Vishwanathan Anand: 5 facts you should know about him
Editorial Team
Last Updated: 02:42 pm, October 29, 2013
Viswanathan Anand is one of India’s most successful and low key sports people. Even the Russian Grandmaster, Vladimir Kramnik feels that Anand is presently the best chess player, favouring him over Gary Kasparov. Here are 5 facts you should know about Anand:
1. At the age of 15 (in 1984) he became the youngest Indian to become International Master (IM). This is the title that players get before becoming grandmaster.
2. For you, Viswanathan Anand is the greatest player in the world. However, according to him, the greatest chess player in the world ever is Bobby Fischer. In fact, quite surprisingly, he does not even consider himself to be in his personal list of the top 10 chess players of all time.
3. Viswanathan Anand is a Tamilian, and is the youngest in his family. His elder brother is 13 years older to him and his elder sister is 11 years older to him.
4. Viswanathan Anand was bestowed with the title of grandmaster I 1988, after he won the Shakti Finance International chess tournament in Coimbatore. He thus became India’s first ever grandmaster.
5. He was given the Padma Shri in 1988, when he was only 18 years of age.
Source: http://www.indiancolleges.com
Nakamura achieved a lot more. He won many US Championship. He plays board for the US, and has sponsorship from a billionaire.
The tiger is known to be relentless in stalking his prey. So I think this image fits Anand pretty well.
If you would like to hear my impression of the tiger, try listening to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plWrdIdAMaQ
Well, mr Kramnik is dead-wrong, and maybe Susan can ask him to confirm it officially. I doubt if he ever said it. Anand is a great player and he shows that by his accurate assessement about his strength: he doesn’t belong in the top ten players of all times. That’s the main thing: knowing by reflection where you truly stand, regardless what others might say. That, my dear readers, makes Anand a great personality!