Viswanathan Anand: World beater
TNN 27 Dec 2009, 0251 hrs IST
He is the reigning World chess champion. For someone who was considered the fastest mover on the chess board, Viswanathan Anand surprisingly took more than a decade to translate his World Junior crown into the World crown. The 1987 World Junior champion did finish ahead of the giants of the time – Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov – at several tournaments, but the first shot he earned at the Candidates Tournament came only in 1993.
After several attempts he became the World champion in 2000, but his title was shorn of glory as the chess world was split into two and the championship was without the giants. Perhaps that rankled the quiet Indian no end, for after that he pursued the world title with a single-minded determination. He moved his base to Spain where international tournaments are commonplace. It helped him first move up the world rankings into the top three in 1996 and finally scale the summit in 2007.
When he defended the title against Vladimir Kramnik the next year, Anand gained the distinction of being the first player ever to win the world title in all three formats – Knockout, Tournament and Match. He is also one of the five players to cross the 2800 Elo points.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
He did not become world champion in 2000, he became FIDE Champion. Completely different title, despite them trying to call it the same thing.
He made Indians believe they can also..do..it…..as there is still no Indian GMs nearby…..Battle between TOPALOV would be real exciting as both has the capacity to win….