World Chess Championship History

The World Chess Championship is the tournament that determines the best player of the world of this sport.

Big names have achieved the highest world recognition and many other excellent players didn't get the title of best of the bests even though their excellence in this game. Through this article we will cover the history of the World Chess Championship from its origins until today.

First World Chess Champions

Since 18th century there are registries of great chess players that specially shined over their contemporary opponents, like Ruy Lopez, who deserves a special recognition for his playing quality and his success over the board.

Nevertheless, nobody until 1872 claimed the World Chess Champion Title.

Wilheim Steinitz, after overcame against Johannes Zukertort at that year's London tournament (the strongest that time) , claimed the World Chess title for him.

Anybody officially recognized his title but anybody discussed it either until the year 1883, when Johannes Zukertort won the same tournament of London ahead of Steinitz and proclaims himself as the new World Chess Champion.

After tough negotiations between both players, in 1886 took place the first officially recognized World Chess Championship. So in the year of 1886 Wilheim Steinitz was proclaimed as the first World Chess Champion.

The final result was 10 victories for Steinitz, 5 for Zukertort and 5 draws.

FIDE World Chess Champions

After the decease of the current World Chess Champion, Alexander Alekhine, in 1948, the FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs) became responsible for the organization of the next championships.

In 1948 the FIDE organized, at The Hague and Moscow, its first World Chess Championship with the following participants: Mijail Botvinnik (URSS), Vasili Smyslov (URSS), Paul Keres (URSS), Max Euwe (Holanda) y Samuel Reshevsky (US)

The winner of that tournament, and therefore, the World Chess Champion was Mijail Botvinnik.

The PCA appearance and the posterior title reunification.

In 1993 Garry Kasparov, World Chess Champion of that time, and his challenger Nigel Short, reported irregularities at the FIDE and step aside and created the PCA (Professional Chess Association), under which developed their match.

The FIDE and the PCA developed their own Wolrd Chess Championships separately up to 2006, when took place a reunification match between Topalov and Kramnik. As a consequence of that match Vladimir Kramink became the new World Chess Champion.

Unofficial World Chess Champions before 1886

Each player of the following list is recognized as the world’s best chess player of his time. The period of time when each one is considerate as the World Chess Champion is indicated too.

Player Name	Year	Country	Approx. Age
Franci de Castellví Narcís Vinyoles Bernat Fenollar and Francesc Vicent	~1475	Spain	~37 25
Luis Ramirez de Lucena	~1490	Spain	~25
Pedro Damiano	~1520	Portugal	~40
Ruy López de Segura	1559-1575	Spain	19-35
El Morro	~1560-1575	Portugal
Leonardo da Cutri and Paolo Boi	1575	Kingdom of Naples Kingdom of Sicily	33 47
Giulio Polerio	~1580	Kingdom of Naples	~32
Alessandro Salvio	~1600	Kingdom of Naples	~30
Gioachino Greco	~1620-1634	Kingdom of Naples	~20-34
Pietro Carrera	~1640	Kingdom of Sicily	~67
Alexander Cunningham of Block	~1700	Scotland	~45
Legall de Kermeur	~1730-1745	France	~28-43
François-Andr Danican Philidor	1745-1795	France	19-69
Johann Baptist Allgaier	~1795-~1815	Austrian Empire	~32-~52
Verdoni	~1795-~1804	Italy France
Jacob Henry Sarrat	~1805-~1815	United Kingdom	~33-~43
Alexandre Deschapelles	1815-1821	France	35-41
Louis-Charles Mah de La Bourdonnais	1821-1840	France	26-45
Alexander McDonnell	1834	United Kingdom	36
Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant	1840-1843	France	40-43
Howard Staunton	1843-1851	England	33-41
Adolf Anderssen	1851-1858	Prussia	33-40
Paul Morphy	1858-1862	United States	21-25
Adolf Anderssen	1862-1866	Prussia	44-48
Wilhelm Steinitz	1866-1878	Austria-Hungary	30-42
Johannes Zukertort	1878-1886	Poland Germany	36-44

World Chess Champions between 1886 and 1993

Player Name	Year	Country	Approx. Age
Wilhelm Steinitz	1886-1894	Austria-Hungary United States	50-58
Emanuel Lasker	1894-1921	Germany	26-52
José Raúl Capablanca	1921-1927	Cuba	33-39
Alexander Alekhine	1927-1935 1937-1946	France Russian émigré	35-43 45-54
Max Euwe	1935-1937	Netherlands	34-36
Mikhail Botvinnik	1948-1957 1958-1960 1961-1963	Soviet Union (Russia)	37-46 47-49 50-52
Vasily Smyslov	1957-1958	Soviet Union (Russia)	36
Mikhail Tal	1960-1961	Soviet Union (Latvia)	24
Tigran Petrosian	1963-1969	Soviet Union (Armenia)	34-40
Boris Spassky	1969-1972	Soviet Union (Russia)	32-35
Robert J. Fischer	1972-1975	United States	29-32
Anatoly Karpov	1975-1985	Soviet Union (Russia)	24-34
Garry Kasparov	1985-1993	Soviet Union Russia	22-30

FIDE World Chess Champions between 1993 and 2006

Player Name	Year	Country	Approx. Age
Anatoly Karpov	1993-1999	Russia	42-48
Alexander Khalifman	1999-2000	Russia	33
Viswanathan Anand	2000-2002	India	31-33
Ruslan Ponomariov	2002-2004	Ukraine	19-21
Rustam Kasimdzhanov	2004-2005	Uzbekistan	25
Veselin Topalov	2005-2006	Bulgaria	30

PCA World Chess Champions between 1993 and 2006

Player Name	Year	Country	Approx. Age
Garry Kasparov	1993-2000	Russia	30-37
Vladimir Kramnik	2000-2006	Russia	25-31

World Chess Champions from 2006 to present

Player Name	Year	Country	Approx. Age
Vladimir Kramnik	2006-2007	Russia	31
Viswanathan Anand	2007-2013	India	38
Magnus Carlsen	2013-2023	Norway	22
Ding Liren	2023-Present	China	30