List of World Chess Championships

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

Unofficial Championships
Year Host country Host city World champion Runner(s)-up Won (+) Lost (−) Draw (=) Format
Unofficial World Chess Championships (1834–1886)
1834  United Kingdom London Louis de La Bourdonnais Alexander McDonnell 45 27 13
1843  United Kingdom London Pierre Saint-Amant Howard Staunton 3 2 1
1843  France Paris Howard Staunton Pierre Saint-Amant 11 6 4
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
1862  United Kingdom London Adolf Anderssen Louis Paulsen 11 1 1 round robin tournament, 14 players
1866  United Kingdom London Wilhelm Steinitz Adolf Anderssen 8 6 0
1883  United Kingdom London Johannes Zukertort Wilhelm Steinitz 22 4 0 double round robin tournament, 14 players
Non-recognized World Chess Championship
1992  Yugoslavia Sveti Stefan and Belgrade Bobby Fischer Boris Spassky 10 5 15 First to reach 10 wins, draws not counting. Fischer claimed this was a world championship.[1]

Official Championships
Year Host country Host city World champion Runner(s)-up Won (+) Lost (−) Draw (=) Format
Official World Chess Championships (1886–1946)
1886  United States New York City
Saint Louis
New Orleans		 Wilhelm Steinitz Johannes Zukertort 10 5 5 first-to-10 wins
1889  Cuba Havana Wilhelm Steinitz (2) Mikhail Chigorin 10 6 1 best-of-20 + tiebreak
1891  United States New York City Wilhelm Steinitz (3) Isidor Gunsberg 6 4 9
1892  Cuba 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
1897  Russian Empire Moscow Emanuel Lasker (2) Wilhelm Steinitz 10 2 5
1907  United States New York City
Philadelphia
Washington, D.C.
Baltimore
Chicago
Memphis		 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;[2][3]
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;[2] 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		 Wiesbaden
Heidelberg
Berlin
The Hague		 Alexander Alekhine (2) Efim Bogoljubov 11 5 9 first-to-6 wins AND 15 points
1934  Nazi Germany Alexander Alekhine (3) Efim Bogoljubov 8 3 15
1935  Netherlands Max Euwe Alexander Alekhine 9 8 13
1937  Netherlands Alexander Alekhine (4) Max Euwe 10 4 11
Interregnum (1946–1948)
Alexander Alekhine died in 1946 as World Chess Champion.
FIDE World Chess Championships (1948–1993)
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[2]
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 first-to-10 wins
1978  Philippines Baguio Anatoly Karpov (2) Viktor Korchnoi 6 5 21 first-to-6 wins
1981  Italy Kurhaus
Merano		 Anatoly Karpov (3) Viktor Korchnoi 6 2 10
1984  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[2]
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
Classical World Chess Championships (1993–2006)
World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short split from FIDE, the official world governing body of chess, and played their title match under the auspices of the Professional Chess Association.
1993  United Kingdom London Garry Kasparov (5) Nigel Short 6 1 13 best-of-24[2]
1995  United States New York City Garry Kasparov (6) Viswanathan Anand 4 1 13 best-of-20[2]
2000  United Kingdom London Vladimir Kramnik Garry Kasparov 2 0 13 best-of-16[2]
2004   Switzerland Brissago Vladimir Kramnik (2) Peter Leko 2 2 10 best-of-14[2]
FIDE World Chess Championships (1993–2006)
Garry Kasparov was stripped of his FIDE title after he and challenger Nigel Short split from FIDE in 1993. Anatoly Karpov, former champion and the challenger in the 1990 FIDE World Chess Championship match, was announced as incumbent World Champion. 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.
1993  Netherlands and
 Indonesia		 Zwolle
Arnhem
Amsterdam
Jakarta		 Anatoly Karpov (4) Jan Timman 6 2 13 best-of-24[2]
1996  Russia Elista Anatoly Karpov (5) Gata Kamsky 6 3 9 best-of-20[2]
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 Vassily 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
World Chess Championships (2006–present)
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

Multiple times champions

Unofficial championships are not counted.

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

References
  1. "World Chess Championship : 1992 Fischer – Spassky Rematch". Mark-weeks.com. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  2. in case of a draw the World Championship title defender keeps holding his title
  3. There is dispute over whether Lasker would keep the title in the case of a 1 point with to Schlechter, and even question over whether the match was for the world championship. See World Chess Championship 1910 (Lasker–Schlechter) for discussion.

Further reading
  • 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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