List of World Chess Champions
World Chess Champions are players who have won a match or tournament for the World Championship at chess. Both men and women can become champion, but no woman has ever been a challenger for the title. There is, however, a separate championship for women. There are also separate championships for specific age groups.
Before 1886, there was no official championship held, but some players were thought to be pre-eminent. From 1948 on, the World Chess Federation FIDE held the championships. Between 1993 and 2006 there were two world champion titles, the FIDE one and the classical one.
The 2013 World Championship match took place between Anand and Magnus Carlsen (challenger) in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, where Anand grew up. Usually, world champions had been played on neutral ground. Fischer played Spassky in Iceland; Alekhine played Capablanca in Buenos Aires. The Soviets always played in Moscow. However, sponsorship is needed for these matches, and the decision to accept the Chennai bid was taken by FIDE. The Challenger was victorious winning 3 games and achieving the necessary 6.5 points to win the title at the end of game 10.
Ding Liren (since 2023 and from China) is the current World Chess Champion.
Some players and authors before 1821
[change | change source]These players are included (pre-18th century) on little more than opinion, and (18th century) on the basis of more substantial information.[1][2] Some authors of important early works on chess are noted.
Name | Year | Country |
---|---|---|
Francesch Vicent (author) | ~1475 | |
Luis Ramirez de Lucena (author) | ~1490 | |
Pedro Damiano (author) | ~1512 | |
Ruy López de Segura (author) | 1559–1575 | |
El Morro | ~1560–1575 | |
Leonardo da Cutro | 1575 | |
Paolo Boi | 1575 | |
Giulio Polerio | ~1580 | |
Alessandro Salvio (author) | ~1600 | |
Gioachino Greco (author) | ~1620–1634 | |
Pietro Carrera | ~1640 | |
Ercole del Rio (author) | ~1750 | |
Giambattista Lolli (author) | ~1760 | |
Domenico Ponziani (author) | ~1770 | |
François-André Danican Philidor | 1745–1795 | |
Johann Baptist Allgaier (author) | ~1795–~1815 | |
Verdoni | ~1795–~1804 | |
Alexandre Deschapelles | 1815–1821 |
World Champions pre-FIDE
[change | change source]These players are included on the basis of their winning matches against credible opponents. Champions are numbered from Steinitz onwards, because his match against Zukertort was publicly declared as a world championship and generally accepted.[4][5]
Name | Year | Country |
---|---|---|
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais | 1821–1840 | |
Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant | 1840–1843 | |
Howard Staunton | 1843–1851 | |
Adolf Anderssen | 1851–1858 1860–1868 |
|
Paul Morphy | 1858–1860 | |
1. Wilhelm Steinitz | 1886–1894 | |
2. Emanuel Lasker | 1894–1921 | |
3. José Raúl Capablanca | 1921–1927 | |
4. Alexander Alekhine | 1927–1935 1937–1946 |
|
5. Max Euwe | 1935–1937 |
FIDE world champions 1948–1993
[change | change source]Long matches, initially best of 24 games.
# | Name | Year | Country |
---|---|---|---|
6 | Mikhail Botvinnik | 1948–1957 1958–1960 1961–1963 |
|
7 | Vasily Smyslov | 1957–1958 | |
8 | Mikhail Tal | 1960–1961 | |
9 | Tigran Petrosian | 1963–1969 | |
10 | Boris Spassky | 1969–1972 | |
11 | Robert J. Fischer | 1972–1975 | |
12 | Anatoly Karpov | 1975–1985 | |
13 | Garry Kasparov | 1985–1993 |
FIDE world champions 1993–2006[change | change source]These knock-out events are separately numbered.
|
Classical world champions 1993–2006[change | change source]These are matches of the traditional kind, and of 15 or 20 games.
|
Undisputed world champions 2006–present
[change | change source]Various formats have been used, especially during Carlsen's tenure.
# | Name | Year | Country |
---|---|---|---|
14 | Vladimir Kramnik | 2006–2007 | |
15 | Viswanathan Anand | 2007–2013 | |
16 | Magnus Carlsen | 2013–2023 | |
17 | Ding Liren | 2023–present |
Women's World Champions
[change | change source]Name | Years | Country |
---|---|---|
Vera Menchik | 1927–1944 | |
Lyudmila Rudenko | 1950–1953 | |
Elisabeth Bykova | 1953–1956 | |
Olga Rubtsova | 1956–1958 | |
Elisabeth Bykova | 1958–1962 | |
Nona Gaprindashvili | 1962–1978 | |
Maia Chiburdanidze | 1978–1991 | |
Xie Jun | 1991–1996 | |
Susan Polgar | 1996–1999 | |
Xie Jun | 1999–2001 | |
Zhu Chen | 2001–2004 | |
Antoaneta Stefanova | 2004–2006 | |
Xu Yuhua | 2006–2008 | |
Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2008–2010 | |
Hou Yifan | 2010–2012 | |
Anna Ushenina | 2012–2013 | |
Hou Yifan | 2013–2015 | |
Mariya Muzychuk | 2015-2016 | |
Hou Yifan | 2016-2017 | |
Tan Zhongyi | 2017–2018 | |
Ju Wenjun | 2018– |
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ Murray H.J.R. (1913). A history of chess. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-827403-3.
- ↑ Van der Linde A. 1874. Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels. Edition Olms reprint 1981. ISBN 3-283-00079-4
- ↑ The author was a Catalan. Until 1716, Catalonia, a principality of the Crown of Aragon, kept its own Constitution, language, usages and laws.
- ↑ Winter, Edward G. (ed) 1981. World chess champions. Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-024094-1.
- ↑ Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth 1992. The Oxford Companion to Chess 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-866164-9