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List of World Chess Championships

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The following is a list of World Chess Championships, including the hosting cities.

Before 1948, the matches were privately organised. After 1948, challengers were usually chosen by a Candidates Tournament.

List of World Chess Championships Edit

Unofficial Championships (before 1886) Edit

These matches and tournaments were not for the world championship, but retrospectively they have been fairly widely recognized as establishing the world's leading player at the time.

Year Host country Host city Winner Runner(s)-up Won (+) Lost (−) Draw (=) Format
1834   United Kingdom London   Louis de La Bourdonnais   Alexander McDonnell 45 27 13
1843   United Kingdom and
  France 		London (6 rounds)
Paris (21 rounds) 		  Howard Staunton   Pierre Saint-Amant 13 9 5
1846   United Kingdom London   Howard Staunton (2)   Bernhard Horwitz 14 7 3
1851   United Kingdom London   Adolf Anderssen   Marmaduke Wyvill 4 2 1 single-elimination tournament, best-of-7 final
1858   France Paris   Paul Morphy   Adolf Anderssen 7 2 2 first to 7 wins
1862   United Kingdom London   Adolf Anderssen (2)   Louis Paulsen 11 1 1 round robin tournament, 14 players
1866   United Kingdom London   Wilhelm Steinitz   Adolf Anderssen 8 6 0 best of 15 games
1872   United Kingdom London   Wilhelm Steinitz (2)   Johannes Zukertort 7 1 4 first to 7 wins
1876   United Kingdom London   Wilhelm Steinitz (3)   Joseph Henry Blackburne 7 0 0
1883   United Kingdom London   Johannes Zukertort   Wilhelm Steinitz 22 4 0 double round robin tournament, 14 players

Pre-FIDE World Championships (1886–1946) Edit

With Steinitz and Zukertort each having a claim to be the world's best player, the two played a match in 1886 for the first World Championship. From then until 1946, there was no formal system: matches were privately organized between the champion and challenger, and the challenger became the new World Champion if he won.

Year Host country Host city World champion Runner(s)-up Won (+) Lost (−) Draw (=) Format
1886   United States New York City
St. Louis
New Orleans 		  Wilhelm Steinitz   Johannes Zukertort 10 5 5 first to 10 wins
1889   Spain Havana   Wilhelm Steinitz (2)   Mikhail Chigorin 10 6 1 best of 20 games + tiebreak (if required)
1890–1891   United States New York City   Wilhelm Steinitz (3)   Isidor Gunsberg 6 4 9
1892   Spain Havana   Wilhelm Steinitz (4)   Mikhail Chigorin 8+2 8 4+1
1894   United States and
  Canada 		New York City
Philadelphia
Montreal 		  Emanuel Lasker   Wilhelm Steinitz 10 5 4 first to 10 wins
1896–1897   Russian Empire Moscow   Emanuel Lasker (2)   Wilhelm Steinitz 10 2 5
1907   United States
6 cities
   Emanuel Lasker (3)   Frank Marshall 8 0 7 first to 8 wins
1908   German Empire Düsseldorf
Munich 		  Emanuel Lasker (4)   Siegbert Tarrasch 8 3 5
1910   Austria-Hungary and
  German Empire 		Vienna
Berlin 		  Emanuel Lasker (5)   Carl Schlechter 1 1 8 best of 10; disputed whether challenger had to win by 1 or 2 points[a][b]
1910   German Empire Berlin   Emanuel Lasker (6)   Dawid Janowski 8 0 3 first to 8 wins
1921   Cuba Havana   José Raúl Capablanca   Emanuel Lasker 4 0 10 best of 24 games;[a] Emanuel Lasker resigned after 14 games
1927   Argentina Buenos Aires   Alexander Alekhine   José Raúl Capablanca 6 3 25 first to 6 wins
1929   Germany and
  Netherlands
6 cities
   Alexander Alekhine (2)   Efim Bogoljubow 11 5 9 first to 6 wins and 15 points
1934   German Reich
10 cities
   Alexander Alekhine (3)   Efim Bogoljubow 8 3 15
1935   Netherlands
13 cities
   Max Euwe   Alexander Alekhine 9 8 13
1937   Netherlands
7 cities
   Alexander Alekhine (4)   Max Euwe 10 4 11

FIDE World Championships (1948–1990) Edit

Alexander Alekhine died in 1946 while still World Chess Champion, after which the International Chess Federation (FIDE) organized the World Championships. This began with a one-off tournament in 1948. After that there was a 3-year cycle, in which a series of tournaments was held to decide the challenger, who then played the champion in a match for the World Championship.

Year Host country Host city World champion Runner(s)-up Won (+) Lost (−) Draw (=) Format
1948   Netherlands and
  Soviet Union 		The Hague
Moscow 		  Mikhail Botvinnik   Vasily Smyslov 14 points out of 20 5-player, 5-cycle round-robin tournament
1951   Soviet Union Moscow   Mikhail Botvinnik (2)   David Bronstein 5 5 14 best of 24 games[a]
1954   Soviet Union Moscow   Mikhail Botvinnik (3)   Vasily Smyslov 7 7 10
1957   Soviet Union Moscow   Vasily Smyslov   Mikhail Botvinnik 6 3 13
1958   Soviet Union Moscow   Mikhail Botvinnik (4)   Vasily Smyslov 7 5 11
1960   Soviet Union Moscow   Mikhail Tal   Mikhail Botvinnik 6 2 13
1961   Soviet Union Moscow   Mikhail Botvinnik (5)   Mikhail Tal 10 5 6
1963   Soviet Union Moscow   Tigran Petrosian   Mikhail Botvinnik 5 2 15
1966   Soviet Union Moscow   Tigran Petrosian (2)   Boris Spassky 4 3 17
1969   Soviet Union Moscow   Boris Spassky   Tigran Petrosian 6 4 13
1972   Iceland Reykjavík   Bobby Fischer   Boris Spassky 7 3 11
1975   Philippines Manila   Anatoly Karpov   Bobby Fischer by default
1978   Philippines Baguio   Anatoly Karpov (2)   Viktor Korchnoi 6 5 21 first to 6 wins
1981   Italy Merano   Anatoly Karpov (3)   Viktor Korchnoi 6 2 10
1984–1985   Soviet Union Moscow No winner   Anatoly Karpov /   Garry Kasparov 5 3 40 first to 6 wins; unfinished match
1985   Soviet Union Moscow   Garry Kasparov   Anatoly Karpov 5 3 16 best of 24 games[a]
1986   United Kingdom and
  Soviet Union 		London
Leningrad 		  Garry Kasparov (2)   Anatoly Karpov 5 4 15
1987   Spain Seville   Garry Kasparov (3)   Anatoly Karpov 4 4 16
1990   United States and
  France 		New York City
Lyon 		  Garry Kasparov (4)   Anatoly Karpov 4 3 17

Split title (1993–2006) Edit

In 1993, World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short split from FIDE, and played their title match under the auspices of the Professional Chess Association. In response, FIDE stripped Kasparov of his title and arranged its own World Championship match between former champion Anatoly Karpov and Candidates finalist Jan Timman. For the next 13 years there were two rival world titles.

Beginning with the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996, FIDE changed its rules and the incumbent World Champion was no longer automatically qualified for the final match; but this tradition was maintained for the Classical title.

Year Host country Host city World champion Runner(s)-up Won (+) Lost (−) Draw (=) Format
Classical World Chess Championships (1993–2006)
1993   United Kingdom London   Garry Kasparov (5)   Nigel Short 6 1 13 best of 24[a]
1995   United States New York City   Garry Kasparov (6)   Viswanathan Anand 4 1 13 best of 20[a]
2000   United Kingdom London   Vladimir Kramnik   Garry Kasparov 2 0 13 best of 16[a]
2004    Switzerland Brissago   Vladimir Kramnik (2)   Peter Leko 2 2 10 best of 14[a]
FIDE World Chess Championships (1993–2006)
1993   Netherlands and
  Indonesia 		Zwolle
Arnhem
Amsterdam
Jakarta 		  Anatoly Karpov (4)   Jan Timman 6 2 13 best of 24[a]
1996   Russia Elista   Anatoly Karpov (5)   Gata Kamsky 6 3 9 best of 20[a]
1998   Netherlands and
   Switzerland 		Groningen
Lausanne 		  Anatoly Karpov (6)   Viswanathan Anand 2+2 2 2 single-elimination tournament with finals best of 6 + tiebreaks
1999   United States Las Vegas   Alexander Khalifman   Vladimir Akopian 2 1 3
2000   India and
  Iran 		New Delhi
Tehran 		  Viswanathan Anand   Alexei Shirov 3 0 1
2002   Russia Moscow   Ruslan Ponomariov   Vasyl Ivanchuk 2 0 5 single-elimination tournament with finals best of 8 + tiebreaks
2004   Libya Tripoli   Rustam Kasimdzhanov   Michael Adams 2+1 2 2+1 single-elimination tournament with finals best of 6 + tiebreaks
2005   Argentina Potrero de los Funes
San Luis 		  Veselin Topalov   Viswanathan Anand
  Peter Svidler 		10 points out of 14 8-player double round-robin tournament

FIDE World Championships (2006–present) Edit

The Classical and FIDE titles were unified with the 2006 match between Classical champion Vladimir Kramnik and FIDE champion Veselin Topalov. All subsequent championships have been administered by FIDE. Since 2008, FIDE has returned to the format of an incumbent champion playing a challenger.

Year Host country Host city World champion Runner(s)-up Won (+) Lost (−) Draw (=) Format
2006   Russia Elista   Vladimir Kramnik (3)   Veselin Topalov 3+2 3+1 6+1 best of 12 + tiebreaks
2007   Mexico Mexico City   Viswanathan Anand (2)   Vladimir Kramnik
  Boris Gelfand 		9 points out of 14 8-player double round-robin tournament
2008   Germany Bonn   Viswanathan Anand (3)   Vladimir Kramnik 3 1 7 best of 12 + tiebreaks
2010   Bulgaria Sofia   Viswanathan Anand (4)   Veselin Topalov 3 2 7
2012   Russia Moscow   Viswanathan Anand (5)   Boris Gelfand 1+1 1 10+3
2013   India Chennai   Magnus Carlsen   Viswanathan Anand 3 0 7
2014   Russia Sochi   Magnus Carlsen (2)   Viswanathan Anand 3 1 7
2016   United States New York City   Magnus Carlsen (3)   Sergey Karjakin 1+2 1 10+2
2018   United Kingdom London   Magnus Carlsen (4)   Fabiano Caruana 0+3 0 12
2021   United Arab Emirates Dubai   Magnus Carlsen (5)   Ian Nepomniachtchi [c] 4 0 7 best of 14 + tiebreaks
2023   Kazakhstan Astana   Ding Liren[d]   Ian Nepomniachtchi[e] 3+1 3 8+3
2024 TBD TBD   Ding Liren vs. Challenger

Other Edit

Year Host country Host city Winner Runner(s)-up Won (+) Lost (−) Draw (=) Format
Non-recognized World Chess Championships
1909   France Paris   Emanuel Lasker   Dawid Janowski 7 1 2 Best of 10. This match has sometimes been called a world championship match,[2] but research by Edward Winter demonstrates that the title was not at stake.[3]
1992   FR Yugoslavia Sveti Stefan
Belgrade 		  Bobby Fischer   Boris Spassky 10 5 15 First to reach 10 wins, draws not counting. Fischer claimed this was a world championship.[4]

Multiple-title champions Edit

Unofficial championships are not counted.

Titles Player Country
6 Emanuel Lasker   German Empire
Anatoly Karpov (3 during split title)   Soviet Union
  Russia
Garry Kasparov (2 during split title)   Soviet Union
  Russia
5 Mikhail Botvinnik   Soviet Union
Magnus Carlsen   Norway
Viswanathan Anand (1 during split title)   India
4 Wilhelm Steinitz   Austrian Empire
  United States
Alexander Alekhine   France
3 Vladimir Kramnik (2 during split title)   Russia
2 Tigran Petrosian   Soviet Union

Notes Edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j In the case of a tie, the title defender retains the world championship.
  2. ^ There is dispute over whether Lasker would keep the title in the case of a 1 point win by Schlechter, and even question over whether the match was for the world championship. See World Chess Championship 1910 (Lasker–Schlechter) for discussion.
  3. ^ Nepomniachtchi is Russian, but competed as a neutral competitor under the Chess Federation of Russia flag, due to WADA sanctions against Russia.[1]
  4. ^ Since Magnus Carlsen decided not to defend his World Championship title, the 2023 world championship was contested between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, the winner and runner-up of the Candidates Tournament 2022.
  5. ^ Nepomniachtchi is Russian, but competed under the FIDE flag due to the ban of Russian and Belarusian flags by FIDE due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

References Edit

  1. ^ Nepomniachtchi Can't Play Carlsen Under Russian Flag, Peter Doggers, chess.com, April 30 2021.
  2. ^ For instance: "From Morphy to Fischer", Israel Horowitz, Batsford 1973, p. 64; "The Centenary Match - Kasparov-Karpov III", Raymond Keene and David Goodman, Batsford 1986
  3. ^ Chess Notes 5199, by Edward Winter
  4. ^ "World Chess Championship : 1992 Fischer – Spassky Rematch". Mark-weeks.com. Retrieved 1 February 2014.

Further reading Edit

  • Davidson, Henry A. (1949, 1981). A Short History of Chess. McKay. ISBN 0-679-14550-8.
  • Barcza, Alföldy, Kapu: Die Weltmeister des Schachspiels. Hamburg 1975
  • Jens Enevoldsen: Verdens bedste Skak, Politiken (Denmark) 1966
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