List of World Chess Championships

The following is a list of World Chess Championships including the hosting cities. Qualification path consist of Interzonals (defunct), FIDE Grand Prix, Chess World Cup and Candidates Tournament for the process of selecting a challenger for championship matches.

List of World Chess Championships

Year	Host and venue	World Champion	Runner-up(s)	Won (+)	Lost (−)	Draw (=)	Format
Unofficial World Chess Championships (1834–1866)
1834	London	Louis de La Bourdonnais	Alexander McDonnell	45	28	13
1843	London	Pierre Saint-Amant	Howard Staunton	3	2	1
1843	Paris	Howard Staunton	Pierre Saint-Amant	11	6	4
1846	London	Howard Staunton	Bernhard Horwitz	14	7	3
1858	Paris	Paul Morphy	Adolf Anderssen	7	2	2
1866	London	Wilhelm Steinitz	Adolf Anderssen	8	6	0
Official World Chess Championships (1886–1937)
1886	New York, Saint Louis, New Orleans	Wilhelm Steinitz	Johannes Zukertort	10	5	5	first-to-10 wins
1889	Havana	Wilhelm Steinitz	Mikhail Chigorin	10	6	1	best-of-20 + tiebreak
1891	New York	Wilhelm Steinitz	Isidor Gunsberg	6	4	9
1892	Havana	Wilhelm Steinitz	Mikhail Chigorin	8+2	8	4+1
1894	New York, Philadelphia, and Montreal	Emanuel Lasker	Wilhelm Steinitz	10	5	4	first-to-10 wins
1897	Moscow	Emanuel Lasker	Wilhelm Steinitz	10	2	5
1907	6 cities[nb 1] of the United States	Emanuel Lasker	Frank Marshall	8	0	7	first-to-8 wins
1908	Düsseldorf, Munich	Emanuel Lasker	Siegbert Tarrasch	8	3	5
1910	Vienna and Berlin	Emanuel Lasker	Carl Schlechter	1	1	8	best of 10; disputed whether challenger had to win by 1 or 2 points;[1][2]
1910	Berlin	Emanuel Lasker	David Janowski	8	0	3	first-to-8 wins
1921	Havana	José Raúl Capablanca	Emanuel Lasker	4	0	10	best-of-24;[1] Emanuel Lasker resigned after 14 games
1927	Buenos Aires	Alexander Alekhine	José Raúl Capablanca	6	3	25	first-to-6 wins
1929	Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Berlin, and The Hague	Alexander Alekhine	Efim Bogoljubov	11	5	9	first-to-6 wins AND 15 points
1934	10 cities[nb 2] of Nazi Germany	Alexander Alekhine	Efim Bogoljubov	8	3	15
1935	13 cities[nb 3] of the Netherlands	Max Euwe	Alexander Alekhine	9	8	13
1937	7 cities[nb 4] of the Netherlands	Alexander Alekhine	Max Euwe	10	4	11
FIDE World Chess Championships (1948–1990)
1948	The Hague and Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	4 players	14 points out of 20			5-player, 5-cycle round-robin tournament
1951	Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	David Bronstein	5	5	14	best-of-24[1]
1954	Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	Vasily Smyslov	7	7	10
1957	Moscow	Vasily Smyslov	Mikhail Botvinnik	6	3	13
1958	Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	Vasily Smyslov	7	5	11
1960	Moscow	Mikhail Tal	Mikhail Botvinnik	6	2	13
1961	Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	Mikhail Tal	10	5	6
1963	Moscow	Tigran Petrosian	Mikhail Botvinnik	5	2	15
1966	Moscow	Tigran Petrosian	Boris Spassky	4	3	17
1969	Moscow	Boris Spassky	Tigran Petrosian	6	4	13
1972	Laugardalshöll, Reykjavík	Bobby Fischer	Boris Spassky	7	3	11
1975	Manila	Anatoly Karpov	Bobby Fischer	by default			first-to-10 wins
1978	Baguio Convention Center, Baguio	Anatoly Karpov	Viktor Korchnoi	6	5	21	first-to-6 wins
1981	Kurhaus, Merano	Anatoly Karpov	Viktor Korchnoi	6	2	10
1984	Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions, Moscow	Anatoly Karpov	Garry Kasparov	5	3	40	first-to-6 wins; aborted match
1985	Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow	Garry Kasparov	Anatoly Karpov	5	3	16	best-of-24[1]
1986	Park Lane Hotel, London, and Leningrad Concert Hall, Leningrad[3]	Garry Kasparov	Anatoly Karpov	5	4	15
1987	Lope de Vega Theatre, Seville	Garry Kasparov	Anatoly Karpov	4	4	16
1990	Hudson Theatre, New York City, and Palais des Congrès, Lyon	Garry Kasparov	Anatoly Karpov	4	3	17
Classical World Chess Championships (1993–2005)
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	Savoy Theatre, London	Garry Kasparov	Nigel Short	6	1	13	best-of-24[1]
1995	World Trade Center, New York City	Garry Kasparov	Viswanathan Anand	4	1	13	best-of-20[1]
2000	Riverside Studios, London	Vladimir Kramnik	Garry Kasparov	2	0	13	best-of-16[1]
2004	Centro Dannemann, Brissago	Vladimir Kramnik	Peter Leko	2	2	10	best-of-14[1]
FIDE World Chess Championships (1993–2005)
Garry Kasparov was stripped of his FIDE-title after he and challenger Nigel Short split from FIDE in 1993. Anatoly Karpov, in 1990 participant in the last FIDE World Chess Championship match, was announced as incumbent World Champion. In 1996 FIDE changed its rule and the incumbent World Champion was not anymore automatically qualified for the Final match.
1993	Zwolle, Arnhem, Amsterdam, and Jakarta	Anatoly Karpov	Jan Timman	6	2	13	best-of-24[1]
1996	Elista	Anatoly Karpov	Gata Kamsky	6	3	9	best-of-20[1]
1998	Groningen, and Lausanne	Anatoly Karpov	Viswanathan Anand	2+2	2	2	single-elimination tournament with finals best-of-6 + tiebreaks
1999	Las Vegas	Alexander Khalifman	Vladimir Akopian	2	1	3
2000	New Delhi and Tehran	Viswanathan Anand	Alexei Shirov	3	0	1
2002	Moscow	Ruslan Ponomariov	Vassily Ivanchuk	2	0	5
2004	Tripoli	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	Michael Adams	3	2	3
2005	Potrero de los Funes, San Luis	Veselin Topalov	7 players	10 points out of 14			8-player double round-robin tournament
World Chess Championships (2006–present)
2006	Government House,[4] Elista	Vladimir Kramnik	Veselin Topalov	3+2	3+1	6+1	best-of-12 + tiebreaks
2007	Hotel Sheraton Centro Histórico, Mexico City	Viswanathan Anand	7 players	9 points out of 14			8-player double round-robin tournament
2008	Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn	Viswanathan Anand	Vladimir Kramnik	3	1	7	best-of-12 + tiebreaks
2010	Central Military Club, Sofia	Viswanathan Anand	Veselin Topalov	3	2	7
2012	Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow	Viswanathan Anand	Boris Gelfand	1+1	1	10+3
2013	Hyatt Regency Chennai, Chennai[5]	Magnus Carlsen	Viswanathan Anand	3	0	7
2014	Olympic Media Center, Sochi	Magnus Carlsen	Viswanathan Anand	3	1	7
2016	TBD, United States of America

Related matches

• 1928 (FIDE). The Hague. Efim Bogoljubov def. Max Euwe (5½–4½) (one-time FIDE championship, before the 1948 system)^[6]
• Fischer–Spassky, 1992 (independent). Sveti Stefan and Belgrade.^[7] Bobby Fischer def. Boris Spassky (+10−5=15) (unofficial rematch of the 1972 match)

Notes

References

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