Viswanathan Anand loses father at the age of 92, chess legend's wife pays ultimate tribute

Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand's father passed away at the age of 92. The news comes as a shocker for him and extends his difficult period after he had to live in Germany by himself last year due to COVID-19 restrictions while travelling. Anand is a five-time FIDE World Champion and last lost the title to challenger Magnus Carlsen in 2013. Anand has a peak ranking of world number one and a peak rating of 2817, which he achieved in March 2011.

Viswanathan Anand father death

Viswanathan Anand's father, K Viswanathan, passed away on Thursday following a brief illness. Family sources said that he was 92-years old and breathed his last at a city hospital in Chennai. Viswanathan is a former General Manager of the Southern Railway and is survived by two sons and a daughter.

Viswanathan Anand wife pays the ultimate tribute

The chess legend's wife, Aruna Anand, gave the ultimate tribute to Anand's father. Aruna said, "He was a great support to Anand. He witnessed all of Anand''s world championship victories. A simple man, he made sure his son had the right values. He took great pride in his achievements."

Viswanathan Anand net worth

With Viswanathan Anand having reached a peak world ranking of 1, it is unsurprising that the Indian chess champion has accumulated a huge amount of wealth over the years. As per Celebrity Net Worth, Anand has a net worth of $3 million USD. He became the global brand ambassador of NIIT, a global IT services company, in 1997 and continues the partnership to date, thereby making it the longest-running endorsement in the history of Indian marketing and advertising. THE World Wide Fund (WWF) also appointed Viswanathan Anand as its ambassador this year for the environmental education program.

Viswanathan Anand house quarantine experience in March 2020

According to Chessbase.com, Viswanathan Anand owns a house in Bad Soden, a town in Germany. This home has usually functioned as a pre-match campsite as it did last year. The five-time World Chess champion played for his club side Baden-Baden in the Bundesliga tournament in March 2020 and was stuck in his Bad Soden home for three months as India announced a three-month lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anand disclosed the details of the same in an interview with ESPN. "It would have been one thing to have known in March that I'd be stuck somewhere till June. At every stage, a return home just seemed very near. I remember thinking in March that I'd be home in April, then that got pushed to mid-April, until I finally flew out only a week ago."

DISCLAIMER: The Viswanathan Anand net worth figure and Viswanathan Anand house information has been sourced from various reports. This website does not guarantee 100% accuracy of the same.