India's all time great super GM Viswanathan Anand is no doubt one of the best Chess players the world has ever seen. He is not only a World Champion of all formats of Chess but also a legendary Ruy Lopez and Caro-Kann master. Anand is currently ranked Sixth in FIDE's Top 100 Players list as of March 2019. The year 2018 was so-so for the mastermind. Lets have a closer look at some of the major tournaments he participated in and how he performed. A memorable game by Viswanathan Anand from each tournament is also featured here.

At the 80th Tata Steel Masters, Viswanathan Anand played a 14-player single round-robin tournament held in January 2018. The tournament boasted six Top 10 players, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen and former champions Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand. Anand finished fifth with a score of 8/14 (won 4, lost 1, drew 9). The featured game is between Vladimir Kramnik vs Viswanathan Anand, playing the Italian Game, Giuoco Pianissimo, Four Knights Variation. Anand won it after a good fight.

At the Tal Memorial 2018, Anand won the 11th Tal Memorial tournament (in the rapid section) with a score of 6/9 (won 4, lost 1, drew 4). The lineup of the players included Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Boris Gelfand, Shakriyar Mamedyarov, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Peter Svidler. Anand defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi, Hikaru Nakamura, Daniil Dubov, Alexander Grischuk and drew the final round with Boris Gelfand to finish with a +3 score. Vishy Anand defeated Alexander Grischuk in a superb game with a Nezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack in the Sicilian Defence.

At the 5th Grenke Chess Classic, Viswanathan Anand competed with a frail health and finished eighth with a score of 3½/9 (won 0, lost 2, drew 7). The Greneke Chess Classic tournament featured World Champion Magnus Carlsen and fellow Top 10 players like Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vishy Anand and Levon Aronian, as well as women's no. 1 Hou Yifan. The featured game is Viswanathan Anand vs Yifan Hou, kibitzed by Stockfish 8. The opening is Anglo-Indian Defence in the English Opening.

At the 6th Norway Chess, Viswanathan Anand ranked fourth with 4½/8 (won 2, lost 1, drew 5). The 10 player all-star field was star-studded with Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, S. Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, Karjakin, Hukaru Nakamura, Wesley So and Ding Liren, making this among the strongest tournaments of all time. Anand's loss against Caruana is a memorable 50-move game. The featured game is between MVL and Vishy Anand with a Classical Variation of the Ruy Lopez (Spanish) Opening.

At the 1st Tata Steel India Rapid & Blitz Tournament, in November 2018, Viswanathan Anand competed in both the Rapid & Blitz sections held in Kolkata, winning the blitz portion of the event. A game between Wesley So vs Viswanathan Anand from the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz (Blitz section) (2018) is featured here. The opening is the Romanishin Variation from the Nimzo-Indian Defence.

At the Chess Olympiad 2018, Viswanathan Anand won 3, lost 1 (against Caruana) and drew 5 games. A game between Eric Hansen and Viswanathan Anand is feature here. The opening is a (strange) Fianchetto variation of the Ruy Lopez.

Viswanathan Anand at the Bundesliga 2017/2018, pic : chess.com