What Is Viswanathan Anand’s Net Worth?
Viswanathan Anand is an Indian chess Grandmaster who has a net worth of $5 million. He was the first Indian to win the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000. He is known for quick tactical calculations.
Biography
He was born on December 11, 1969, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
His mother taught him to play chess when he was just five or six years old. She passed away in May 2015. She was 79.
”She used to play, her family used to play, so there was family background there,” Viswanathan said in an interview with News18. ”After a while, they noticed that I was as interested in chess as a six-year-old could be, found a chess club for me, the Tal Chess Club.”
His father was a former General Manager of the Southern Railway. He passed away on April 15, 2021. He was 92.
”My parents may have had doubts because my father worked on the railways,” Anand said recently. ”They had no idea what this chess was.”
In 1983, Anand won the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship at the age of 14.
At age 15, Viswanathan became the youngest Indian to earn the international master title.
In 1987, Viswanathan won the World Junior Chess Championship.
In 1988, he became the first Grandmaster of India after winning the Shakti Finance International chess tournament held in Coimbatore. ”I won the national championships when I was in 10th grade, I became a GM in 12th, and when I finished university, I was ranked five in the world,” Viswanathan told Chess.com.
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In 1991, Anand won the Reggio Emilia tournament.
In 1998, he released a collection of his games, Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess.
In 2000, he became the first Indian to win the FIDE World Chess Championship.
In 2001, Viswanathan received Jameo de Oro — the highest honor given by the Government of Lanzarote in Spain.
In 2005, he finished second place at the FIDE World Chess Championship.
In 2007, Anand won the Grenkeleasing Rapid championship for the tenth time in a match against Levon Aronian.
In September 2007, Vishwanathan became the world chess champion, winning the global tournament in Mexico. In the same year, Anand was awarded India’s second-highest civilian award — the Padma Vibhushan.
In 2008, he defended the title against Kramnik in the World Chess Championship held in Bonn, Germany. ”Vishy is such a great player, and he was in a fantastic form,” Kramnik said in 2020 about his World Chess Championship match against Vishwanathan in 2008. Kramnik added: ”He was such a powerful force that I do not know who could have stopped him then.”
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Also in 2008, he won the Mainz Supertournament Championship, defeating Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.
In 2010, Vishy participated at a presidential dinner hosted by Manmohan Singh.
In August 2010, Vishwanathan joined the board of directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation that aims to assist potential Olympic medal talent from India.
In March 2011, Vishy achieved his peak rating of 2817.
In 2012, Vishwanathan defended his title in the World Chess Championship in Moscow in a match vs. Boris Gelfand.
In 2013, Vishy lost his title in the World Chess Championship in Chennai to Magnus Carlsen.
In 2014, he won the World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament.
In December 2017, Anand won the World Rapid Championship.
In 2023, he was overtaken by D Gukesh as India’s no.1 chess player.
Wife
In 1996, Viswanathan Anand married Aruna Anand.
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She is known as the Tigress of Madras.
After their wedding, they moved to Collado Mediano, a Madrid suburb.
”A year into our marriage, Aruna began to manage these [planning for my tournament],” Anand told Hindustan Times in December 2019. ”Now that she’s not traveling with me all the time, she does the planning, and I cope with the actual execution. It’s something I’ve had to relearn.”
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Children
The couple has a son named Akhil (born on April 9, 2011).
“Children should not make a decision on a full-time career in chess till the age of 18; till you finish your studies,” Vishy said for Scroll.in.
Quotes
”I’ll play as long as I enjoy it and if it stops being fun, I’ll stop.”
“Some moments fill you with pride and some with joy.”
”I learned to play fast without agonizing about strategy or overanalyzing individual moves.”
”I’m not someone who focused on the opponent much.”
”When you are with your family, you can completely let go and put everything in perspective.”
”Whatever you do, it has to be something you look forward to doing.”
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Trivia
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According to reports, Viswanathan’s IQ is over 150.
Net Worth
So, how much is Viswanathan Anand worth?
Anand earned most of his wealth from playing chess in official tournaments and sponsors.
By becoming the undisputed world chess champion in 2007, Viswanathan received a prize of $390,000.
In 2012, Vishy earned $1.4 million for winning the World Chess Championship.
In 2017, he appeared in ad commercials for Edify School.
In 2018, Anand became Fincare’s brand ambassador. He’s also sponsored by InstaForex and NIIT.
Anand is the author of Mind Master, My Life in Chess, and My Best Games of Chess.
Therefore, five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand has an estimated net worth of $5 million.
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I am Bulgarea Candin Stefan, and I founded FamousPeopleToday.com in 2018. I’m using my bachelor’s degree in economics and 9 years of experience in blogging to guide millions of people through the incredibly complex world of celebrity net worths.