The World Championship Tier List, Part 2

I’m back (again)! I truly apologize for taking so long to post this, I intended to finish this during winter break and post it as soon as the BlogChamps qualifiers started, but to be frank, I just got burned out. This is an ambitious undertaking that I started after writing 5 or so blogs in a couple of months while balancing school, and I just ran out of energy at the start of the new semester. But at the end of the day, it’s my responsibility to post in a more timely fashion, and to have a situation like this happen again is simply an embarrassment. I apologize.

As I detailed in the first installment of this series, I am ranking these matches on three criteria: excitement, skill level, and impact on chess history, from most to least important. In the last installment, I covered F-tier and D-tier world championship matches, and those only comprised 11 of the 50 world championship matches I’m covering. This might seem like a small amount, but considering that world championships are nearly always the pinnacle of chess skill-wise and almost always carry inherent historical value, I’m not surprised I found very few bottom-of-the-barrel matches. For this blog, I will be covering the C and B-tier matches, and I will close out the series next installment.

C Tier

We’ve ascended above most of the mediocrity. These matches have things going for them but also notable flaws that keep them from being anywhere close to elite. These matches might be interesting in their own right, but aren’t memorable enough to compare to the matches in higher tiers.

39. Alekhine vs. Bogoljubov, 1929

Kicking off the C-tier is a nice, mediocre match. Remember last time how I said this was better than the rematch?

Well, not by a whole lot. Bogoljubov put up a good fight early, going back and forth with Alekhine for several games, snagging multiple wins. But at the end of the day, Alekhine demonstrated the difference between elite players and legends, and decisively so.

38. Kasparov vs. Short, 1993

This is a match that in all honesty, barely escaped D-tier. Its main claim to fame is the fact that this was the first world championship match played under Kasparov’s Professional Chess Association, whose matches became the more historically accepted world championship matches until the organization re-unified with FIDE in 2006. 

The actual match itself was far duller than its narratives. Nigel Short (of king walk fame), was undeniably one of the strongest players of the early 90s, but much as the Kasparov-Anand match (ranked #40) from my last installment demonstrated, prime Gary Kasparov was an absolute monster. In the best-of-24 match they played, Kasparov was able to end the affair in just 20 games, losing only once in the process. 

At least it was a really cool win for Nigel Short, though:

It was also the only world championship win he would get, so this was one of his most prevailing marks in chess history. 

37. Lasker vs. Capablanca, 1921

After being the bogeyman of chess for nearly THREE DECADES, Lasker finally met John Wick. People often mention that Capablanca went 8 years without losing a chess game, but what makes this even more impressive is the fact that it happened from 1916 to 1924. This match was in 1921. Capablanca faced the man who was at the time, arguably the most dominant chess player ever seen (with only Morphy to contend), challenged him for his crown, and won the match 9-5, while maintaining his then 5-year stretch without a single loss. Terrifying.

In fairness to Lasker, Capablanca proposed a match in 1911, but a few small, hardly notable historical events happened between 1911 and 1921, sparked by a random aristocrat driving through the wrong neighborhood and getting shot. I don’t see how something that small robbed us of one of the potential best matchups in chess history, but whatever. Butterfly effects and all of that good stuff.

{Can you believe this guy shooting some archduke somehow stopped prime Lasker from facing Capablanca??}

36. Kramnik vs. Anand, 2008

With how viciously Anand snatched the crown from Kramnik, you would have thought he knew something already.

35. Lasker vs. Steinitz, 1894

The first unseating of a World Champion ever is quite the historic moment, and it was quite the thriller… for 6 games. (I know a lot of Nepo fans are having Vietnam War flashbacks, sincere apologies.) With the match tied 3-3, Lasker won the next 5 games, taking his lead to 12-7 and starting the longest reign in chess history. This is a strange one to rank: it’s a historic match, the birth of a new era, was close for a while until the sudden shift in momentum, but in all honesty, it was practically a formality. Steinitz was considering retirement but decided to continue his career to play (the 30-year younger) Lasker, and by the time round 9 came around, Lasker was in complete control. So while this is an incredibly pivotal moment in chess history, I had to bring it down a tier or so because for half of the match, it was all over but the crying.

34. Carlsen vs. Anand, 2014

This rematch was essentially foreshadowing for the rest of Magnus’s career. He faces a legend in a world championship, snags a win early, never trails again, and shows practically no weakness, winning the 12-game match 6.5-4.5. One of the greatest to ever do it.

33. Botvinnik vs. Smyslov, 1957

This match is almost interesting. Smyslov does get a quite nice win in round 1 as Black to start off, and Botvinnik claws his way back into the lead, and then…

Botvinnik tries his best but does not recover, and Smyslov wins 12.5-9.5. 

This match would be more interesting if Botvinnik didn’t have many more interesting matches, and if Smyslov didn’t have a more interesting match… against Botvinnik.

32. Botvinnik vs. Petrosian, 1963

This is the last world championship Botvinnik would ever play, and at this point, he was probably just too old to keep defending his title. He already barely took it back twice due to the rematch clause, and many future legends were springing out of the woodwork, such as the one who would take his title decisively in this match. Botvinnik hung around for a while, but eventually the Iron Tiger took 3 wins in 5 games near the end of the match, completely crushing Botvinnik.

31. Ding vs. Nepomniachtchi, 2023

This was quite an interesting back-and-forth that included a clutch Ding win near the end of the match to force tiebreaks, and a thrilling win by Ding in the final rapid tiebreak game to clinch the world championship. However, most of the wind in the sails of this matchup was taken away by the fact that it only existed because Magnus conceded his title, marking the first time since 1948 (in which FIDE organized a tournament after Alekhine’s death to decide the world champion) that a world championship crown was not taken from the former champion directly. By the time the 2024 match came around, the chess world had regained some semblance of normalcy, but the Magnus situation loomed too heavily over this match to place as it as high as it might have been had it been what could be traditionally considered a “true” world championship.

30. Anand vs. Gelfand, 2012

On the 7th game in this match, Boris Gelfand got the first win. Anand turned around and got a win the very next game to remind him who the World Champion was. He would remain the World Champion, as he snagged another win, and Gelfand was unable to strike back. 

29. Kasparov vs. Karpov, 1990

I suppose everything does get old at some point. At some point, you even get sick of having the same Michelin-star meal over and over. This was the fourth straight Karpov-Kasparov match, and to make it more dull, it’s the one whose outcome was the least in doubt. Kasparov was looking stronger every time they faced each other, and Karpov looked like he was slowly struggling to keep up. Very slowly, that is. It’s not as if this was a blowout; in fact the final score (12.5-11.5) was quite close. Kasparov never trailed, but Karpov was able to match every win Kasparov attained for two-thirds of the match. That’s when Kasparov won 2 of the next 3 games. Karpov, unable to recover in the final 4 games, was vanquished by his greatest foe for the final time.

B Tier

Most of these matches are excellent examples of a world championship, but not a historic one. They might not quite be thrilling enough or important enough, but none of these matches are weak. A lot of modern matches will fall here because playing at the highest level ever often sacrifices excitement, Additionally, the political or social excitement behind matches which can push them to higher tiers is less present nowadays. Some older matches will also fall here due to their lower skill level counteracting their high excitement. There has to be a balance.

28. Steinitz vs. Chigorin, 1889

The Steinitz matches are some of the funniest in chess history to me. There are no two Grandmasters you could pair today to attain a result half as decisive as his first match with Chigorin. Steinitz, despite being the father of modern chess, played like he didn’t know a draw was possible. This match had 16 straight decisive games before Steinitz clinched the match with a draw. Obviously such an extreme level of excitement comes at a price of quality, but it’s still a fun match to look back on. Additionally, despite the final score being lopsided, (10.5-6.5) the match was actually quite competitive (with Chigorin even snagging game 1) until Steinitz won 3 straight wins to run away with the match at the last minute.

27. Petrosian vs. Spassky, 1966

This is ever-so-slightly weaker than their rematch, simply because there’s less back-and-forth. In the rematch between these two, Petrosian lost, but took the lead multiple times. However, in this match, Spassky was able to trade blows with Petrosian, but he never took the lead or took control. If he had shaken things up a bit more, I would have ranked this match a bit higher.

26. Petrosian vs. Spassky, 1969

If I had to choose a world championship that sums up what a good world championship is, it would probably be this one. Two chess legends traded victories until they reached a nice close final score (12.5-10.5). The match had an unpredictable first half, but in end, the outcome was decided a few games before the final flag fell. Nothing thrilling enough to put this higher on the list, but it would be a crime to place it below B-tier.

25. Gunsberg vs. Steinitz, 1890-1891

Heading into this ranking, I took the liberty of assuming that Gunsberg was one of the least relevant people to ever participate in a world championship.  I am willing to bet money that less than 5 people here will know his first name (put it in the comments now, I’ll put it at the end of this segment.) He was basically one of the first 15 people to play chess with its modern ruleset, and while he does have two openings named after him, so did everybody in those days. Plus, one of them is a sideline of the Four Knights variation that nobody ever plays, and the other is a Queen’s Gambit Accepted sideline. 

The purpose of this slander against a historical chess figure who did nothing to warrant it is to explain why, when I started this exercise, I stumbled upon this match early, fully expecting to put it in F-tier move on. I then witnessed this man going back and forth with prime Wilhelm Steinitz, even taking a 3-2 lead at one point, before slowly losing grasp of the match, and conceding it 8.5-10.5. The play is somewhat dated of course, and most of the openings wouldn’t even be seen at the Tata Steel, let alone a world championship, but the skill level is still remarkably high, especially for a match at the dawn of scientific chess. 

This match is thrilling to me, because we live in a world in which if Steinitz lost two more games, Isidor Gunsberg could have been the second world champion. I apologize, Gunsberg. I was not familiar with your game.

24. Steinitz vs. Chigorin, 1892

This is the more famous match between the two, for reasons I will dive into shortly. Just like last time, Chigorin won game 1, but unlike last time, Chigorin was actually sticking around for a while, until the very end, where disaster struck.

The rules for this tournament are rather confusing, but in essence, the match was best of 20 games, and if it was tied by then, first to 10 wins. If both players reached 9 wins before then, the match would be declared a tie, and Steinitz would retain his title. Steinitz attained his 9th win in game 22, so I assume that since they did not end the match there, that they would have given the match to whoever reached 10 wins first, and nullify the 9-win clause. Since Chigorin had 8 wins, he was within striking distance heading into game 23. What followed was one of the most infamous moments in chess history:

With this infamous blunder, Chigorin threw away his last chance at a world championship, and cemented his place in history less favorably. A true chess tragedy. Speaking of embarrassing blunders to end thrilling matches…

23. Ding vs. Gukesh, 2024

I started this series by saying that while most of the chess community was harsh towards this match, I personally took a liking to it, and while I don’t believe it’s an elite match, I think it’s certainly a shining example of a match that has plenty to offer on and off the board. 

As the match approached, I confess I didn’t expect it to be close. After Ding won in 2023 to take the title from Nepomniachtchi, he largely retreated from the active tournament scene, and looked weaker than usual in his few appearances, whereas Gukesh was an enthralling superstar in his prime. This led many to suspect that Ding would put up a deflated performance and bow out quietly. However, that was far from the case, as Ding would win the first game as Black, shocking the entire chess world. 

Gukesh won round 3, tying it back up, and setting the stage for one of the tensest matches of the modern era. After another win for each side late in the match, it was all tied heading into the 14th game, and the match appeared destined to end in tiebreakers. Until…

A tragic end for such an exciting match.

22. Carlsen vs. Nepomniachtchi, 2021

 I am going to be completely honest here. I almost placed this match in A tier. Up until the very last edits for this blog, I didn’t even have a write-up prepared for this match because I knew I was going to do it for the last installment. Eventually I gave in, because the 7.5-3.5 final score is just too bad. 

I know a lot of people would place this match in C or D-tier, and some particularly vengeful souls would place it in F. But consider the facts here:

This is the last match of the Magnus era.

This match was an intense staredown until game 6, which broke the ice by being a top 5 game in world championship history, the longest game in world championship history, and one of the most-watched chess games ever. 

This match was a shift from some of the monotonous draw-heavy world championships that Magnus had participated in prior to this (cough Carlsen-Caruana cough), and while this sometimes did come at the expense of a sad Nepo fold, it was still thrilling as a viewer to wake up early to watch the world championship and witness decisive chess. 

Love it or hate it, it was one of the most memorable matches of our era, and in case it’s been too long since you’ve last seen it, here’s another look at game 6 (Annotations by Sam Shankland from the chess.com article in 2021):

Take that, haters.

21. Botvinnik vs. Tal, 1960

The only thing holding this match back from A-tier is the fact that this is a blatant blowout. On one hand, this factor should hold it back more, but on the other hand, it doesn’t matter a whole lot, because Tal at his best is always exciting to watch, and unlike in 1961 when Botvinnik essentially figured him out, Tal is at his best here. Just look at this piece of art in game 1: 

This was one of the most unique matches in world championship history. One of the most romantic players ever, a player who felt snatched from a different time, winning a world championship against the literal father of the surgical Soviet Chess School. Narrative-wise, it’s an all-timer, and the excitement lost from Tal dominating for most of the match is counteracted with the excitement gained from… Tal dominating for most of the match. This is basically the highest of B-tier matches possible.

*
*

Well everyone, that’s all for now. The final installment in this series will be covering the A-tier and S-tier matches, the cream of the crop, and will be coming much quicker than this one. Until then, I hope you enjoyed, and see you next time!