By IANS
New Delhi : Viswanathan Anand, India’s greatest chess player ever and one of the all-time greats of the game, has numerous landmarks in his career dating back to 1983, when he first cam on to the scene by winning the National sub-junior title.
Over the years, the awards, accolades and landmarks have piled on his career.
The important and most significant landmarks are (year-wise):
2007: First Indian and Asian to become undisputed World Chess Champion
2007: First Indian and Asian to attain World No. 1 rating
2006: First Asian and only fourth player in the world to cross 2800 elo rating
2000: First Indian and Asian to win FIDE World title in New Delhi and Teheran
1999: First Indian and Asian to win Chess Oscar for second year running
1998: First Indian and Asian to win Chess Oscar (for 1997)
1995: First Asian to qualify for World Championships title match; lost to Kasparov in New York
1992: Won the strongest ever tournament till then in Category 18 in Reggio Emilia ahead of Kasparov and Karpov
1992: Became only the eighth player in the world to attain a rating of over 2700.
1991: First Asian to qualify for quarter-finals of World Championships
1990: First Indian to come through qualifiers for Candidates Matches for World Championships
1987: First Indian to touch 2500 elo rating
1987: First Indian and Asian to win World Junior title
1987: First Indian to become Grandmaster – all three GM norms in the same year
1986: Youngest National champion in Indian chess at 16
1984: Youngest Asian to become international master (IM) at age of 14
1983: First National sub-junior title
Anand in Numbers
10: The number of times Anand has won the title in Chess Classic at Mainz
7: The record number of times Anand has won the title at Ciudad de León Chess.
6: The number of computers that competed against Anand in 1997, when he won the exhibition match against the machine by a 4-2 margin
5: The number of times Anand has won the Corus Grandmasters tournament
4: The number of Oscars won by Anand (1997, 1998, 2003, 2004) and he is leading the nominations for 2006 also)
3: The number of National A chess titles Anand won in a row from 1986-1988 before he stopped taking part
2: The number of World Championship (classical) final matches Anand played and lost before winning the world title – Anand lost to Kasparov (New York, 1995) and Karpov (1998)
1: The current position of Anand in World chess ratings