World Chess Championship

Magnus Carlsen, world champion since 2013.

The World Chess Championship officially recognizes the world champions of the sport since the last quarter of the century XIX, when Wilhelm Steinitz proclaimed himself world champion.

After successive great champions, including Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvínnik or Bobby Fischer, came a time of dominance for chess players from the Soviet Union, with Anatoli Kárpov in the 1970s and Gari Kasparov in the 80s and 90s, which would hold interesting duels for the title of world champion.

In 1993 there was a schism in the world of chess, when Kasparov faced the International Chess Federation (FIDE), forming his own players' association and organizing a parallel world championship. This situation lasted until in 2006 there was a confrontation between Vladimir Krámnik and Veselin Topalov that sought to reunify the world title.

Although this event is open to all players, there are other exclusive championships for women —Women's World Chess Championship—, for players under 20 years old —Youth World Chess Championship—, or the Senior World Chess Championship, for men over 60 or women over 50.

Origins of title

Chess departure between López de Segura and Leonardo da Cutri in the Spanish court in 1575, by Luigi Mussini (1886).

Since the Renaissance, there have been records of great chess players, some of whom are unofficially regarded as historic world chess champions. Thus we have Ruy López de Segura, a Spanish chess player who in the second half of the XVI century was sent by Felipe II to face the most powerful players of the time, who were Italian, defeating them. He was finally defeated by Leonardo da Cutri in 1575, in what is often, though not officially, considered the first world chess championship.

Wilhelm Steinitz, first champion of the official chess world.

The first to officially claim the title was Wilhelm Steinitz, who, after defeating Adolf Anderssen in a match in 1866 and winning the tournament in London in 1872, proclaimed himself world champion. Later he strengthened his dominance by winning in several subsequent editions of that same tournament, considered the strongest in the world.

Although no one recognized that title, no one tried to dispute it either, until in 1883, Johannes Zukertort, winner of the London tournament ahead of Steinitz himself, dared to consider himself world champion. Negotiations for a match to settle the disputed title began immediately. It was an arduous negotiation, since neither of them wanted to accept the status of contender for the title, but finally in 1886, the first World Chess Championship was held.

The result was 10 victories for Steinitz, 5 for Zukertort and 5 draws; +10 -5 =5.

From the creation of the title until World War II, there was no body that regulated the operation of the world championship. The title that was born as an eccentricity of Steinitz's was passing through the hands of the best chess players of the time, almost always being the champion who determined when, how and with whom he put the title on the line. On certain occasions, such as in 1910 when Lasker played against Schlechter, although the conditions of the match were not made public, it is speculated that if the result of the match was 1-0, 2-1 or 3-2 in favor of the applicant, the match would be considered a tie, consequently retaining the title the champion.

History

After his victory against Zukertort, Steinitz defended and retained his world title three times, twice against Mikhail Ivanovitch Tchigorin (Havana, 1889 and 1892) and once against the Hungarian Isidor Gunsberg (New York, 1890-91), before after being dethroned by the German Emanuel Lasker (New York, Philadelphia and Montreal, 1894).

Then began a long reign for Lasker, which lasted until 1921. During this time, Lasker maintained his title against Steinitz himself (Moscow, 1897), against Frank James Marshall (several cities in the United States, 1907), against Siegbert Tarrasch (Düsseldorf and Munich, 1908), against David Janowsky on two occasions (Paris, 1909 and Berlin, 1910) and against Karl Schlechter (Vienna and Berlin, 1910), before being defeated by the Cuban José Raúl Capablanca (La Havana, 1921). The eleven years between his last two defenses of his title were due, in part, to the "hire" caused by the First World War (1914-1918) and in part to the difficulties that Akiba Rubinstein faced for the championship dispute.

After his victory against Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, or the “child prodigy”, as the Cuban chess player came to be called, lost his world title in the first defense he made of it, against Alexander Alekhine (Buenos Aires, 1927).

Alekhine, on the other hand, maintained a long reign of the world title, which he defended and retained twice against Ewfim Dimitrievich Bogoljubov (several cities in Germany and the Netherlands, 1929, and several cities in Germany, 1934), before being defeated by the Dutchman Max Euwe (several cities in the Netherlands, 1935), from whom, however, he snatched the title again shortly after (several cities in the Netherlands, 1937), and which he held until his death in 1946.

From 1948, and following the death of the current champion, Alexander Alekhine, FIDE (International Chess Federation), was in charge of organizing the world championship. For the 1948 edition, a tournament was organized in The Hague and in Moscow among the best players of the moment: Mikhail Botvínnik, Vasili Smyslov, Paul Keres, Max Euwe and Samuel Reshevsky, of which the one named first emerged victorious.

The next era was completely dominated by the so-called Soviet school, and with the exception of Bobby Fischer's victory over Boris Spaski in 1972, the next fifty years saw exclusively champions trained in that school, even years after the disintegration of the USSR.

With the arrival of Kasparov, things changed again. The rivalry that existed between Gari Kasparov and Anatoli Karpov (coming to be considered a matter of state in the USSR) slipped into FIDE, which did not always behave as neutrally as would have been desirable. Since he overthrew Karpov, Kasparov has been very critical of FIDE and some of its members, such as Florencio Campomanes, in particular. In 1993, Kasparov broke away from FIDE and organized a parallel world championship under the auspices of the newly created Professional Chess Association (PCA) while FIDE ran its own version.

Since then, various efforts have been directed towards the reunification of the title in its two variants, some of them, with the collaboration of Kasparov himself, before his retirement in 2005. These attempts systematically failed due to for one reason or another, until the meeting between Vladimir Krámnik and Veselin Topalov held in 2006 and ended with the victory of the former.

Recently, the World Championship Title has been obtained by two chess players from outside the Soviet sphere: the Indian Viswanathan Anand (2007 - 2013) and the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen (current from 2013 to date).

The evolution in the study and analysis of chess by the world elite, has been until the 80s, based on the reading of books and archives of games of all times, together with a constant participation in tournaments of hierarchy international and the advice of private experts, being complemented from the 90s with the intervention of computers and simulation, storage and calculation software.

After the results of the 2022 Candidates tournament that proposed a rematch against the challenger Yan Nepomniashchi were known, Carlsen declared that he will not defend the title again, leaving the next edition as a duel between the challenger Nepommiatchi and Ding Liren (second place among the candidates).

World Championship

Unofficial World Champions

• Ruy López de Segura, -1560, Spain
• Paolo Boi and Leonardo da Cutri, -1575, Italy
• Alessandro Salvio, -1600, Italy
• Gioacchino Greco, -1620, Italy
• Legall de Kermeur, 1730-47, France
• François-André Danican, named Philidor, 1747-95, France
• Alexandre Deschapelles, 1800-20, France
• Louis de la Bourdonnais, 1820-40, France
• Howard Staunton, 1843-51, England
• Adolf Anderssen, 1851-58, Germany
• Paul Morphy, 1858-59, United States
• Adolf Anderssen, 1859-66, Germany
• Wilhelm Steinitz, 1866-86, Austro-Hungarian Empire

Official World Championships

Year	Headquarters		Champion	G (+)	P (-)	Filled parts	Contrincante	Format
Pre-FIDE World Single Championship (1886-1946)
1886 Detail	New York San Luis New Orleans		Wilhelm Steinitz Austro-Hungarian Empire	10	5	5	Johannes Zukertort United KingdomUnited Kingdom	First he gets 10 victories.
1889 Detail	Havana		Wilhelm Steinitz United States	10	6	1	Mikhail Chigorin Russian Empire	Better than 20+ games.
1891 Detail	New York		Wilhelm Steinitz United States	6	4	9	Isidor Gunsberg Austro-Hungarian Empire	Better than 20+ games.
1892 Detail	Havana		Wilhelm Steinitz United States	8+2	8	4+1	Mikhail Chigorin Russian Empire	Better than 20+ games.
1894 Detail	New York Philadelphia Montreal		Emanuel Lasker German Empire	10	5	4	Wilhelm Steinitz United States	First he gets 10 victories.
1897 Detail	Moscow		Emanuel Lasker German Empire	10	2	5	Wilhelm Steinitz United States	First he gets 10 victories.
1907 Detail	United States New York Philadelphia Washington, D.C. Baltimore Chicago Memphis		Emanuel Lasker German Empire	8	0	7	Frank Marshall United States	First he gets eight victories.
1908 Detail	Düsseldorf Munich		Emanuel Lasker German Empire	8	3	5	Siegbert Tarrasch German Empire	First he gets eight victories.
1910 Detail	Vienna Berlin		Emanuel Lasker German Empire	1	1	8	Carl Schlechter Austro-Hungarian Empire	Better than 10 games. (The aspirant must win at least two points)
1910 Detail	Berlin		Emanuel Lasker German Empire	8	0	3	Dawid Janowski France	First he gets eight victories.
1921 Detail	Havana		José Raúl Capablanca CubaCuba	4	0	10	Emanuel Lasker Republic of Weimar	Better than 24 games. (Lasker abandoned)
1927 Detail	Buenos Aires		Alexander Alekhine France	6	3	25	José Raúl Capablanca CubaCuba	First he gets six victories.
1929 Detail	Wiesbaden Heidelberg Berlin The Hague		Alexander Alekhine France	11	5	9	Efim Bogoljubov Republic of Weimar	First you reach 6 wins and 15 points.
1934 Detail	Germany Baden-Baden Villingen-Schwenningen Fribourg of Brisgovia Pforzheim Stuttgart Munich Bayreuth Bad Kissingen Mannheim Berlin		Alexander Alekhine France	8	3	15	Efim Bogoljubov Germany	First you reach 6 wins and 15 points.
1935 Detail	Netherlands Amsterdam Delft Rotterdam Utrecht Gouda The Hague Groningen Baarn 's-Hertogenbosch Eindhoven Zeist Er... Zandvoort		Max Euwe NetherlandsNetherlands	9	8	13	Alexander Alekhine France	First you reach 6 wins and 15 points.
1937 Detail	Netherlands The Hague Rotterdam Amsterdam Haarlem Leiden Groningen Delft		Alexander Alekhine France	10	4	11	Max Euwe NetherlandsNetherlands	First you reach 6 wins and 15 points.
FIDE World Single Championship (1948-1993)
1948 Detail	The Hague Moscow		Mikhail Botvínnik Soviet Union	10	8	2	Containers Vasili Smyslov Paul Keres Samuel Reshevsky Max Euwe	All against all, five games against each rival.
1951 Detail	Moscow		Mikhail Botvínnik Soviet Union	5	5	14	David Bronstein Soviet Union	Better than 24 games. (In case of tie, the champion retains the title)
1954 Detail	Moscow		Mikhail Botvínnik Soviet Union	7	7	10	Vasili Smyslov Soviet Union	Better than 24 games. (In case of tie, the champion retains the title)
1957 Detail	Moscow		Vasili Smyslov Soviet Union	6	3	13	Mikhail Botvínnik Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1958 Detail	Moscow		Mikhail Botvínnik Soviet Union	7	5	11	Vasili Smyslov Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1960 Detail	Moscow		Mikhail Tal Soviet Union	6	2	13	Mikhail Botvínnik Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1961 Detail	Moscow		Mikhail Botvínnik Soviet Union	10	5	6	Mikhail Tal Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1963 Detail	Moscow		Tigrán Petrosián Soviet Union	5	2	15	Mikhail Botvínnik Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1966 Detail	Moscow		Tigrán Petrosián Soviet Union	4	3	17	Borís Spasski Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1969 Detail	Moscow		Borís Spasski Soviet Union	6	4	13	Tigrán Petrosián Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1972 Detail	Reikiavik		Bobby Fischer United States	7	3	11	Borís Spaski Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1975 Detail	Manila		Anatoli Kárpov Soviet Union	Default			Bobby Fischer United States	First he gets 10 victories. (Fischer didn't show up)
1978 Detail	Baguio		Anatoli Kárpov Soviet Union	6	5	21	Víktor Korchnói	First he gets six victories.
1981 Detail	Merano		Anatoli Kárpov Soviet Union	6	2	10	Víktor Korchnói SwitzerlandSwitzerland	First he gets six victories.
1985 Detail	Moscow		Anatoli Kárpov Soviet Union	5	3	40	Garri Kaspárov Soviet Union	First he gets six victories. (Announced after 48 items)
1985 Detail	Moscow		Garri Kaspárov Soviet Union	5	3	16	Anatoli Kárpov Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1986 Detail	London Lenin		Garri Kaspárov Soviet Union	5	4	15	Anatoli Kárpov Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
1987 Detail	Sevilla		Garri Kaspárov Soviet Union	4	4	16	Anatoli Kárpov Soviet Union	Better than 24 games. (In case of tie, the champion retains the title)
1990 Detail	New York Lyon		Garri Kaspárov Soviet Union	4	3	17	Anatoli Kárpov Soviet Union	Better than 24 games.
PCA Championship (1993-2006)
1993 Detail	London		Garri Kaspárov Russia Russia	6	1	13	Nigel Short EnglandEngland	Better than 24 games.
1995 Detail	New York		Garri Kaspárov Russia Russia	4	1	13	Viswanathan Anand India	Better than 20 games.
2000 Detail	London		Vladimir Krámnik Russia Russia	2	0	13	Garri Kaspárov Russia Russia	Better than 16 games.
2004 Detail	Brissago		Vladimir Krámnik Russia Russia	2	2	10	Peter Leko HungaryHungary	Better than 14 games. (In case of tie, the champion retains the title)
FIDE Championship (1993-2006)
1993 Detail	Zwolle Arnhem Amsterdam Jakarta		Anatoli Kárpov Russia Russia	6	2	13	Jan Timman NetherlandsNetherlands	Better than 24 games.
1996 Detail	Elistá		Anatoli Kárpov Russia Russia	6	3	9	Gata Kamsky United States	Better than 20 games.
1998 Detail	Groningen Lausanne		Anatoli Kárpov Russia Russia	2+2	2	2	Viswanathan Anand India	Best of 6 games + play
1999 Detail	Vegas		Aleksandr Jálifman Russia Russia	2	1	3	Vladimir Akopián ArmeniaArmenia	Direct elimination tournament. End to the best of 6 games + play (Karpov didn't show up)
2000 Detail	New Delhi Tehran		Viswanathan Anand India	3	0	1	Alexéi Shírov LatviaLatvia	Direct elimination tournament. End to the best of 6 games + play
2002 Detail	Moscow		Ruslan Ponomariov Ukraine Ukraine	2	0	5	Vasili Ivanchuk Ukraine Ukraine	Direct elimination tournament. End to the best of 8 games + play
2004 Detail	Tripoli		Rustam Kasimdzhanov UzbekistanUzbekistan	2+1	2	2+1	Michael Adams EnglandEngland	Direct elimination tournament. End to the best of 6 games + play
2005 Detail	Potrero de los Funes		Veselin Topalov BulgariaBulgaria	6	0	8	Containers Viswanathan Anand Peter Svidler Aleksandr Morozévich Peter Leko Rustam Kasimdzhanov Michael Adams Judit Polgár	All against all, two games against each rival.
Reunified Championship in FIDE (since 2006)
2006 Detail	Elistá		Vladimir Krámnik Russia Russia	3+2	3+1	6+1	Veselin Topalov BulgariaBulgaria	Best of 12 games + play
2007 Detail	Mexico City		Viswanathan Anand India	4	0	10	Containers Vladimir Krámnik Borís Gélfand Peter Leko Peter Svidler Aleksandr Morozévich Levon Aronian Aleksandr Grischuk	All against all, two games against each rival.
2008 Detail	Bonn		Viswanathan Anand India	3	1	7	Vladimir Krámnik Russia Russia	Best of 12 games + play
2010 Detail	Sofia		Viswanathan Anand India	3	2	7	Veselin Topalov BulgariaBulgaria	Best of 12 games + play
2012 Detail	Moscow		Viswanathan Anand India	1+1	1	10+3	Borís Gélfand IsraelIsrael	Best of 12 games + play
2013 Detail	You will.		Magnus Carlsen Norway Norway	3	0	7	Viswanathan Anand India	Best of 12 games + play
2014 Detail	Sochi		Magnus Carlsen Norway Norway	3	1	7	Viswanathan Anand India	Best of 12 games + play
2016 Detail	New York		Magnus Carlsen Norway Norway	1+2	1	10+2	Serguéi Kariakin Russia Russia	Best of 12 games + play
2018 Detail	London		Magnus Carlsen Norway Norway	0+3	0	12	Fabiano Caruana United States	Best of 12 games + play
2021 Detail	Dubai		Magnus Carlsen Norway Norway	4	0	7	Yan Nepomniashchi Russia Russia	Best of 14 games + play
2022 Detail	Astana		Yan Nepomniashchi Russia Russia	To define	To define	To define	Ding Liren ChinaChina	Best of 14 games + play

Official World Champions (1886–1993)

#	Name	Year	Country	Age
1	Wilhelm Steinitz	1886–1894		50–58
2	Emanuel Lasker	1894-1921		26-52
3	José Raúl Capablanca	1921-1927		33–39
4	Alexander Alekhine	1927-1935		35-43
5	Max Euwe	1935-1937		34–36
(4)	Alexander Alekhine	1937-1946		45–53
6	Mikhail Botvinnik	1948-1957		37–46
7	Vasily Smyslov	1957-1958		36
(6)	Mikhail Botvinnik	1958-1960		47–49
8	Mikhail Tal	1960-1961		24
(6)	Mikhail Botvinnik	1961-1963		50–52
9	Tigran Petrosian	1963–1969		34–40
10	Boris Spassky	1969-1972		32-35
11	Bobby Fischer	1972-1975		29–32
12	Anatoly Karpov	1975-1985		24–34
13	Garry Kasparov	1985–1993		22–30

Classic World Champions (PCA/Braingames) (1993–2006)

#	Name	Year	Country	Age
13	Garry Kasparov	1993–2000		30–37
14	Vladimir Kramnik	2000–2006		25-31

FIDE World Champions (1993–2006)

#	Name	Year	Country	Age
(12)	Anatoly Karpov	1993–1999		42-48
(2)	Alexander Khalifman	1999–2000		33
(3)	Viswanathan Anand	2000–2002		31-33
(4)	Ruslan Ponomariov	2002–2004		19–21
(5)	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	2004-2005		25
(6)	Veselin Topalov	2005–2006		30

Official World Champions (2006–present)

#	Name	Year	Country	Age
14	Vladimir Kramnik	2006–2007		31–32
15	Viswanathan Anand	2007–2013		38-43
16	Magnus Carlsen	2013–presente		22-31

Honours of Prizes

Chess player	Total	Years champion	Time champion in years
Anatoly Karpov	6	1975, 1978, 1981, 1993-C, 1996-C, 1998-C	16
Emanuel Lasker	6	1894, 1897, 1907, 1908, 1910-I, 1910-II	27
Garry Kasparov	6	1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1993-A, 1995-A	15
Mikhail Botvinnik	5	1948, 1951, 1954, 1958, 1961	13
Magnus Carlsen	5	2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021	8
Viswanathan Anand	5	2000-C, 2007, 2010, 2012	8
Alexander Alekhine	4	1927, 1929, 1934, 1937	17
Wilhelm Steinitz	4	1886, 1889, 1891, 1892	8
Vladimir Kramnik	3	2000-A, 2004-A, 2006	7
Tigrán Petrosián	2	1963, 1966	6
José Raúl Capablanca	1	1921	6
Boris Spassky	1	1969	3
Bobby Fischer	1	1972	3
Max Euwe	1	1935	2
Vasily Smyslov	1	1957	1
Mikhail Tal	1	1960	1
Ruslan Ponomariov	1	2002-C	2
Aleksandr Jálifman	1	1999-C	1
Rustam Kasimdzhanov	1	2004-C	1
Veselin Topalov	1	2005-C	1

Notes:

• A: En Professional Chess Association (1993-2006).
• C: After federative schism of FIDE (1993-2006).