Chessboss

Viswanathan Anand is an Indian International Grandmaster, and the current World Chess Champion, as of 2009.  He is affectionately known as “Vishy” to his supporters and friends.  He was taught to play chess at the age of 6 by his mother, and won the title of International Master at the age of 15.  He became the Indian National Champion at the age of 16.  He has won numerous awards from the Indian government for his achievements, including becoming India’s first Grandmaster.  He has also won the Chess Oscar six times, and won three consecutive Advanced Chess tournaments after its 1998 founding by Garry Kasparov.

Anand won his first World Chess Championship in 2000, and again in 2007.  He is particularly well known for his style of playing at blitz speed, which he played to great surprise and success in 1991, winning the Reggio Emilia tournament ahead of both Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.  He won the World Blitz Chess Cup in 2000.  He had been ranked in the top three best chess players in the world for 12 years, from 1996 to 2008, and was ranked number one in the world for the first time in 2007.