Viswanathan Anand Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Quick Info→

Age: 51 Years

Hometown: Chennai

Wife: Aruna

Bio
Nickname	Vishy, Lightning Kid, Tiger of Madras
Profession	Chess Player (five-time 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 of 2020)	51 Years
Birthplace	Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu
Zodiac 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; died on 15 April 2021 following brief illness) 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
Chess Player	Bobby Fischer
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.)	Rs. 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.