Vishwanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand was born 11 December 1969 in Chennai Tamilnadu to Vishwanathan, who retired as General Manager, Southern Railways, and Susheela.
Achievements
•Won the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship with a score of 9/9 in 1983 at the age of fourteen.
•He became the youngest Indian to win the International Master Title at the age of fifteen, in 1984.
•In 1987, he became the first Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship.
•In 1988 at the age of eighteen, he became India's first Grandmaster
•Won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000 for the first time after defeating Alexei Shirov 3.5–0.5 in the final match held at Tehran; becoming the first Indian to win that title.
•In 2007 he became World Champion again by winning that year's FIDE World Championship Tournament held in Mexico City. [In 2000, when Anand won the FIDE World Championship, there was also the rival "Classical" World Championship, held by Kramnik. By 2007, the world championship had been reunified, so Anand's victory in Mexico City made him undisputed World Chess Champion]
•Successfully defended the title against Kramnik in the World Chess Championship 2008 held in Bonn, Germany.
•In January 2000, the 629-player Plus GSM World Blitz Chess Cup was held near Warsaw in Poland. Anand, the top seed, won the event by half a point. He scored 17.5 points from 22 games (14 wins, drew 7 games and a loss to Akopian).
Awards
•Arjuna Award (Government of India), Outstanding Indian Sportsman (Chess) – 1985
•Padma Shri (Government of India), youngest ever recipient – 1987
•Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, first ever recipient – 1991-92
•Chess " Oscar" Best Chess Player of 1997, 1998,2003,2004,2007
•Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India, for his World Championship Title and No.1 World Ranking - 2008
More about Vishy "The tiger from Chennai"