1969: Was born at Madras, 11 December
1975: Was introduced to the game by his mother at the age of six.
1983: Won National sub-junior (Under-15) championships at Panaji, Goa.
1983: Defeated Manuel Aaron, then India's top player at the age of 13 years.
1984: Tied for the second place in the World sub-junior championship. Was awarded the bronze
1984: At 14 years, was awarded the FIDE Master title.
1984: Retained the National sub-junior (Under-15) title at New Delhi
1984: Won National Junior (Under-19) championships at Vasco-da Gama, Goa
1984: Won the Asian Junior Championship at Coimbatore. Was unlucky not to receive his
1984: Participated in the Chess Olympiad for the first time.
1984: Won the Lloyd's Bank Junior tournament in the UK
1984: Retained the Lloyd's Bank Junior tournament.
1985: Retained the Asian Junior title at Hong Kong. On this occasion he also won the IM title. At
1985: Received the Arjuna Award by the Indian government.
1986: Retained the National Junior (Under-19) title at Sangli
1986: Also won the Senior National Championship for the first time - and at 15 was the youngest
1986: Represented India in the Asian Team Championships, where his team won the silver.
1987: Won the Arab-Asian International Chess Championship.
1987: Became the first Asian to win the World Junior Chess title.
1987: Became the first Indian to receive an ELO rating of 2500
1987: Became India's first Grandmaster (GM) in December by achieving his third and final norm at the Shakti Finance GM tournarment at Coimbatore. He was then aged 18 years.
1988: Won the 51st Hoogoven's Chess Tournament at Wijk Aan Zee - the first Asian to do so.
1988: Was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government.
1989: Won the inaugural National Rapid Chess Championships at Pune.
1989: Tied for the fourth place in the GMA World Cup Qualifier, considered the strongest open
1990: Qualified for the Inter-zonal championship when he won the gold medal in the
1990: Won the Manchester Chess Festival.
1990: Won the Asian Open Chess Championship at Manila
1991: Entered the quarterfinal of the FIDE World Championships when he defeated Alexy Dreev
1991: Lost in the quarterfinal of the FIDE World Championships to Anatoly Karpov at Brussels.
1991: Won the category-18 Reggio Emilia Super GM tournament in Italy, that included
1992: Was the recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.
1992: Captained the Indian team in the Chess Olympiad at Manila. He remained unbeaten
1992: Won the Linares tournament defeating the then world number three - Vassily Ivanchuk 5-3.
1992: Won the Alekhine Memorial (Category-18) Championship at Moscow.
1993: Won the PCA Interzonal championships at Groningen, Switzerland
1994: Won the Melody Amber Tournament at Monaco.
1994: Won the PCA Grand Prix at Moscow ahead of Gary Kasparov.
1994: Won the World Championship Candidates tournament at Linares defeating
1995: Won the World Championship Candidates tournament at Las Palmas defeating American
1995: Lost to Gary Kasparov in the PCA World Chess Championships in New York by
1996: Was the joint winner with Vladimir Kramnik in the prestigious Dortmond Tournament
1996: Won the Credit Suisse Masters Rapid Chess Tournament defeating world number one -
1996: Was runners-up in the Super Cup Championships at Las Palmas, considered the strongest
1997: Won a Category-19 tournament in Spain.
1997: Won the Melody Amber Tournament at Monaco to become the first player to win the
1997: On of the few players in the world to play six computers simultaneouly and won (4-2)
1997: Was conferred the prestigious Chess Oscar in a poll by chess journalists from 55
1998: Lost in the final of World Chess Championships at Groningen to Russian Anatoly Karpov.
2000: Won the GSM World Blitz Chess Cup at Warsaw, Poland
2000: Won the Wydra Rapid Chess title in Haifa, Israel
2000: Lost to GM Gary Kasparov of Russia in the Chess@Iceland Rapid Chess tourney in a
2000: Beats Spain's Alexei Shirov to retain the Advanced Chess title in León Games.
2000: Emerged the joint winner with Russian Vladimir Kramnik with six points at the end of the
2000: Won the star studded Fujitsu Siemens Giants Rapid Chess Meet, Frankfurt
2000: Won the World Chess Cup at Shenyang, China
2000: Defeated Briton Michael Adams at New Delhi to qualify for the FIDE
2000: Defeated Spain's Alexei Shirov 3.5-0.5 at Tehran, Iran in a six-game final to
2000: Regained his World No 2 ranking (behind Gary Kasparov) in the ranking list published by the
medal.
International Master (IM) title since enough countries did not participate in the tournament.
15 was the youngest Asian to achieve this title.
to do so. (He retained the title in 1987 and 1988)
He was the board prize-winner.
tournament in history.
Asian Zonal Championship.
at Madras. He became the first Asian to do so.
Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.
throughout while playing the top board.
Britian's Michael Adams to qualify to the final.
Gata Kamsky to qualify for the World Championship against Kasparov.
10.5 to 7.5 points
in Germany.
Gary Kasparov.
tournament of all time.
blindfold and rapid chess sections.
countries in the world. He was the first Asian and the second non-Russian
(after American Bobby Fischer) to receive the award.
blitz tie-break at Kopavogur, Iceland.
ninth and final round of the Sparkassen Meeting in Dortmund, Germany.
ahead of World number one Gary Kasparov.
World Chess Championship at Tehran.
become the 15th FIDE World Chess champion.
World Chess Federation, FIDE. He now has an ELO ranking of 2774.