Viswanathan Anand, the 15th world champion of chess was born in Madras, India on 11 December 1969. He was taught to play chess at the age of six by his mother. He was observed to play his games extremely fast. He became youth world champion in 1987 and, in 1988, he was awarded the title International Grandmaster. He qualified from the world championship interzone final in Manila as third in dead-heat. In world championship candidate's duel he lost against Karpov by missing promising chances. He gained his first sensational triumph in 1991-92 in Reggio Emilia, where he prevailed against both Karpov and Kasparov. Anand, as others, had two strings to his bow in the 1993-95 world championship period, since he was fighting both for the FIDE and the PCA title.
As far as the FIDE series is concerned he was defeated at home by the American Gata Kamsky losing the play-off after 4-4. He was more successful in the PCA series as he could play for the world championship title with Kasparov in 1995 in New York. After eight draws, Anand took the lead but Kasparov equalized in a superb game and the defending of title could not be hindered.
Anand was brilliant in the FIDE world championship in 1997, which was organized in Groningen. He marched into the final overcoming six of his opponents, where, however, he was beaten in the rapid play-off by Anatolij Karpov, who did not have to qualify. In two years, as a warm-up, he won the World Cup and, furthermore, his biggest dream has come true. In the FIDE world championship in New Delhi, he was marching ahead and in the Teheran final he became world champion by knocking out the Spanish Anatolij Shirov. One year later, he attempted to defend his title in Moscow but he lost the semi-final against Vasilij Ivanchuk of the Ukraine.
The unexpected loss was followed by a trough of a wave for one and a half year, he could hardly bear that huge disappointment but since 2003 he has been the same again. His triumphs were also estimated by the trade press, after 1997 and 1998 he was chosen both in 2003 and in 2004 as the player of the year, he was awarded Oscar. In Wijk aan Zee, he repeated his success in 2003 in front of Judit Polgár, while in 2004 he won ahead of Péter Lékó and, furthermore, he won the super tournament in Dortmund. Four years ago, he came second behind Lékó in Wijk aan Zee and won silver in Sofia, too. He won several rapid tournaments and duels. He was placed second in the FIDE world ranking list at that time and was considered as the biggest favorite of the 2005 World Championship in Argentina where he, however, finished second in dead-heat with Svindler.
He was first in Wijk an Zee, nevertheless, he had to share the glory with Veszelin Topalov. That was the fifth first place for him in the Dutch seaside town. In Monaco he won again in dead-heat with the Russian Aleksander Morozevich. On the FIDE world ranking list of April he passed the dream limit of 2800 points. In Sofia he finished third, although he was on the lead after the first round in the M-tel tournament. In the rapid competition of Leon he overcame Topalov in the final, while in Mainz he won against the Azeri Tejmur Radzsabov.
In 2007 he triumphed in the Linares/Morelia event. It was, however, hardly considered that he would need for that the double victories against the 16-year-old Magnus Carlsen. In the Amber tournament he finished second behind Kramnik and, consequently, he took the lead in the world ranking list on 1 April - first time in his career. He was second in dead-heat in Dortmund, and was victorious for the sixth time in Leon beating Topalov in the final. He was successful again in Mainz winning against the Armenian Levon Aronian. That was his seventh first place in the German city.

The leader of the ranking list was prepared for the Mexican World Championship with a wide range of openings, he played quite aggressive systems even with black, could take advantage of his huge routine whenever he just needed a calming draw. He became world champion unbeaten with a whole point advantage and, consequently, was chosen for the best of the world for the fifth time. He was welcome as a king at his origin country, India.
As the world's best he played first in the Corus event, fighting hard with Kramnik in the last round. The possible win could have meant his seventh victory, but it ended up in a draw and Anand finished third in dead-heat.
The Indian world champion defended his title at the Morelia/Linares tournament. His extraordinary routine came through in the duel with the 17-year-old Magnus Carlsen. In Mainz he proved for the eighth time that he is the uncrowned king of the chess. In the event of four he played the final against Carlsen and beat him 3-1. Anand took part in the last main event before the world championship final in Bilbao, however, he could not win and finished last among the six players. With this outcome, losing his leading position on the world ranking list, made a sacrifice to be successful in the world championship final against Kramnik in Bonn. Anand fully deserved his victory as he found the weak points of his rival. In most of the games he forced his way of playing upon his challenger. His two victories with black were decisive. Anand's strategy was perfect taking up such positions where the master of the fine positional solutions could not find his way in the difficulties. Through his triumph 6,5-4,5 Anand defended his world championship title and is playing his next duel in 2010 against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. The Chess Oscars for the World's best chess player for his performance in 2008 has been awarded to World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Anand is ranked second on the present world ranking list with 2783 ELO-points.

Anand's most important victories:

1989 Wijk aan Zee
1991/92 Reggio Emilia
1993 Groningen PCA
1997 Dos Hermanas, Amber (rapid), Biel
1998 Wijk aan Zee, Linares, Madrid, Tilburg
2000 FIDE World Cup
2001 Merida, Mainz (rapid)
2002 Mainz (rapid)
2003 Wijk aan Zee, Mainz (rapid), Cap d’Agde (rapid)
2004 Wijk aan Zee, Dortmund, Mainz (rapid)
2005 Amber (rapid), Leon (rapid), Mainz (rapid)
2006 Wijk aan Zee, Amber (rapid), Leon (rapid), Mainz (rapid)
2007 Morelia/Linares, Amber (rapid), Leon (rapid) Mainz (rapid)
2008 Morelia/Linares, Mainz (rapid)

The best game of his career
Face to face all games download in *.pgn format