Inarguably India’s penultimate player to introduce Chess as a game for an entire generation is Viswanathan Anand. Our general knowledge would remain partially incomplete without having an understanding of his name and stature. After all, he became a synonym for chess in India and for a long long time there was nobody to take his place.
As the typical mindset goes, Anand was first introduced to chess at a young age and was termed as a prodigy owing to his quick grasp of the technique and skill. He is the first and foremost Indian Grandmaster and five-time World Champion. And while we all know about his numerous accolades, not many know about his love story with Aruna Anand.
Relationships are like a game of chess: the king may be important, but the queen is certainly the most powerful. In the case of Anand and his wife Aruna, she has been the driving force behind his stupendous career. Wives are termed as ‘picture perfect multi-taskers’ because of the multiple hats they dawn. For Anand too, Aruna was his career manager, fellow travel companion and a mother to their son.
She whole heartedly embraced the badge of being the ace master’s spouse. Aruna was instrumental in effortlessly managing her over-arching husband’s career until his retirement, with complete confidence and panache. Their love story is nothing less than a fairy tale, resembling a typical geeky boy meeting cute girl and living a happily ever after life. Vishy Anand and Aruna met each other through their parents in a conventional arranged meeting set-up.
Once the two exchanged pleasantries, in a span of less than hour, the duo had decided they were meant to spend the remaining life together as partners. Aruna was 21-year-old and Viswanathan was 25 years old. Though a brief stint of courtship period, Aruna and Vishy made the most of it by exploring and discovering traits about each other.
The power couple entered a matrimonial alliance with a traditional ceremony in July 1996. In 2021, they celebrated their silver jubilee with 25 years of marital bliss. Viswanathan and Aruna were blessed with a boy and entered the phase of being ecstatic parents since 2011.
In her own heartfelt words, Aruna’s responsibilities doubled up post her marriage to Anand. She was not just managing his home, but also his career. From preparing his busy schedule to planning the tournament championship tours, Aruna did it all because the exposure it gave her was vast and her understanding of life, people, game and herself grew along its course.
If marriages are made in heaven, Anand and Aruna undoubtedly symbolize it visually. Viswanathan is and will always be remembered as one of the greatest world chess champions in the history of India. At an impressionable age of eighteen, he won his first tournament and became India’s first gold medalist in chess.
As of February 2025, Anand’s FIDE has been ranked 10th across the world in the list of active players. He paved the way for many youngsters to pick chess as a professional game and create milestones, all because of the foundation laid by him.
