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For a long time Viswanathan Anand has epitomized the very best in Indian chess. In a glorious career spanning 25 years and still counting, Anand has taken Indian chess to dizzying heights.
After winning the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship in 1983, the next year, at the age of fifteen, Anand became the youngest Indian to win the International Master Title. In 1988, at the age of eighteen, he became India's first Grandmaster.
In the 1990s Anand rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in world chess like Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. In 1995, in one of the most hyped duels of recent times, Anand lost to Kasparov in the Professional Chess Association World Chess Championship final.
Anand has achieved multiple success in prestigious chess tournaments like Corus, Linares and Dortmund. In 2000, Anand became the first Indian to win the FIDE World Chess Championship by defeating Alexei Shirov in the final.
In addition to his proven abilities in the classical chess format, Vishwanathan Anand is known as the the world's finest rapid chess player. In 2003, Anand won the inaugural edition of the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship defeating archrival Vladimir Kramnik.
