Vishy Anand

Vishy Anand

GM - INDIA


Born in Madras (now Chennai) , India, Vhiswanathan Anand, popularly known all over the world as "Vishy", is the greatest world legend of Indian sport of all time, and of course one of the greatest players of the chess Olympus in all its history.

Anand is a five-time World Chess Champion, something that only Kasparov is in a position to match.

Vishy is a player with an unsurpassed record and one of the most loved and admired players by chess fans all over the world.

World Champion for the first time in Tehran 2001 (he had come close before, losing in a very close encounter with Garry Kasparov in New York 2005), beating Alexey Shirov. He then won the title again in Mexico 2007 and in Bonn (Germany) 2008, beating Vladimir Kramnik.

He became champion again after defeating Veselin Topalov in Sofia (Bulgaria) 2010. His last world title came after defeating Boris Gelfand in Moscow 2021. In 2015 he lost the title to the current world champion, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.

He is one of the greatest chess stars of all time. Known as the "Rapid of Madrás” his hometown, for the speed of his play, his favourite sentence is:
"If I think too much I make mistakes".

Considered one of the greatest natural talents, if not the greatest, in the history of chess.

Disciplined and hard-working, dedicating more than 6 hours a day to his chess and physical preparation, he is a total professional.

He is the "quiet man" of world chess, an excellent person, kind to everyone and always ready to attend to the fans and the press.

A polyglot, fluent in six languages, a lover of economics and history.