The Tiger Roars Again! Anand Defeats Candidate, Climbs to #10 in World & #1 in India

At 54 years of age, the legendary Vishy Anand continues to show the chess world that he’s still got it. Playing in the latest round of the prestigious German Bundesliga for his Baden-Baden squad, Anand scored an impressive 2/3 points against elite competition.

The highlight was his win over Candidates tournament qualifier Nijat Abasov. Vishy cleverly navigated the complex middlegame dynamics before finding the incisive bishop sacrifice 29…Bxh2+!! that cracked Black’s position open. He ruthlessly finished things off with some vintage technique in the endgame.

Anand also drew super-GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Matthias Bluebaum in hard-fought battles. Though his team eventually lost the tiebreak to Nakamura’s group, Vishy had reason to celebrate individually as he gained 7 Elo points.

This catapults the Indian legend back into the world top 10 at number 10 – now in the midst of a fierce race with much younger countrymen like Pragg, Vidit, Gukesh and Arjun. At well over 2700 rating, Anand proves that age ain’t nothing but a number!

While the new generation keeps pushing things forward, this tiger from Madras still has plenty of bite left! Stay tuned to ChessVisionaries for more on the continued exploits of the great Vishy Anand!