List of World Chess Champions

Bobby Fischer at the Leipzig Chess Olympiad in 1960

Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

Former World Champion Magnus Carlsen

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

These players are included (pre-18th century) on little more than opinion, and (18th century) on the basis of more substantial information. Some authors of important early works on chess are noted.

Name	Year	Country
Francesch Vicent (author)	~1475	Spain First printed book on chess. (Catalonia)
Luis Ramirez de Lucena (author)	~1490	Spain First printed book on chess to have survived.
Pedro Damiano (author)	~1512	Portugal
Ruy López de Segura (author)	1559–1575	Spain
El Morro	~1560–1575	Portugal
Leonardo da Cutro	1575	Kingdom of Naples
Paolo Boi	1575	Kingdom of Sicily
Giulio Polerio	~1580	Kingdom of Naples
Alessandro Salvio (author)	~1600	Kingdom of Naples
Gioachino Greco (author)	~1620–1634	Kingdom of Naples
Pietro Carrera	~1640	Kingdom of Sicily
Ercole del Rio (author)	~1750	Italy (Duchy of Modena)
Giambattista Lolli (author)	~1760	Italy (Duchy of Modena)
Domenico Ponziani (author)	~1770	Italy (Duchy of Modena)
François-André Danican Philidor	1745–1795	France
Johann Baptist Allgaier (author)	~1795–~1815	Austrian Empire
Verdoni	~1795–~1804	Italy
Alexandre Deschapelles	1815–1821	France

World Champions pre-FIDE

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.

Name	Year	Country
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais	1821–1840	France
Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant	1840–1843	France
Howard Staunton	1843–1851	England
Adolf Anderssen	1851–1858 1860–1868	Prussia
Paul Morphy	1858–1860	United States
1. Wilhelm Steinitz	1886–1894	Austria-Hungary England United States
2. Emanuel Lasker	1894–1921	Germany
3. José Raúl Capablanca	1921–1927	Cuba
4. Alexander Alekhine	1927–1935 1937–1946	Russia France
5. Max Euwe	1935–1937	Netherlands

FIDE world champions 1948–1993

Long matches, initially best of 24 games.

#	Name	Year	Country
6	Mikhail Botvinnik	1948–1957 1958–1960 1961–1963	Soviet Union (Russia)
7	Vasily Smyslov	1957–1958	Soviet Union (Russia)
8	Mikhail Tal	1960–1961	Soviet Union (Latvia)
9	Tigran Petrosian	1963–1969	Soviet Union (Armenia)
10	Boris Spassky	1969–1972	Soviet Union (Russia)
11	Robert J. Fischer	1972–1975	United States
12	Anatoly Karpov	1975–1985	Soviet Union (Russia)
13	Garry Kasparov	1985–1993	Soviet Union (Russia)

FIDE world champions 1993–2006 These knock-out events are separately numbered. # Name Year Country 1 Anatoly Karpov 1993–1999 Russia 2 Alexander Khalifman 1999–2000 Russia 3 Viswanathan Anand 2000–2002 India 4 Ruslan Ponomariov 2002–2004 Ukraine 5 Rustam Kasimdzhanov 2004–2005 Uzbekistan 6 Veselin Topalov 2005–2006 Bulgaria

Classical world champions 1993–2006 These are matches of the traditional kind, and of 15 or 20 games. # Name Year Country 13 Garry Kasparov 1993–2000 Russia 14 Vladimir Kramnik 2000–2006 Russia

Undisputed world champions 2006–present

Various formats have been used, especially during Carlsen's tenure.

#	Name	Year	Country
14	Vladimir Kramnik	2006–2007	Russia
15	Viswanathan Anand	2007–2013	India
16	Magnus Carlsen	2013–2023	Norway
17	Ding Liren	2023–present	People's Republic of China

Women's World Champions

Name	Years	Country
Vera Menchik	1927–1944	Czechoslovakia / England
Lyudmila Rudenko	1950–1953	Soviet Union (Ukraine)
Elisabeth Bykova	1953–1956	Soviet Union (Russia)
Olga Rubtsova	1956–1958	Soviet Union (Russia)
Elisabeth Bykova	1958–1962	Soviet Union (Russia)
Nona Gaprindashvili	1962–1978	Soviet Union / Georgia
Maia Chiburdanidze	1978–1991	Soviet Union / Georgia
Xie Jun	1991–1996	People's Republic of China
Susan Polgar	1996–1999	Hungary / United States
Xie Jun	1999–2001	People's Republic of China
Zhu Chen	2001–2004	People's Republic of China
Antoaneta Stefanova	2004–2006	Bulgaria
Xu Yuhua	2006–2008	People's Republic of China
Alexandra Kosteniuk	2008–2010	Russia
Hou Yifan	2010–2012	People's Republic of China
Anna Ushenina	2012–2013	Ukraine
Hou Yifan	2013–2015	People's Republic of China
Mariya Muzychuk	2015-2016	Ukraine
Hou Yifan	2016-2017	People's Republic of China
Tan Zhongyi	2017–2018	People's Republic of China
Ju Wenjun	2018–	People's Republic of China

Related pages

• List of chess Grandmasters