Viswanathan Anand successfully defended his world title in Moscow after winning the second game of the tie-breaker in the World Chess Championship against Boris Gelfand.
Anand took the lead in the tie-breaker after winning the second game following a draw in the first. The Indian chess great then held his Israeli opponent to draws in the third and the fourth game to clinch his fifth world title.
The two players were forced to duel it out in the rapid chess tie-breaker after a tied 6-6 result in the World Chess Championship regular matches.
About Viswanathan Anand
Anand has previously won the title in 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2010.
He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002, at a time when the world title was split. In 2007, Anand became the undisputed World Champion. In 2008, he defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik. He successfully his title, which was also his fourth title, when he beat Veselin Topalov in the last of their 12-game duel.
This year again, Anand was stretched to the tie-breaker with ten drawn matches out of 12 against Gelfand. The two players managed to win a game each.
Born on December 11, 1969 to Viswanathan and Susheela, Anand was highly influenced by his mother, who played a vital role in focusing his interest towards chess as well as shaping his career in this sport.
Anand first tasted success at the age of 14 in 1983-84, when he set a new record by scoring 9/9 points. Next year, he earned the title of International Master and he was the youngest Asian to have ever received that title. In 1985, he was given the Arjuna Award for the most outstanding Indian sportsman of the year.
After taking the junior circuit by storm, Anand soon graduated to the next level. In 1987, he became India’s first Grandmaster and the youngest Grandmaster in the World at that time.
At the young age of 18, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Sri.
About the World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title.
The official world championship is generally regarded to have begun in 1886, when the two leading players in Europe and United States, Wilhelm Steinitz and Johann Zukertort, played a match. From 1886 to 1946, the champion set the terms, requiring any challenger to raise a sizable stake and defeat the champion in a match in order to become the new world champion. From 1948 to 1993, the championship was administered by FIDE, the world chess federation. In 1993, the reigning champion (Garry Kasparov) broke away from FIDE, leading to the creation of two rival championships. This situation remained until 2006, when the title was unified at the World Chess Championship 2006.
The current world champion is Viswanathan Anand, who won the World Chess Championship 2007 and successfully defended his title against former world champion Vladimir Kramnik in the World Chess Championship 2008, and again against the challenger Veselin Topalov in the World Chess Championship 2010. He will defend his title against challenger Boris Gelfand in the World Chess Championship 2012.
In addition, there is a separate event for women only, for the title of Women’s World Champion, as well as separate competitions and titles for juniors (under 20 years of age), seniors (60+ for men, 50+ for women), and computers. Computers are barred from competing for the open title.