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Anand's Biography
Chess Career- Vishy Anand
Viswanathan Anand, popularly known as "Vishy, the Tiger from Madras" learnt chess at the tender age of six. His assets, his lightning speed of play & intuition saw him through as the Youngest National Champion at the age of 16.
In 1987 he became the First Asian to win the World Junior Championship. He also earned the coveted Grandmaster title. He carved a special place on the chessboard by winning the strongest tournament at that time, The "Reggio Emilia" in Italy in 1991 ahead of Kasparov & Karpov.
He has been a World Championship challenger in the PCA(New York 1995) & FIDE(1997 Lausanne) cycles. He has the distinction of winning the Strongest knock out tournament in recent chess history in Groningen in December 1997.
He has also won the Linares Super Torneo in 1998, the strongest tournament at this point. His other great victories include the Melody Amber tournament (1994 & 1997), the Credit Suisse Masters (1997), Dos Hermanas (1997) and Wijk Aan Zee(1998).
Anand is currently rated NUMBER Two in the World in both the rating lists, namely, the PCA & the FIDE lists.
Anand has been awarded many prestigious titles in India like the Arjuna Award, the Padmashri (the youngest recipient of the title), the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the Soviet Land Nehru award, the BPL Achievers of the World, Sportstar, Sportsworld "Sportsman of the year 1995" Award.
Anand holds a degree in commerce, his other hobbies are reading, swimming & listening to music.
Anand, known as the "One man Indian Chess revolution," keenly promotes the game, through innovative methods in the country, where the game first originated.
He lives in Collado Mediano in Spain with his wife Aruna.