Viswanathan Anand wins World Chess title 2017

Chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand (48) won World Rapid Chess Championship Title 2017 held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In the final tie-breaker mini-match, Anand defeated Russia’s Vladimir Fedoseev by 2-0 score to reclaim title he had won in 2003.
Earlier he defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and went on to finish on top with 10.5 Points at the end of 15th and final round. But, he had tied with Vladimir Fedoseev and Ian Nepomniachtchi, both of Russia, who also had scored same number of points, a tie-breaker was required to decide the winner.
The women’s title was won by China’s Ju Wenjun. Indai’s Dronavalli Harika was the best-placed Indian finishing 19th followed by Padmini Rout placed at 22nd place, S Vijayalakshmi at 34th position and Eesha Karavde at 35th.

Viswanathan Anand

He was born on 11 December 1969 in Chennai. He became India’s first grandmaster in 1988. He is first Asian to win FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002.
He had won World Champion in 2007 by defeating Vladimir Kramnik and again in 2010 by defeating Veselin Topalov and in 2012 by defeating Boris Gelfand. In world Chess Championship 2013, he lost to challenger Magnus Carlsen of Norway and lost again to Carlsen in 2014.
In 2006, he became fourth player in chess history to pass 2800 Elo mark on FIDE rating list, after Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov. He occupied number one position for 21 months, 6th longest on record.
He is the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991, India’s highest sporting honour. In 2007, he was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award, making him first sportsperson to receive award.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2017