Editing Viswanathan Anand (section)

== Early chess career ==
Anand's rise in the Indian chess world was meteoric. National success came early for him when he won the sub-junior championship with a score of 9/9 points in 1983, at age 14. In 1984 Anand won the [[Asian Junior Chess Championship|Asian Junior Championship]] in [[Coimbatore]], earning an [[International Master]] (IM) [[norm (chess)|norm]] in the process. Soon afterward, he participated in the [[26th Chess Olympiad]], in [[Thessaloniki]], where he made his debut on the Indian national team. There, Anand scored 7½ points in 11 games, gaining his second IM norm.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/vishy-anand-a-passionate-portrait-part-three|title=Vishy Anand: a passionate portrait – part three|last=Priyadarshan Banjan|date=19 February 2015|website=Chess News|publisher=ChessBase|access-date=3 November 2019|archive-date=3 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103155833/https://en.chessbase.com/post/vishy-anand-a-passionate-portrait-part-three|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1985 he became the youngest Indian to achieve the title of International Master, at age 15, by winning the Asian Junior Championship for the second year in a row, this time in Hong Kong.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Priyadarshan Banjan|title=Vishy Anand: a passionate portrait (2)|url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/vishy-anand-a-passionate-portrait-2|website=ChessBase|access-date=9 November 2015|date=27 December 2014|archive-date=24 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024001408/http://en.chessbase.com/post/vishy-anand-a-passionate-portrait-2|url-status=live}}</ref> At age 16, he became the [[Indian Chess Championship|national chess champion]]. He won that title two more times. He played games at [[blitz chess|blitz]] speed. In 1987, he became the first Indian to win the [[World Junior Chess Championship]]. In 1988, at age 18, he became India's first grandmaster by winning the Shakti Finance International chess tournament held in [[Coimbatore]], India. One of his notable successes in this tournament was his win against Russian grandmaster [[Efim Geller]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1017939|title=Efim Geller vs Viswanathan Anand (1987)|access-date=14 April 2022|archive-date=14 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414144328/https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1017939|url-status=live}}</ref>  He was awarded [[Padma Shri]] at age 18.

[[File:Viswanathan Anand 1992 Manila.jpg|thumb|Anand at the [[30th Chess Olympiad|Manila 1992 Olympiad]], aged {{age|11 December 1969|June 1992}}]]
In the [[World Chess Championship 1993|1993 World Chess Championship]] cycle, Anand qualified for his first [[Candidates Tournament]], winning his first match but narrowly losing his quarterfinal match to 1990 runner-up [[Anatoly Karpov]].<ref>[http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9193$cix.htm World Chess Championship 1991–93 Candidates Matches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620212327/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9193$cix.htm |date=20 June 2017 }}. Retrieved 15 April 2007.</ref>

In 1994–95, Anand and [[Gata Kamsky]] dominated the qualifying cycles for the rival [[FIDE]] and [[Professional Chess Association|PCA]] world championships. In the [[FIDE World Chess Championship 1996|FIDE cycle]], Anand lost his second round (Candidates semifinal) match to Kamsky after leading early.<ref>[http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9496fcix.htm 1994–96 FIDE Candidates Matches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125042731/https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9496fcix.htm |date=25 January 2021 }}, Mark Weeks' Chess Pages</ref> Kamsky lost the 1996 FIDE championship match to Karpov.

In the 1995 PCA cycle, Anand won matches against [[Oleg Romanishin]] and [[Michael Adams (chess player)|Michael Adams]] without a loss, then avenged his FIDE loss by defeating Kamsky in the Candidates final.<ref>[http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9496pcix.htm World Chess Championship 1994–95 PCA Candidates Matches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309143230/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9496pcix.htm |date=9 March 2018 }}. Retrieved 15 April 2007.</ref> In 1995, he played the [[PCA World Chess Championship 1995|PCA World Chess Championship]] against Kasparov at New York City's [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]]. After an opening run of eight draws (a record for the opening of a world championship match until 21 November 2018), Anand won game nine with a powerful [[exchange sacrifice]], but then lost four of the next five. He lost the match 10½–7½.

In the 1998 FIDE cycle, FIDE granted Karpov, the reigning champion, direct seeding into the final against the winner of the seven-round single-elimination Candidates tournament. The psychological and physical advantage Karpov gained from this decision caused significant controversy, leading to Kramnik's withdrawal from the tournament. Anand won the tournament, defeating Adams in the final, and immediately faced Karpov for the championship. Despite this disadvantage for Anand, which he described as being "brought in a coffin" to play Karpov,<ref name="niceguy">{{cite news|author=Hari Hara Nandanan |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/chess/Why-this-nice-guy-always-wins/articleshow/5933145.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410203606/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-05-15/chess/28317926_1_world-chess-championship-viswanathan-anand-international-master |url-status=live |archive-date=10 April 2011 |title=Why this nice guy always wins |date=15 May 2010 |work=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=11 November 2010}}</ref> the regular match ended 3–3, which led to a rapid playoff, which Karpov won 2–0. Karpov thus remained the FIDE champion.

=== Other results ===

Anand has won the [[Mainz Chess Classic]], a [[Category 21 Championship]], a record 11 times. In 2008, he defeated Carlsen en route to his 11th title in that event.<ref>''Chessvine'' article, [http://chessvine.com/archives/60-Vishy-Anand-and-Magnus-Carlsen.html "Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708142605/http://chessvine.com/archives/60-Vishy-Anand-and-Magnus-Carlsen.html |date=8 July 2011 }}</ref>

Anand is the first player to have won five titles of the [[Corus chess tournament]].  He is the first player to have won each of the Big Three  supertournaments at the time: [[Tata Steel Chess Tournament|Corus]] (1989, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2006), [[Linares Chess Tournament|Linares]] (1998, 2007, 2008), and [[Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting|Dortmund]] (1996, 2000, 2004).

Anand has a stellar record at the annual [[Melody Amber|Melody Amber Tournament]] (2 separate and unique [[Blindfold chess|Blindfold]] and [[Fast chess|Rapid Chess]] supertournaments played): he has 5 overall prizes (winning in 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005, and 2006), and has the most "rapidplay" titles, winning 9 times. He is also the only player to win the blind and rapid sections of the tournament in the same year (twice, in 1997 and 2005).

Anand won three consecutive [[Advanced Chess]] tournaments in [[León, León|Leon]], Spain, after Kasparov introduced this form of chess in 1998, and is widely recognised as the world's best Advanced Chess player, where players may consult a computer to aid in their calculation of variations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1017919|title=Advanced Chess matches|access-date=17 February 2022|archive-date=17 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217005707/https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1017919|url-status=live}}</ref>

Anand's collection ''My Best Games of Chess'' was published in 1998 and updated in 2001. His individual tournament successes include the [[Corus chess tournament]] in 2006 (tied with Topalov), [[Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting|Dortmund]] in 2004, and [[Linares chess tournament|Linares]] in 2007 and 2008. In 2007 he won the Grenkeleasing Rapid championship for the tenth time, defeating [[Levon Aronian]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4061|title=Mainz 2007&nbsp;– Anand wins Rapid Final|last=Fischer|first=Johannes|date=20 August 2007|website=ChessBase|access-date=13 October 2011|archive-date=19 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119064920/http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4061|url-status=live}}</ref> Just a few days before, Aronian had defeated Anand in the [[Chess960]] final.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4056|title=Mainz 2007&nbsp;– Aronian wins Chess960 world championship|date=17 August 2007|website=ChessBase|access-date=13 October 2011|archive-date=19 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119060243/http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4056|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2007, Anand won the Linares chess tournament and it was widely believed that he would be ranked world No. 1 in the [[FIDE]] [[Elo rating]] list for April 2007. But Anand was No. 2 on the initial list released because the Linares result was not included. FIDE subsequently announced that Linares would be included,<ref>[http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3768 ChessBase] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405210350/http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3768 |date=5 April 2007 }}. Retrieved 15 April 2007.</ref> pushing Anand to number one in the April 2007 list.<ref>[http://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml?list=men Top 100 Players April 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410234922/http://ratings.fide.com/top.phtml?list=men |date=10 April 2013 }}. Retrieved 15 April 2007.</ref>