35 Facts About Viswanathan Anand

1. Viswanathan Anand achieved that goal on 1 November 2010 list with a rating of 2804, two points ahead of Magnus Carlsen, but was overtaken by Carlsen in July 2011.

2. In 2010, Viswanathan Anand announced that he would expand his tournament schedule, beginning in late 2010, in an effort to regain the world number one ranking from Magnus Carlsen.

3. Viswanathan Anand made more than $450 000 in prize money in 2017.

4. Viswanathan Anand declined to participate in the Paris Rapid and Blitz tournament, meaning his results in Leuven, the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic would count toward the overall standings.

5. In 2015, Viswanathan Anand was a participant in the inaugural 2015 Grand Chess Tour, a series of 3 supertournaments featuring the world's elite players.

6. Viswanathan Anand participated in the 2013 World Chess Championship match against Magnus Carlsen.

7. In 2012, Viswanathan Anand participated in several high level tournaments, including the London Chess Classic and the Bilbao Masters Grand Slam.

8. Viswanathan Anand won the tournament ahead of reigning Classical World Champion Magnus Carlsen and this was his first victory in a world championship since losing the classical championship to Carlsen in 2013.

9. Viswanathan Anand lost on time in one game, to Gata Kamsky.

10. Viswanathan Anand won this event ahead of ten of the other top twelve players in the world, beating Kramnik in the final.

11. Viswanathan Anand went through the tournament undefeated, winning his first-round game against Levon Aronian, his third-round game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and his ninth-round game against Veselin Topalov.

12. Viswanathan Anand lost the defence of his title in the World Chess Championship 2013 at Chennai.

13. Viswanathan Anand won game 12 on the Black side of a Queen's Gambit Declined to win the game and the match.

14. Viswanathan Anand would win again with the Catalan in Game 4, only to drop Game 8 and leave the score level .

15. In October 2007, Viswanathan Anand said he liked the double round robin championship format, and that the right of Kramnik to automatically challenge for the title was "ridiculous".

16. Viswanathan Anand became the first undisputed champion to win the title in a tournament, rather than in matchplay, since Mikhail Botvinnik in 1948.

17. Viswanathan Anand won the tournament with a final score of 9 out of 14 points, a full point ahead of joint second-place finishers Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand.

18. Viswanathan Anand tied for second with Peter Svidler in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 with 8½ points out of 14 games, 1½ points behind the winner, Veselin Topalov.

19. Viswanathan Anand failed to defend the title in 2002, losing in the semifinals to Vassily Ivanchuk.

20. Viswanathan Anand won the Mainz 2008 Supertournament Championship by defeating rising star Magnus Carlsen, earning his eleventh title in that event.

21. In March 2007, Viswanathan Anand won the Linares chess tournament and it was widely believed that he would be ranked world No 1 in the FIDE Elo rating list for April 2007.

22. Viswanathan Anand is the first player to have won five titles of the Corus chess tournament, succeeded by Magnus Carlsen.

23. Viswanathan Anand has won the annual event Monaco Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championships in years 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2006.

24. Viswanathan Anand won three consecutive Advanced Chess tournaments in Leon, Spain, after Garry Kasparov introduced this form of chess in 1998, and is widely recognised as the world's best Advanced Chess player, where humans may consult a computer to aid in their calculation of variations.

25. Viswanathan Anand was awarded Padma Shri at the age of eighteen.

26. Viswanathan Anand became the youngest Indian to achieve the title of International Master at the age of fifteen, in 1985 by winning the Asian Junior Championship for the second year in a row, this time in Hong Kong.

27. Viswanathan Anand was the only sportsperson to be invited for the dinner hosted by the Indian PM Manmohan Singh for US President Barack Obama on 7 November 2010.

28. On 24 December 2010, Viswanathan Anand was the guest of honour on the grounds of Gujarat University, where 20,486 players created a new world record of simultaneous chess play at a single venue.

29. Viswanathan Anand married Aruna in 1996 and has a son, Akhil, born on 9 April 2011.

30. Viswanathan Anand learned chess from age six from his mother Sushila, but learned the intricacies of the game in Manila where he lived with his parents in 1978 up to the 80s who was contracted as a consultant by the Philippine National Railways.

31. Viswanathan Anand was born on 11 December 1969 at Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu in a Tamil Brahmin family, where he grew up.

32. Viswanathan Anand occupied the number one position for 21 months, the 6th longest on record.

33. Viswanathan Anand won the World Rapid Chess Championship in 2003 and 2017.

34. Viswanathan Anand became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008.

35. Viswanathan Anand held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002, thus becoming the first Asian to do so.