Viswanathan Anand, the uncrowned king of chess, is celebrating his 53rd birthday today. He was born on December 11, 1969 in Madras and present-day Chennai. Anand was the first player to be conferred with the highest sports honour, rajiv gandhi khel ratna, which has now been renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. He has also been the first sportsperson to be awarded the Padma Shri.

It may be mentioned that Vishwanath also goes to Anand as Vishi. Vishwanath Anand has won the world champion title in chess a total of five times in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012. Anand has also been the first player to be invited to attend the lunch programme of the then PM Manmohan Singh and the then US President Barack Obama in 2010. Tell us that his mother has an important role to play in taking Viswanathan Anand in the game of chess. He used to play chess since he was just six years old. Anand's name made headlines in 1991 when he made his mark for the first time by defeating Gary Kosparov. After this victory, people started recognizing Anand.

The chess wizard, Viswanathan Anand, has been awarded the Chess Oscar several times, including the Arjuna Award, Padma Shri, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Padma Bhushan Award, Padma Vibhushan Award, Soviet Land Nehru Award and National Citizens Award, Book of the Year Award.

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