Abraham Lincoln
89% Profile Match
Photo: Wolfgang Jekel, London Chess Classic 2016, CC BY 2.0, resized from the original · Wikimedia Commons file from Wolfgang Jekel's Flickr photo of the London Chess Classic 2016, checked against the live Flickr page; downscaled from 4256 x 2832 pixels to 1200 x 798 with no cropping · CC BY 2.0
athlete · Contemporary
Viswanathan Anand
b. 1969
Known For
athleticcultural
Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.
Trait Constellation
Key Achievements
Won the FIDE world championship in 2000 and the undisputed world title in 2007, then defended it against Kramnik (2008), Topalov (2010) and Gelfand (2012) before losing to Magnus Carlsen in 2013.
Became a grandmaster in 1988 and a leading international player from 1990; ChessBase credits him with keeping India at the top of world chess for about 25 years.
After losing the title in 2013 he won the 2014 Candidates tournament at 44 and played Carlsen again in Sochi; since December 2020 he has been chief mentor of the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy for young Indian players.
Moments That Reveal Them
In the 2013 title match against Carlsen, one ChessBase retrospective says he kept opening with 1.e4 without gaining an advantage and switched to 1.d4 only in game nine.
This is consistent with an approach that was slow to change course under pressure, according to one commentator. Adaptability
After Gukesh lost a game at the 2022 Olympiad, Anand shared examples from his own games about knowing when to stop, and he writes quarterly reports on each academy player.
This is consistent with sustained, practical effort to develop younger players. Impact Motivation
Turning Points
After losing the world title to Carlsen in Chennai in November 2013, critics called him too timid and too old; he entered the 2014 Candidates and won it undefeated with a round to spare.
This is consistent with a capacity to return to the top after a heavy public defeat. Persistence
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Sources
- Viswanathan Anand (Q45747), verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-10-31): label 'Viswanathan Anand', description 'Indian chess grandmaster', born 1969-12-11, no death date, Korean label present. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Store norske leksikon (Norwegian national encyclopedia), 'Viswanathan Anand', read in full: an independent encyclopedia biography giving his 1988 grandmaster title, the 1995 world championship match lost to Kasparov, the 2000 FIDE title, the 2007 undisputed title, defences against Kramnik (2008), Topalov (2010) and Gelfand (2012), the 2013 loss to Carlsen in Chennai, the 2014 Candidates win and Sochi rematch loss, his rapid titles, the 'Tiger from Madras' nickname for his fast play and clock use, and a style that became more positional as champion. CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE: a national encyclopedia entry. Concise and favourable; the page itself is in Norwegian and was read in translation.
- ChessBase, 'Chennai Final: Magnus Victorious' (November 2013), read in full: the chess-news site's report that Carlsen beat Anand 6.5-3.5 and that Anand was outclassed, a game-10 blunder by each player, Anand's own post-match remarks (disappointed with his level of play, game 5 decisive, will play the next Candidates) and the report's credit to him for keeping India at the top of world chess for about 25 years. Specialist press; the writers are chess professionals and fans, and Anand's quotes are his own statements.
- ChessBase, 'Chennai 03: How bad was it?' (November 2013), read in full: grandmaster commentary on the third game of the 2013 match, saying he was well prepared and outplayed Carlsen for long stretches (answering with an unexpected novelty) but 'missed his chance' and then threw away the advantage at move 37; includes the reporters' balanced view that the game showed a real contest. Contemporaneous match commentary; several named writers.
- ChessBase, 'Reliving the World Championship 2013, part two' (Sagar Shah), read in full: a retrospective in which the author says Anand missed a draw in game five, kept playing 1.e4 without getting an advantage and switched to 1.d4 only in game nine, and concludes that sticking with 1.e4 too long contributed to his defeat; all evaluations are the single author's, and no preparation detail is given. A critical, single-author retrospective.
- Lubomir Kavalek, 'Anand proved them wrong' (ChessBase, 1 April 2014), read in full: a grandmaster's column reporting that after the 2013 loss critics called his play too timid and said he was too old for the Candidates, then that Anand, then 44, won the tournament undefeated with a round to spare, 'showed a steady hand', played practically and avoided unnecessary risk while still able to play sharply; includes a game annotation and a closing question whether too much is demanded of top players. Admiring in tone, but written by an independent grandmaster and including the critics' view.
- FIDE (World Chess Federation), 'Viswanathan Anand is the winner of Candidates Tournament' (April 2014), read in full: the federation's report that he won the Khanty-Mansiysk Candidates with 8.5 of 14 points, clinched first place a round early after a draw with Karjakin, and earned a title match with Carlsen; it records that he received an award at the closing ceremony and played an exhibition game with a 12-year-old. Federation news release, factual and favourable.
- ChessBase, 'How Vishy Anand is supporting young super talents of India through WACA', read in full: a feature on the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy launched in December 2020 in partnership with an investment firm, saying he is its chief mentor, set targets and quarterly written reports for each young player, advised the youngest player Gukesh after a loss at the 2022 Olympiad, helped prepare Praggnanandhaa for a 2022 tournament, and brought in outside trainers. Much of the account is in Anand's own words and the academy's own framing, so it is partly self-affiliated.
- The Week (India), 'World championship chapter is over for me' (interview with Viswanathan Anand, July 2022), read in full: a first-person magazine interview in which he says he is closing the door on the world championship, that he works from a home study and blocks out days for chess, that his mentoring classes sit alongside the players' own trainers, and that he accepted an invitation to join the FIDE president's team. Self-report; used only for context and never as sole support for any row; the personal remarks in it were not used.