Viswanathan Anand is now a planet named 4538 Vishyanand

New Delhi, April 4: Viswanathan Anand till date was known as the World Chess grandmaster, but now, the Indian chess prodigy has added yet another feather in his cap. He has become the first Indian after whom a planet has been named in our solar system.

A minor planet discovered by Kenzo Suzuki of Toyota, Japan, on October 10, 1988 has officially been named 4538 Vishyanand.

On 1 April, the planet which is between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and remained unnamed for more than 10 years, was named after the five-time world chess champion by the Minor Planet Centre, proposed by Michael Rudenko, a committee member at the Centre.

Viswanathan Anand didn't take it seriously and thought it was a prank when he came to know about the same on April Fool's day.

But soon when his friends told him to refer NASA's website, he believed it and tweeted about the same and said, "Aruna says you are lost in your own world now i have to just look between mars & jupiter".

He further went on to say, "Very happy to be planet 4538.thanks for all tbe wishes. Would like to thank Rudenko for taking the trouble to name me !!"

"The idea of naming a minor planet for Anand was entirely my own," Rudenko told the NewIndianExpress exclusively.

"After careful consideration I selected him because in addition to being a great chess player he is also a gentlemen and astronomy enthusiast," Rudenko was quoted as saying in the daily.

OneIndia News