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 Country	Host City	World Champion	Runner-up(s)	Won (+)	Lost (−)	Draw (=)	Format
Unofficial World Chess Championships (1834–1886)
1834	United Kingdom	London	Louis de La Bourdonnais	Alexander McDonnell	45	28	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	Bernhard Horwitz	14	7	3
1858	France	Paris	Paul Morphy	Adolf Anderssen	7	2	2
1866	United Kingdom	London	Wilhelm Steinitz	Adolf Anderssen	8	6	0
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	Mikhail Chigorin	10	6	1	best-of-20 + tiebreak
1891	United States	New York City	Wilhelm Steinitz	Isidor Gunsberg	6	4	9
1892	Cuba	Havana	Wilhelm Steinitz	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	Wilhelm Steinitz	10	2	5
1907	United States	New York City Philadelphia Washington, D.C. Baltimore Chicago Memphis	Emanuel Lasker	Frank Marshall	8	0	7	first-to-8 wins
1908	German Empire	Düsseldorf Munich	Emanuel Lasker	Siegbert Tarrasch	8	3	5
1910	Austria-Hungary and German Empire	Vienna Berlin	Emanuel Lasker	Carl Schlechter	1	1	8	best of 10; disputed whether challenger had to win by 1 or 2 points;
1910	German Empire	Berlin	Emanuel Lasker	Dawid Janowski	8	0	3	first-to-8 wins
1921	Cuba	Havana	José Raúl Capablanca	Emanuel Lasker	4	0	10	best-of-24; 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	Efim Bogoljubov	11	5	9	first-to-6 wins AND 15 points
1934	Nazi Germany	Baden-Baden Villingen-Schwenningen Freiburg im Breisgau Pforzheim Stuttgart Munich Bayreuth Bad Kissingen Mannheim Berlin	Alexander Alekhine	Efim Bogoljubov	8	3	15
1935	Netherlands	Amsterdam Delft Rotterdam Utrecht Gouda The Hague Groningen Baarn 's-Hertogenbosch Eindhoven Zeist Ermelo Zandvoort	Max Euwe	Alexander Alekhine	9	8	13
1937	Netherlands	The Hague Rotterdam Amsterdam Haarlem Leiden Groningen Delft	Alexander Alekhine	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	4 players	14 points out of 20			5-player, 5-cycle round-robin tournament
1951	Soviet Union	Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	David Bronstein	5	5	14	best-of-24
1954	Soviet Union	Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	Vasily Smyslov	7	7	10
1957	Soviet Union	Moscow	Vasily Smyslov	Mikhail Botvinnik	6	3	13
1958	Soviet Union	Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	Vasily Smyslov	7	5	11
1960	Soviet Union	Moscow	Mikhail Tal	Mikhail Botvinnik	6	2	13
1961	Soviet Union	Moscow	Mikhail Botvinnik	Mikhail Tal	10	5	6
1963	Soviet Union	Moscow	Tigran Petrosian	Mikhail Botvinnik	5	2	15
1966	Soviet Union	Moscow	Tigran Petrosian	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	Viktor Korchnoi	6	5	21	first-to-6 wins
1981	Italy	Kurhaus Merano	Anatoly Karpov	Viktor Korchnoi	6	2	10
1984	Soviet Union	Moscow	Anatoly Karpov	Garry Kasparov	5	3	40	first-to-6 wins; aborted match
1985	Soviet Union	Moscow	Garry Kasparov	Anatoly Karpov	5	3	16	best-of-24
1986	United Kingdom and Soviet Union	London Leningrad	Garry Kasparov	Anatoly Karpov	5	4	15
1987	Spain	Seville	Garry Kasparov	Anatoly Karpov	4	4	16
1990	United States and France	New York City Lyon	Garry Kasparov	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	Nigel Short	6	1	13	best-of-24
1995	United States	New York City	Garry Kasparov	Viswanathan Anand	4	1	13	best-of-20
2000	United Kingdom	London	Vladimir Kramnik	Garry Kasparov	2	0	13	best-of-16
2004	Switzerland	Brissago	Vladimir Kramnik	Peter Leko	2	2	10	best-of-14
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, the 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	Netherlands and Indonesia	Zwolle Arnhem Amsterdam Jakarta	Anatoly Karpov	Jan Timman	6	2	13	best-of-24
1996	Russia	Elista	Anatoly Karpov	Gata Kamsky	6	3	9	best-of-20
1998	Netherlands and Switzerland	Groningen Lausanne	Anatoly Karpov	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 Teheran	Viswanathan Anand	Alexei Shirov	3	0	1
2002	Russia	Moscow	Ruslan Ponomariov	Vassily Ivanchuk	2	0	5
2004	Libya	Tripoli	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	Michael Adams	3	2	3
2005	Argentina	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	Russia	Elista	Vladimir Kramnik	Veselin Topalov	3+2	3+1	6+1	best-of-12 + tiebreaks
2007	Mexico	Mexico City	Viswanathan Anand	7 players	9 points out of 14			8-player double round-robin tournament
2008	Germany	Bonn	Viswanathan Anand	Vladimir Kramnik	3	1	7	best-of-12 + tiebreaks
2010	Bulgaria	Sofia	Viswanathan Anand	Veselin Topalov	3	2	7
2012	Russia	Moscow	Viswanathan Anand	Boris Gelfand	1+1	1	10+3
2013	India	Chennai	Magnus Carlsen	Viswanathan Anand	3	0	7
2014	Russia	Sochi	Magnus Carlsen	Viswanathan Anand	3	1	7
2016	United States	candidates: Los Angeles New York City San Francisco

Note: Name in bold print indicates lineal champion.

Related matches

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

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