If Viswanathan Anand had to write down his wish list at any time during his chess career, it would include winning the World Championship, becoming world number one and crossing the magical ELO rating of 2800.

The world title in 2000 and touching 2800 fleetingly in 2006 were just a prelude to what would happen in 2007, a year when Anand touched dizzying heights by becoming the world number one in April, winning the world title in October, and crossing the 2800 barrier conclusively at the same time in a single calendar year.

This undoubtedly was the best phase of Anand’s glittering chess career and finally the game which traced its origin to India, but flourished elsewhere, is booming back in its motherland.

Anand started his string of victories by winning the Linares title which is dubbed as the Wimbledon of chess. The strong performance there was enough to propel him to the top of the world rankings for the very first time. Though Anand had won the world title in 2000, there was a parallel classical world champion in Vladimir Kramnik, taking some gloss off the Indian’s feat.

But in 2007, all the best in the business, excluding Veselin Topalov, competed and most importantly the undisputed defending champion Kramnik was also a participant. The double round robin event went without a hiccup as a superb start to finish lead ensured that the 38-year-old Anand had clearly and comprehensively won the undisputed title.

Anand also won the rapid world title by defeating Levon Aronian in the Chess Classic of Mainz in July this year, which incidentally is his 10th victory there. The only world title which eluded Anand was the World Blitz Championship where he figured second amongst 19 top stars of the game.

Another major milestone in Indian chess was in October when Koneru Humpy crossed the 2600 ELO mark, becoming only the second woman player in the history of the game after Judit Polgar to do so. Humpy also garnered a couple of gold medals at the Asian indoor games at Macau.

Krishnan Sasikiran and Dronavalli Harika also did well in Macau. Sasikiran  demonstrated that he too has the ability to play in the top league with a stupendous showing in the M-Tel Masters, narrowly missing the title amongst a strong field.

R B Ramesh bagged the Commonwealth title while Harika became the Commonwealth women’s winner recently with India running away with the medals in almost all the categories. India also impressed at the world age-level events with Ivana Furtado winning the world under-8 title for the second time in succession.

In all a fascinating and fantastic year for Indian chess, with Anand once again leading the way.