Viswanathan Anand Age, Wife, Family, Children, Biography, Facts & More
Bio |
Real Name | Viswanathan Anand |
Nickname | Vishy, Lightning Kid, Tiger of Madras |
Profession | Indian Chess Grandmaster, A Former World Chess Champion |
Physical Stats & More |
Height (approx.) | in centimeters- 175 cm
in meters- 1.75 m
in feet inches- 5’9” |
Weight (approx.) | in kilograms 75 kg
in pounds- 165 lbs |
Eye Colour | Black |
Hair Colour | Black |
Records/Achievements (main ones) | Records
• Youngest Indian (at the age of 15) to win the Asian Junior Chess Championship with the title 'International Master' in Coimbatore.
• Won the national chess championship two times at the age of sixteen.
• First Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship in 1987.
• India's first Grandmaster, at the age of 18, won the Shakti Finance International chess tournament held in Coimbatore, India in 1988.
• Won the reunified 'World Chess Championship' in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012.
• First Indian to win the 'FIDE World Chess Championship' in Tehran in 2000 and 2007. 
• Acquired the No.1 ranking in the 'FIDE Elo Rating' in April 2007.
• Won the 'Chess Oscar' international award in 1997, 1998, 2003, and 2004, 2007 & 2008.
• Became victorious in ‘Advanced Chess” tournament in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
• Won the 8th game of the 2012 world chess championship in just 17 moves and made it the shortest game in championship history.
Achievements
1983: Won the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship with 9/9 scores, at the age of fourteen.
1985: Received the 'Arjuna Award’ by the Indian government.
1987: Received the 'Padma Shri' at the age of eighteen only.
1987: Received the 'National Citizens' and 'Soviet Land Nehru awards.'
1992: Won the 'Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.'
1998: Acquired 'Sportstar Millennium Award' by the Sportstar magazine.
2000: His Elo rating is proved 2817, which is fourth-highest of all times.
2003: Won the ‘World Rapid Chess Championship.’
2007: Honoured with the 'Padma Vibhushan by the Indian Government.'
2007: Won the Round Robin Tournament by only one point.
2011: Received 'Global Strategist Award' by NASSCOM for his mastery over all formats of World Chess Championships.
2012: Received 'Order of Friendship' award by Russia.
|
Personal Life |
Date of Birth | 11 December 1969 |
Age (as in 2017) | 48 Years |
Birth Place | Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu |
Zodiac sign/Sun sign | Sagittarius |
Signature |  |
Nationality | Indian |
Hometown | Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu |
School | Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Egmore, Chennai |
College | Loyola College, Chennai |
Educational Qualifications | A Degree in Bachelor of Commerce |
Family | Father- Krishnamurthy Viswanathan (a retired general manager from Southern Railways)
Mother- Susila (a housewife)

Brother- Shivakumar (a manager at Crompton Greaves in India)
Sister- Anuradha (a professor at the University of Michigan in the United States) |
Religion | Hinduism |
Address | Chennai, Tamil Nadu,

Collado Mediano, Spain |
Hobbies | Swimming, reading, and listening to music |
Favourite Things |
Favourite Chess Player | Bobby Fischer
 |
Favourite Book | Carl Sagan's book on Astronomy |
Girls, Family & More |
Marital Status | Married |
Wife/Spouse | Aruna
 |
Marriage Date | 1996 |
Children | Son- Akhil (born on 9 April 2011)
 |
Style Quotient
|
Cars Collection | BMW and Range Rover |
Money Factor |
Net Worth
(Approx.) | ₹304 crore, $4.5 million |

Some Lesser Known Facts About Viswanathan Anand
- Does Viswanathan Anand smoke?: Not Known
- Does Viswanathan Anand drink alcohol?: Not Known
- At the age of six, he has learned chess from his mother and a family friend Deepa Ramakrishnan.

- During his childhood, he used to finish the game of chess in 15-25 minutes while his contemporaries would take 2-3 hours.

- In order to develop his Chess skills and for further training, he went to the Philippines for one year.
- In 1985, he won the Asian Junior Championship in Hong Kong.

- He declined to accept the honorary doctorate offered by the University of Hyderabad.
- He is skilled in the languages Tamil, English, German, French, and Spanish.
- He likes Moscow, which is considered the home of chess in the world.
- He is the Brand Ambassador of NIIT.

- A minor planet in the universe (discovered in 1988) has been named after him ‘Vishyanand,’ by ‘Michael Rudenko’ working in ‘International Astronomical Union.’
- He has a great interest in the statistics, history, and astronomy.
- He considers his intuition as his best trait.
- He has donated his gold medal to a charitable organization ‘The Foundation’ to help the underprivileged children.
- He authored the book ‘My Best Games of Chess,’ that won the ‘Book of the Year’ award in 1998 by the British Chess Federation.

- In 2010, during a match of International Congress of Mathematicians in Hyderabad, he defeated 39 chess wizards simultaneously; whereas one remained drawn.
- In August 2010, he joined the Olympic Gold Quest’s board of directors.
- To attend the ‘2010 World Chess Championship,’ he travelled 40 hours by road.
- On 7 November 2010, he was invited for a dinner by the former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh with the US President Barack Obama.
- On 24 December 2010, he was invited as a guest of honour by Gujarat University, where a new world record was made by 20,486 chess players who played chess at a single place.
- Indian media channel, ’CNN-IBN,’ has chosen him ‘CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2012’ and Indian Sportsperson of the year.
- In the 2012 World Championship, after 12 matches, his game was tied at 6-6 score against Boris Gelfand but finally, he won the title for the third time with the 2.5-1.5 score.
- He has also proved his victory of the most difficult tournaments in the world like Linares and Dortmund, three times each.
- The Indian state of Tamil Nadu published a booklet with the details of his achievements from 1986 to 2012 in his honour and also awarded him ₹2 crore.
- Russian President ‘Vladimir Putin’ invited him on tea after his victory of ‘2012 World Chess Championship’ in Israel.
- He is a calm, sober, and unassuming person who refrains from politics.
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