
National Sub-Junior Championship with a perfect score
of 9/9 points. From 1983 until 1986, he was the National
Junior (under 19) Champion and in 1984 and again in
1985 he won Lloyd’s Bank Junior championship. Also in
1984 and again in 1985, Anand won the Asian Junior
(under 19) Championships, the youngest to achieve this
distinction. Anand capped his junior career by winning
the 1987 World Junior Chess Championship.
: He won the Indian National Championships
in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
: In 1986, he won the Arab-Asian
International Chess Championship. In 1989, he won the
2nd Asian Active Chess Championship held in Hong
Kong. In 1990 he won the Asian Open Chess
Championship in Manila.
: Anand’s first tilt at the World Championship
cycle occurred during the last of the traditional FIDE
cycles that had been established after World War II,
albeit a cycle cut short at the final by Kasparov’s split
from FIDE in 1993. Anand kicked off his world
championship campaign when he won the gold medal at
the 1990 Asian Zonal Championship, qualifying for the
Manila Interzonal later that year. He came 3rd at that
Interzonal, half a point behind co-leaders Vassily
Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand , thereby qualifying for the
Candidates Matches. In 1991, he defeated Alexey Dreev
in Chennai in the first round of Candidates matches, but
lost to Anatoly Karpov in Brussels in the quarter finals.
In 1993, he came =1st with Michael Adams at the PCA
Interzonal tournament in Groningen, the strongest Swiss
tournament played until that time. Also in 1993, he
contested the 1993 Biel FIDE Interzonal Tournament,
coming 10th in a tightly fought contest, but nevertheless
qualifying for the FIDE Candidates cycle. In the PCA
Candidates, he defeated Oleg Romanishin 5-2 in a best
of 8 match held in New York in 1994, then followed up
shortly afterwards with a 5.5-1.5 demolition of Adams
at Linares in the Candidates semi-final. In Las Palmas
in 1995, he met and defeated Gata Kamsky in the final
for the right to meet Garry Kasparov . In 1995, he met
Kasparov at the World Trade Center in New York to play
the match. After an opening run of eight draws, Anand
won game nine but then lost four of the next five to
concede the match 10½–7½. Conversely, in the
concurrent FIDE cycle, Anand lost his quarter-final
match to Kamsky, who went on to lose the 1996 FIDE
championship match against Karpov. In 1997, Anand
won the knock-out matches at Groningen for an
opportunity to challenge FIDE World Champion Karpov,
defeating Predrag Nikolic 2-0, Alexander Khalifman
3.5-2.5 (in the rapid and blitz tiebreak), Zoltan Almasi
2-0, Alexey Shirov 1.5-0.5, Boris Gelfand 1.5-0.5, and
Adams 5-4 in a hard fought sudden death tiebreaker. In
the 1998 FIDE cycle, FIDE controversially seeded the
reigning champion Karpov directly into the final against
the winner of the seven-round single elimination
Candidates tournament. Despite coming through an
extremely arduous campaign of 31 games in 30 days,
Anand was able to draw the regular match 3-3, forcing a
rapid playoff. However, the rapid playoff was won 2-0 by
Karpov, allowing him to defend his FIDE championship.
In 2000, he beat Alexey Shirov 3½–½ in the final match
held at Tehran to become the FIDE World Chess
Champion, after defeating Viktor Bologan , Smbat
Gariginovich Lputian, Bartlomiej Macieja , Khalifman, and
Adams in the preliminary rounds. He failed to defend the
title in 2002, losing in the semifinals to Ivanchuk after
defeating Olivier Touzane , Peter Heine Nielsen , Vladislav
Tkachiev , Dreev, and Shirov in the earlier rounds. Anand
did not compete in the FIDE World Championship
Knockout Tournament (2004) , but tied for second with
Peter Svidler in the FIDE World Championship
Tournament (2005) at San Luis in Mexico with 8½
points out of 14 games, 1½ points behind the winner,
Veselin Topalov. On the basis of his results at San Luis,
Anand was seeded directly into the double round-robin
FIDE World Championship Tournament (2007) in Mexico
City, which he won with a score of 9/14 points, a full
point ahead of joint second place finishers, Vladimir
Kramnik and Boris Gelfand, thereby succeeding Kramnik
as the title holder of the unified World Championship. In
Bonn in October 2008, he successfully retained his crown
when he won the twelve-game Anand - Kramnik World
Championship Match (2008) by 6.5-4.5 (+3 -1 =7). The
following year, he successfully defended his title in the
Anand - Topalov World Chess Championship (2010) by
6.5-5.5 after winning the 12th and final classical game
scheduled for the match. In May 2012, he faced the
winner of the World Championship Candidates (2011) ,
Boris Gelfand , to again successfully defend his title,
winning the Anand - Gelfand World Chess Championship
(2012) 2.5-1.5 (+1 =3) in the rapid game tiebreaker
after drawing the classical games 6-6 (+1 -1 =10).
As a result of Magnus Carlsen winning the World
Championship Candidates (2013) , the Anand - Carlsen
World Championship (2013) was played in November
2013. The first four games were drawn before Carlsen
won the fifth and sixth games. The seventh and eighth
games were drawn, with Carlsen then winning the ninth
game and drawing the tenth and last game to win the
crown from Anand. Final score was 6.5-3.5 (+3 =7) in
Carlsen's favor.
Rematch with Carlsen 2014
Anand's loss in the 2013 World Championship match
with Carlsen did, however, qualify him to play in the
World Chess Championship Candidates (2014) , which he
won with a round to spare. He therefore won the right to
challenge Carlsen in a rematch, the Carlsen-Anand
World Championship (2014) , which commenced on 8
November 2014 in Sochi, in Russia and finished on 23
November.
The first game of the match was a fighting draw with
Anand playing a queen pawn's opening and Carlsen
successfully defending a Grunfeld. Carlsen drew first
blood in game two playing the White side of a quiet Ruy
Lopez. After the first rest day, Anand struck back
strongly playing the White side of a Queen's Gambit
Declined (D37), and overcame Carlsen before the first
time control. In game 4, Anand played the Sicilian, but
Carlsen steered the opening into a quiet positional
struggle that ended in a draw. Game 5 was a Queen's
Indian Defence which also ended in a draw. Game 6 may
have been the turning point in the match. Playing Black,
Anand missed a simple tactical stroke that would have
given him a very strong, if not winning position. After
missing this continuation, Anand's game weakened and
Carlsen brought home the point to take the lead in the
match for the second time.
Anand defended Game 7 with another Berlin Defence but
eventually encountered difficulties and surrendered a
piece for two pawns. However, his defence kept Carlsen
at bay for 122 moves before the game was finally drawn
due to insufficient mating material on the board. Game 8
in the match was another QGD, with Anand playing
White. Carlsen introduced an innovation from his home
preparation that guaranteed him a relatively easy draw,
forcing a mass exchange of pieces that left the position
easily drawn. After the fourth rest day, play resumed
with Anand employing a Berlin Defence to Carlsen's Ruy
Lopez. The game soon finished through a draw by
repetition, with Carlsen content to maintain his one-point
lead. In Game 10, Anand again faced Carlsen defending
a Grunfeld, albeit not as convincingly as in Game 1.
Anand had a long initiative but failed to secure the win,
with Carlsen exhausting the opportunities against him to
force the draw. Game 11 was another Berlin Defence by
Anand which turned into a complex and hard fought
middle game following an innovation by him on the
queenside, which he followed up with an exchange
sacrifice. Anand was unable to make sufficient inroads
into Carlsen's position, and after a series of trades that
increased Carlsen's material advantage, Anand resigned
the game and the match.
Match result: Anand lost by 4.5-6.5 (+1 -3 =7).
Tournaments
Anand is the only player to have won the super
tournament at Wijk aan Zee (Corus from 1989-2010) five
times. He is the first player to have achieved victories in
each of the three big chess supertournaments: Corus/
Wijk aan Zee (1989, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006), Linares
(1998, 2007, 2008), Dortmund (1996, 2000, 2004).
One of Anand’s earliest serious successes in
international tournaments that brought him to
international attention include his tie for first place in the
Sakthi Finance International Grandmasters Chess
Tournament in 1987, enabling him to win his third GM
norm, and thereby becoming the youngest Grandmaster
in the world at that time. In 1989, he competed in the
4th International Games Festival in France, placing 2nd
overall in the Veterans vs. Youth Tournament, although
he was 1st in the Youth category. During that event he
beat former World Champions, Mikhail Tal and Boris
Spassky in their individual encounters. In 1990, he won
the 1990 Manchester Chess Festival and was =1st in the
1990 Triveni Super Grandmasters Tournament in Delhi.
In 1992, Anand took out 1st in the category 18 Reggio
Emilia Chess Tournament ahead of Kasparov and Karpov
in the strongest tournament ever held until this time.
Also in he won the 1992 Goodrich Open International
Tournament in Kolkata and won the category 18 Alekhine
Memorial tournament in Moscow ahead of Karpov. This
raised his rating to 2700, and was only the 8th person to
reach that mark at that time. In 1994, he won the PCA
Grand Prix in Moscow ahead of Kasparov
Major successes followed rapidly in 1996, when he
finished 2nd at the Las Palmas super tournament and at
the Magistral Tournament in Leon. There followed, in
1997, wins in the category 19 tournament in Dos
Hermanes, the Invesbanka Chess tournament in Belgrade,
the Credit Suisse Classic Tournament in Biel, and 2nd
place in Dortmund. In 1998 he won the category 21
(average 2752) Linares tournament, as well as at Madrid
and at the Fontys-Tilburg International Chess
Tournament. In 1999, he won again at Wijk aan Zee. In
2000, he was runner up at Linares, won at Leon (beating
Shirov 1½:½) and at Dortmund and also at the 2000
FIDE World Cup in Shenyeng, defeating Evgeny Bareev
1.5 - 0.5 in the final to win. He successfully defended
his World Cup title in 2002 in Hyderabad. In 2001, Anand
finished 1st in the 2nd Torneo Magistral Tournament in
Mexico City, a clear point ahead Nigel Short , Khalifman
and Hernandez. In 2002, he won the Eurotel World Chess
Trophy in Prague, defeating Jan Timman (2-0),
Khalifman (2-0), Sokolov (1.5-0.5), Ivanchuk (2.5-1.5)
and Karpov (1.5-0.5) in the final. He won Corus in 2003
and 2004, and took out Dortmund in 2004. In spring of
2006, following a record-extending fifth victory at Corus
Wijk aan Zee (2006) , Anand became only the fourth
player ever to crack the 2800-Elo mark in FIDE ratings,
following Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik , and Veselin
Topalov. A few months after he won the World
Championship in 2007, he won the (category 21)
Morelia-Linares (2008) outright with 8.5 points, winning
at Linares for the third time in his career. Following
mediocre (for Anand) results in 2012 which saw him slip
out of the top 5 for the first time in nearly 20 years,
Anand scored 8/13 to place =3rd behind Carlsen and
Aronian at the category 20 Tata Steel (2013) event, and
defeated Aronian in round 4 in a game that is becoming
known as Anand's Immortal.*
2013 saw Anand breaking his tournament drought by
winning outright at the category 19 GRENKE Chess
Classic (2013) with 6.5/10, winning in the last round to
head off Fabiano Caruana by half a point at the pass.
This was his first tournament win since Linares in 2008.
A few weeks later he placed 2nd behind Caruana at the
Category 21 Zurich Chess Challenge (2013) with 3/6 (+1
-1 =4), losing one game to Caruana and defeating
Kramnik in his sole win. In April-May 2013, Anand
placed outright 3rd at the category 20 Alekhine Memorial
(2013) , a half point behind Levon Aronian and Gelfand,
with 5/9 (+2 -1 =6), a par for rating performance. Soon
afterwards he played in the category 21 Norway Chess
Tournament (2013) , scoring 5/9, another par for rating
effort. His next tournament was the category 22 Tal
Memorial (2013) in June 2013 was one of his worst
results in many years, finishing near the bottom of the
field with 3.5/9 (+1 -3 =5), also causing him to shed 11
rating points and four places in his world ranking.
After he lost his title defense to Carlsen, Anand next's
tournament was the category 23 Zurich Chess Challenge
(2014) in which he placed 4th with a scored of 2/5. In
the lead up to the return match against Carlsen in
November 2014, Anand placed a decisive 1st at the
category 21 Bilbao Masters (2014) , winning with a round
to spare in the six game round robin event. Soon after
his unsuccessful attempt to regain the crown from
Carlsen in November 2014, Anand won the category 22
London Chess Classic (2014) in December 2014 ahead
of Kramnik, Giri, Nakamura, Adams and Caruana. A few
months later he racked up another major league triumph
when he won standard section of the category 22 RR
Zurich Chess Challenge (2015) ahead of outright runner-
up, Hikaru Nakamura and the supporting cast of
Kramnik, Sergey Karjakin , Aronian and Caruana
respectively. He was unable to maintain the lead in the
follow-up section of the event, the Zurich Chess
Challenge (Rapid) (2015) , and tied with Nakamura for
first place. However, he lost an Armageddon tiebreaker
to finish with second prize.
Olympiads
Anand played board 4 for India in 1984, and top board in
1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 2004 and 2006, winning a silver
medal on top board in 2004.
Matches
In 1992, Anand defeated the then number 3 Vassily
Ivanchuk by 5:3 in a match held in Linares. In 1997, he
played an exhibition simul against 6 computers at the
Aegon Man Vs Computers chess event, winning 4-2. In
1998 at the Siemens Nixdorf Duell (Rapid) event in
Frankfurt, he beat the then world open category computer
chess champion Fritz 5 (1.5-0.5). In 1999 at the Torneo
Magistral de Ajedrez in Leon, he beat Karpov 5:1. He
won the 2001 "Duel of the Champions", defeating
Kramnik in a rapid game match 6.5-5.5 and in 2009, he
defeated Leko 5-3 in the Leko - Anand Rapid Match
(2009) .
Teams
In 1986, he won a team silver medal and a an individual
gold medal for board four in the Asian Team
Championship. He scored 7/7 in the 1989 Asian Team
Chess Championship thereby helping his team to a team
bronze as well as winning the top board prize as well as
the individual best performance of the tournament. He
has played in the Bundesliga, the French and Hungarian
Team Championships and the European Club Cup. In
2009, he lead the Rest of the World from board 1 to a
decisive 21.5-10.5 victory in the Azerbaijan vs the World
(2009) event. He played top board for Baden-Baden in a
couple of rounds, helping his team to win the 2013-14
Bundesliga.
Rapids
Anand has always been renowned for the speed of his
calculation and moves. His early classical games were
often played at close to blitz speed and this prowess has
stood him in good stead to enable him to become
perhaps the greatest blitz and rapid player of all time.
His prowess at quick-play chess has earned him the
nickname "The Lightning Kid."
The Chess Classic at Mainz, essentially the annual open
world rapid championship, that had commenced in 1994
and finished up in 2010 had become Anand’s personal
property as he won it 11 times out of the 17 times it had
been staged, including nine consecutive wins from 2000
through to 2008. In addition, he has won the annual
overall Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championships
in 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2006, the Amber Rapid 7
times, and he was the only player to win the blind and
rapid sections of the Amber tournament in the same year
(twice: in 1997 and 2005). Other significant sequences
were the six consecutive wins at Corsica from 1999
through 2005, and seven wins at Leon in 1999, 2000,
2001, 2002, Ciudad de Leon XVIII (2005) , XIX Ciudad de
Leon (2006) , and 2007. Other victories include 1st place
at the 1996 Credit Swiss Rapid Chess Grand Prix, in
Geneva, where he beat Garry Kasparov in the final, 1st in
Wydra in Haifa in 1999 and 2000, 1st in the 2000 Plus
GSM World Blitz Chess Cup in Warsaw where he won
outright with 17.5 Points in 22 Games, defeating Karpov,
Gelfand and Svidler, 1st in the 2000 Fujitsu Siemens
Giants Chess (Rapid) in Frankfurt, winning the 2006
Mikhail Tal Memorial Blitz Tournament in Moscow with
23/34, which involved winning 11 out of 17 mini-
matches to claim the strongest Blitz tournament in the
history of the game, beating his eventual successor to
the rapid crown, Aronian, by a 2 point margin. He is also
the 2003 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion by virtue of
winning the Cap D'Agde FRA (2003) . On 27 March 2011
in Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Anand defeated Rustam
Kasimdzhanov in a rapid play match by 3.5-0.5 and in
September 2011, he won the Botvinnik Memorial Rapid
(2011) ahead of Aronian, Kramnik and Carlsen with
4.5/6 (+3 =3 -0). In In June 2011, he won the rapid
XXIV Magistral de Ajedrez Ciudad de Leon (2011)
4.5-1.5 (+3 -0 =3) and in October 2011, he defeated
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov by 2-0 in the final to win the
Corsica Masters Knockout (2011) .
Anand competed in the rejigged London Classic of 2013,
and qualified for the final rounds by placing =1st in the
London Chess Classic (Group A) (2013) , but then lost to
Kramnik in the London Chess Classic (Knockout) (2013) .
He placed =2nd in the FIDE World Rapid Championship
(2014) with 10.5/15, half a point behind the winner,
Carlsen, whom he defeated in their individual encounter,
and scored 13.5/21 (placing =5th) in the FIDE World
Blitz Championship (2014) . He came =3rd with 8/10 at
the London Chess Classic 2014 Super Rapidplay Open.
Awards
Anand has won the Chess Oscar on 6 occasions, in
1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008. He has
received many other national and international awards
including the Arjuna award for Outstanding Indian
Sportsman in Chess in 1985, the inaugural Rajiv Gandhi
Khel Ratna Award, India's highest sporting honour in the
year 1991–1992, the British Chess Federation’s 'Book of
the Year' Award in 1998 for his book My Best Games of
Chess, the Padma Bhushan in 2000, the Sportstar
Millennium Award in 1998 from India's premier Sports
magazine for being the sportperson of the millennium. 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 and
received the 'Global Strategist Award' for mastering
many formats of World Chess Championships by
National Association of Software and Services
Companies (NASSCOM) in 2011.
Personal
Anand holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from
Loyola College in Chennai, India. Previously, he attended
High School at Don Bosco. He is married to Aruna
Anand and lives in Chennai along with his son Akhil
Anand. In August 2010, Anand joined the Board of
Directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation for
promoting and supporting India's elite sportspersons and
potential young talent. In 2010 Anand donated his World
Championship gold medal from his successful 2008 title
defense to the charitable organisation "The Foundation"
to be auctioned off for the benefit of underprivileged
children.
Rating and Ranking
Anand is one of six players in history to
crack the 2800 mark, peaking at 2817 in 2011. As of 1
February 2015, his rating was 2797 making him the
world #6. He remains the top rated player in the Asian
region.
2808 (world #7); and
2767 (world #14).
Sources and references
Live rating: http://www.2700chess.com/ ; Biography
of Anand at the official FIDE website for the 2012
World Championship match: http://
moscow2012.fide.com/en/prese. ; Wikipedia article:
Viswanathan Anand ; * Aronian vs Anand, 2013
Latest update 20 Feb 2015
page 1 of 114; games 1-25 of 2,850
Game Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening
1. Van der Wiel vs
Anand 1-0 27 1984 Thessaloniki B42 Sicilian, Kan
2. D Alzate vs Anand 0-1 66 1984 ? B80 Sicilian, Scheveningen
3. Kiril Georgiev vs
Anand 1-0 35 1984 Wch U20 E63 King's Indian, Fianchetto,
Panno Variation
4. Anand vs A
Greenfeld 1-0 80 1984 Lloyds Bank op B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3
5. Anand vs C
Hansen ½-½ 19 1984 ? B05 Alekhine's Defense, Modern
6. Piket vs Anand 0-1 44 1984 Wch U20 A48 King's Indian
7. Anand vs D
Hergott 1-0 38 1984 Thessaloniki B33 Sicilian
8. Anand vs M
Apicella 1-0 25 1984 Champigny sur
Marne op
B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav
Attack
9. K Perera vs Anand 1-0 60 1984 Asia-ch U20 8th C70 Ruy Lopez
10. P Ostermeyer vs
Anand 0-1 41 1984 Thessaloniki A15 English
11. Anand vs
Ivanchuk ½-½ 50 1985 Wch U20 C78 Ruy Lopez
12. Anand vs Dlugy 1-0 60 1985 Sharjah B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz
Variation
13. Anand vs A J
Mestel 1-0 25 1985 London B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav
Attack
14. P Paiewonsky vs
Anand 0-1 31 1985 Wch U20 D79 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O, Main
line
15. V Perera vs
Anand 1-0 29 1985 9th Asian Junior
Ch C05 French, Tarrasch
16. P Mithrakanth vs
Anand 0-1 30 1985 India B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen
17. Blatny vs Anand 1-0 32 1985 Sharjah B25 Sicilian, Closed
18. Anand vs P
Thipsay 1-0 48 1986 Calcutta C78 Ruy Lopez
19. Anand vs
Pacheco Vega 1-0 40 1986 Gausdal B90 Sicilian, Najdorf
20. Anand vs V
Tukmakov 0-1 32 1986 Delhi E17 Queen's Indian
21. N McDonald vs
Anand ½-½ 30 1986 Oakham A05 Reti Opening
22. Anand vs M
Lodhi 1-0 72 1986 Dubai C18 French, Winawer
23. L Ravi vs Anand 1-0 47 1986 Calcutta It E66 King's Indian, Fianchetto,
Yugoslav Panno
24. Anand vs C
Horvath ½-½ 36 1986 Gausdal B47 Sicilian, Taimanov
(Bastrikov) Variation
25. Razuvaev vs
Anand ½-½ 32 1986 Calcutta E80 King's Indian, Samisch
Variation
page 1 of 114; games 1-25 of 2,850
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