Viswanathan Anand: Playing Style, Openings and Best Games
Viswanathan Anand, India's first grandmaster, was world champion from 2007 to 2013 (and FIDE champion in 2000), with a peak FIDE rating of 2817. His style combined very fast calculation with sharp, deep opening preparation.
Who is Viswanathan Anand?
Born in 1969 in Chennai, Anand became India's first grandmaster in 1988. He won the FIDE world title in 2000 and the undisputed title in 2007, then defended it against Vladimir Kramnik (2008), Veselin Topalov (2010) and Boris Gelfand (2012) before losing to Magnus Carlsen in 2013. His peak rating of 2817 came in 2011. His success started the chess boom in India.
Anand's playing style
Early in his career Anand was known as the "Lightning Kid" for how quickly he played. He kept that speed of calculation and added some of the best opening preparation of his era, using new ideas to reach positions where his fast tactical vision paid off.
What to copy: train calculation until common tactical patterns feel automatic, then you can spend your thinking time on the hard moments.
Anand's style shape
How strongly each skill shapes Anand's play, 0 to 100. It shows style, not strength: Chess DNA compares the shape of your own 8 skills with this one.
Anand's openings
Anand played 1.e4 for most of his career, often the Ruy Lopez, and the Najdorf as Black. In his 2008 title match he used the Semi-Slav with great success.
Anand's best games to study
His 2008 match against Kramnik is a classic example of preparation winning a world title.
Do you play like Anand?
Chess DNA reads your recent Chess.com or Lichess games, scores the same 8 skills shown above, and compares the shape of your play with all 12 champions. It is a style match, not a strength test: a 900 and a 2200 can both play like Anand if they lean on the same skills.
The other champions: Magnus Carlsen · Garry Kasparov · Mikhail Tal · Tigran Petrosian · José Raúl Capablanca · Bobby Fischer · Anatoly Karpov · Hikaru Nakamura · Paul Morphy · Gukesh Dommaraju · R Praggnanandhaa.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Anand become a grandmaster?
In 1988, making him India's first grandmaster.
How many times was Anand world champion?
He won the FIDE title in 2000 and the undisputed title in 2007, which he held until 2013.
How do I find out if I play like Anand?
Enter your Chess.com or Lichess username in the box at the top of this page. Chess DNA analyses your recent games for free and shows which of 12 world champions your style is closest to, with your match percentage.
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