End of Era for Vishy Anand..???

Perfect Salutation.

I'm not sure if he had a problem with Indian nationality after been awarded Spanish one

Indians are big into the homeboys ?

Did Anand change his federation to Spain while he was living there ?  I doubt he would do that but its possible . 

Anand never changed his federation , never did he even consider changing it.....stop with the bullshit please....at least verify your facts before posting it....

I say that Anand is now better prepared. He has seen and experienced much more than young Magnus. I agree with the statement that he has a 40% chance of victory.

OLD MAN? He's like 42...

When was he awarded Spanish citizenship ?

I couldn't find any verification of it anywhere ?

He's always loved playing for his motherland.....i am not sure why people keep bringing this up

just living in Spain for some years doesn't mean anything , he had to do that because all of the major chess tournaments those days were held in Europe....

there's nothing  more insulting to a sportsman than questioning his nationality....stop with it please

Let's root for the underdog, and for an upset.  Great for shaking up the system.

Anand has his chances....stop climbing onto his back everyone....

he's a chesss legend....no one can deny that fact....i agree with everyone's love for Carlsen  , but what is it with all this Anand hate , maybe his glory days are behind him.But he's 44 years old now and still giving his best , he's one of the most humble and great chess players around (and he's been around in the top ten for like 25 YEARS now)....

all this Anand hate on chess.com is unprecedented , i would love to see how Carlsen or others perform when he's 44,getting to 44 and still maintaining a rating of >2790 is not easy , everyone was ready to brush him off after last year . He came back stronger and won the candidates , won the bronze in the Rapid world championships and also won the Bilbao masters final....

maybe he will win this november to become a 6TH TIME WORLD CHAMPION , maybe Carlsen will defend his title , all we have to do is to sit back and enjoy . put an end to all the hate....

Youth is wasted on the young.  We grow too old fast, and too late Schmart.

No didn't change his federation... but was possibly awarded Spanish Citizenship, I think he was, then there is a bit of a weird story about Indians not being able to hold two nationalities and losing the Indian one when awarded any other, in fact I don't have to do a very deep search in Wikipedia there is a short statement:

Anand was denied an honorary doctorate from University of Hyderabad because of confusion over his citizenship status; however, later Kapil Sibal, India's Minister of Human Resource Development apologised and said "There is no issue on the matter as Anand has agreed to accept the degree at a convenient time depending on his availability".^[29] According to The Hindu, Anand finally declined to accept the doctorate.^[30]

"World chess champion Viswanathan Anand has refused to accept the honorary doctorate, which was to have been conferred on him by the University of Hyderabad (UoH) at a special convocation at the ongoing International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) 2010 here on Tuesday.

“There is no way he is going to take the award now and during this congress,” Mr. Anand's agent, Abraham Kuruvilla, told reporters soon after the ICM's executive organising committee (EOC) and UoH, a central university, issued a strongly-worded statement, criticising the “insensitive bureaucratic obstructions.”

EOC secretary Rajat Tandon said all arrangements were made for conferring the doctorate, but “Mr. Anand has changed his mind and he doesn't want any controversy.”

Hopes of Mr. Anand accepting the doctorate were rekindled after Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal spoke to him over telephone and apologised, but they turned short-lived when EOC chairman M.S. Raghunathan declared that the Grand Master would not be conferred the doctorate “at least in this edition of the ICM.''

In a statement, the EOC and the UoH expressed “sadness” over the fact that the special convocation to confer an honorary doctorate on “one of our greatest sports personalities'' Viswanathan Anand could not be held because of “insensitive bureaucratic obstructions.” The EOC said it was deeply saddened by the “unfortunate turn of events” and conveyed its deep apology.

Mr. Anand, who flew in here on Sunday in anticipation that the event would go off smoothly, appeared a little hurt over the developments questioning his nationality. “I have always played under the Indian flag, held an Indian passport, right from the time I took my first overseas trip. I do not understand the issue. I am here to play against the mathematicians and to enjoy the Congress. So let us leave it at that,” the statement quoted him as saying.

The Grand Master, however, was engaged in a more than three-hour contest with 40 mathematicians. He was his usual self during a question-and-answer session with them. He lauded 10 opponents who held on tenaciously till the last moment.

The idea of conferring the doctorate was mooted as early as October 2009. The UoH enthusiastically took up the proposal, did the necessary background work and submitted it for clearance to the Human Resource Development Ministry. Despite repeated follow-ups by it, the Ministry did not forward the proposal to the President, who is also the Visitor of the university."

Because he'd been living in Spain for a long time , some idiots raised the issue of  his citizenship when he was to be honoured with a doctorate , as you can see ,Anand maintained that he's always loved playing for India.Moreover, there is not a single record i could find of Anand being offered Spanish Citizenship.That man has never had doubt what country he represents or loves, it's  just you who's confused.He later accepted the doctorate after Kapil Sibal, India's HRD Minister personally apologised to him about this trivial issue getting so big.this article might help clearing up anymore doubts you have 

"HRD min accepts what world knows: Anand a proud Indian

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi/Hyderabad: He’s a master with black and white. But as Viswanathan Anand must have just realized, babus in Delhi

love grey.

A day after messy moves on the chess champion’s citizenship by HRD ministry bureaucrats came to the fore, minister Kapil

Sibal said there is no doubt Anand is Indian, not Spanish.

‘‘I have apologized to Anand about this,’’ Sibal said on Tuesday, doing damage control and clearing the road for University

of Hyderabad to confer an honorary doctorate on the man who is arguably India’s greatest sportsperson ever. New

Delhi/Hyderabad: Making clear that Viswanathan Anand’s nationality was never in question, HRD minister Kapil Sibal said on

Tuesday, ‘‘Procedural error has led to problems regarding the doctorate to Anand. Immediate corrective action was taken and

I told him that we are sorry for what has transpired. It should not take time (to implement such decisions) but sometimes it

happens. I told him that the honorary degree could be conferred today itself. He indicated to me that he had some problem

about this evening. Then I told him any date of his convenience for the function was okay. He has accepted it.’’

An aggrieved Anand, who is reported to have asked for his country back after his nationality was questioned, seemed

adequately assuaged. ‘‘I consider the matter resolved,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s time to move on. The silver lining is that at least

everyone now knows that I am Indian. Whenever I play, I’ve always played under the Indian flag. I lived and trained in Spain

for some time, but I used to travel back and forth between India and Spain. I have now shifted base back to India.’’

Anand’s wife Aruna, who was livid at the way things had played out, struck a conciliatory note, but not before making a

pointed statement. ‘‘Anand has only one passport,’’ she said. ‘‘And that is Indian. Mr Sibal did call Anand and apologized, so

we will leave it at that.’’

Explaining their stand, HRD ministry sources said Anand’s name was among the six who were to be awarded the doctorate

in UoH’s regular convocation on June 22. The file was cleared by Sibal on May 22 and sent to President Pratibha Patil’s office

as she is the visitor. But Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 2 raised queries about one individual — not Anand — in the list of six

and returned the entire proposal. UoH’s fresh, curtailed proposal that did not include Anand’s name came to HRD on June 18,

and by June 21 the ministry got it cleared from Rashtrapati Bhavan. Those conferred a doctorate then included former RBI

governor C Rangarajan and dancers Raja and Radha Reddy. As for the present controversy, it was in July that UoH sent a list

of people it wanted to award doctorates to. But the proposal neither mentioned the date nor the fact that it will be given during

the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) where Anand was to play against 40 mathematicians simultaneously. The

list included names of Anand, renowned mathematician David Mumford and theatre director Ebrahim Alkazi.

As mandated,all foreign names have to be cleared by the ministry of external affairs. UoH officials had apparently said that

Anand is a citizen of Spain and neither is Alkazsi an Indian national. The ministry was also not told that the function was on

August 23. A detailed note from the ministry was sent to the UoH on August 11 and the formal proposal from the university

came on August 18. Two days later, the ministry informed that the doctorate is to be awarded on August 23 and post-facto

approval was sought. By then it was too late to seek clearance from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

UoH, of course, blamed the HRD ministry for causing Anand such trouble. The university said the situation arose due to

MHRD’s ‘‘insensitive bureaucratic obstruction’’. In a press statement, it alleged: ‘‘The idea of conferring the honorary doctorate

on Viswanathan Anand was mooted as early as in October 2009. Despite repeated follow-up by the university, the MHRD did

not forward this proposal for signature by the President of India.”

Since MHRD officials had not cleared the file which was to be moved to the President for approval, the special convocation

on August 22 had to be cancelled. University authorities had, however, not informed Anand that the honour will not be

bestowed as they expected MHRD to give approval at the last moment.

University vice chancellor Seyed E Hasnain said that such situations had come up earlier too. “When the university wanted

to confer an honorary doctorate on Jagdish N Bhagwati, the renowned economist, a similar delay had taken place as he was a

US citizen and professor at Columbia University, US. After many requests the permission was granted only on the day of the

convocation. We were expecting something similar,” Hasnain said."

you get it now....heard it from the horse's mouth. Anand never considered any other country,  just  a minor misunderstanding that got elevated because of people like you...people in India were very saddened when this happened to Vishy.But as he said it , it was just one confusion and he didn't want that a controversy be made out of it. So stop spreading lies please....

Anand is not FIDE WC, he is classical WC : he has beaten Kramnik in a match. By the way, when speaking of WC, "one of the weakest" is not that meaningful, is it ?

Ooh, that was the WRONG thing to say. Seriously, there's not so much more racist you can get than that.

Racist is where you say it's an undeveloped country because its full of dopey Indians. Calling an undeveloped country undeveloped is neutral.

Saying strange that they have a strong GM at all is not very neutral, but I used to think what's with this Indian dude trying to be world champion ?

LOL...I think you have a mistaken view of India.

There is no need for Anand to participate in a Olympiad as there are more than 50 GMs in India.

Carlsen has more rating points than Anand ever had. But anybody can imagine in any sport of the world that can produce a weaker man as a world champion. People think that Indians are backward so they don't want to give the credit to Indians but West should keep in mind that when we had a flourishing Indus Valley Civilization, West was wandering in the forests.