Top 6 Chess Grandmasters Never to Become World Champions

There were many chess players who played in top level in various eras.  But only 16(champions of fide split excluded) were able to get to the ultimate thrown of being the world chess champion. However some greats still remained in the book of history despite not just making it. Maybe some of them really deserved to be a champion indeed, but something went wrong in the end, maybe luck ,maybe lack of ability or something else? Anyways let’s look at the greatest 6 chess players who never could make it to the glory to become champion.

6. Carl Schlechter (1874-1918, Austria-Hungary)

Carl Schlechter was one of the strongest chess players of his time,but not for long. However he was the first serious threat to World Champion Enmanuel Lasker in 16 years.
Schlechter was a gentleman player who was best known for drawing games. And his gentleman’s play seemed just enough to finish Lasker’s reign as he reached the last game with 1point (drawing all 8games and winning one) ahead. 

Enmanuel Lasker Vs Carl Schlechter 1910 World Championship

Schlechter had a better position at some point in the game, but then he blundered and then blundered again ,thus losing it all. Before the last game Enmanuel Lasker, "The match with Schlechter is nearing its end and it appears probable that for the first time in my life I shall be the loser. If that should happen a good man will have won the World Championship".

But Lasker won the final game so the match was tied to 8draws 1win each, thus Lasker retained his title. Schlechter was never able to make a comeback and got sick in the later years and ultimately died in 1918 of pneumonia.

5. Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908, Russian Empire)


The last great player of “Romantic Chess” Mikhail Chigorin played in two world championships against the first Chess world champion Wilheilm Steinitz. Chigorin gave a great fight in both of this championship especially in the second encounter where both drew 10-10 after 20 games (4draws and 8 wins each) but eventually losing in the tiebreaks. Chigorin had a deadly tactical playing style. Garry Kasparov once mentioned that World Champion Alexander Alekhine may have been influenced by the tactical play of Chigorin.

4. David Bronstein (1924-2006, Soviet Russia)


Widely considered as one of the strongest Grandmasters of all time, David Bronstein failed to get the glory of being world champion by an inch. Bronstein challenged Mikhail Botvinnik for the world championship in 1951. Bronstein was a tactical player and Botvinnik was the steady and strategic one ; the 24games match was a rollercoaster-ride.

Crowd in Mikhail Botvinnik vs David Bronstein 1951
In a match where the lead swung back and forth several times, the two players tested each other in a wide variety of opening formations, and every game (except the 24th) was full-blooded and played hard to a clear finish. Bronstein was leading by 1 point in before the last two games but he lost the 23rd game and drew the 24th game(the last one), meaning the match ending in a draw by 12-12 and Botvinnik retained his title. Bronstein was one of the strongest player in the world from 1940’s to 1970’s but he could never get the glory.

3. Akiba Rubinstein (1880-1961,Russian Empire- Poland-Belgium)


At his peak, Rubinstein was probably the strongest player in the world. He won the Carlsbad tournament and the All-Russian Masters' tournament, and shared first at Saint Petersburg. In 1912 he had a record string of wins, finishing first in five consecutive major tournaments. Though these events didn’t include World Champions Enmanuel Lasker and Jose Raul Capablanca; Many believe he was stronger than both at that time. Chessmetrics Rating favor this as it places Rubinstein as the best player in the world from mid 1912 to mid 1914.

Akiba Rubinstein Playing Simulation Game 
But sadly, Rubinstein could never challenge any world champion for being unable to raise funds, luck also played a serious turn too as World War outbreak occurred at the time he was in peak. If fortune favored him, who knows we could see a new world champion? Well that’s just only “if”.

2. Paul Keres (1916-1975. Estonia)

Paul Keres is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in chess and even you may find his name in the Top 20 greatest chess players of all time list. He was among the best players in the world from mid 1930s to mid 1960s but alas, he was never able to gain the glory of world champion. In 1938 he tied with Fine for first, with 8½/14, in the all-star AVRO tournament, held in various cities in the Netherlands, ahead of chess legends Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, Reshevsky, Alekhine, Capablanca and Flohr. AVRO was one of the strongest tournaments in history; some chess historians believe it the strongest ever staged. Keres won on tiebreak because he beat Fine 1½–½ in their individual two games. Thus Keres was given the right to challenge the World Champion of that time, Alexander Alekhine. But it never really happened for the World War 2 outbreak. Sounds kinda like Rubinstein right? Well that wasn’t the end of Keres’s career. 

A Sculpture of Paul Keres in his birthplace Estonia
Keres may not have the same strength but he played in 6Candidates Tournaments and being 2nd in 4 occasions ,more than any other player. That’s the reason he is called “Paul the Second” or the "Eternal Second" and somehow he has earned the 2nd place here as well.  Many believe that Keres would defeat Alekhine if the match was held as Keres was quite strong at that time.  Egon Varnasz, a Hungarian Chess master and writer once stated in his book, "The best player in the world was Paul Keres".

A notable game of Keres, where he defeats the great world champion Jose Raul Capablanca!

1. Viktor Korchnoi (1931-2016, Russia-Switzerland)

Just like Keres, you cannot make a list of top 20 greatest players without Korchnoi. Korchnoi won bunch of strong tournaments throughout his career, ofcorse except the world championship. He took part in 10 Candidates tournaments and won 2 of them and faced the World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Korchnoi also narrowly missed the chance in the 1974 Candidates tournament when he lost the finals to Karpov. This was indeed the start of the rivalry. Karpov got the right to challenge Bobby Fischer for the Championship but Fischer refused to defend thus Karpov became the Champion. Korchnoi won the next two candidates tournament to challenge Karpov. Both of the matches were full of controversies. Karpov brought a special psychologist(Korchnoi complained he was a hypnotist) for him which Korchnoi complained about for hypnotising him by making eye contact. So he then came on to the board with style, wearing sunglasses! The look was really iconic. It was done in order to reflect any eye contact. 

Viktor Korchnoi Vs Anatoly Karpov with his iconic sunglasses

Soviets were actually backing up Karpov while Korchnoi was fighting all his own. Challenging Karpov twice, Korchnoi failed to defeat him in both attempts. However by no means you can say he didn’t had the ability to become the champion. He has an impressive record against all top players, also his longevity is just mind blowing. He is among the only three players(the other two are Paul Keres and Alexander Beliavsky)  who have defeated 9 undisputed world champions. He is the only player to draw or win against each World Champion since 1948, meaning Mikhail Botvinnik to Magnus Carlsen! And his score against them is outstanding. Korchnoi’s score against each world champion(decisive games):

• Tie Against Mikhail Botvinnik. 1win, 1lose, 2drawsWin Against
• Vassily Smyslov. 5wins, 3loses, 13draws
• Thrashing the magician from Riga Mikhail Tal with 13wins, 4loses and 27draws
• Beating Tigran Petrosian, “the Iron Tigran”(named for his defensive skills) with 12wins, 10 loses and 49 draws.
• Defeating Boris Spassky 21 to 16 with 34 draws.
• Tie against one of the Greatest chess players of all time Robert James Fischer with 2wins, 2defeats and 4 draws( Only Efim Geller has a better score against Fischer with 5wins 3 defeats 2draws)
• Lost against Anatoly Karpov by 31 to 14 with 63draws
• Lost to Garry Kasparov by 16 to 1 with 23 draws
• Lost to Vladimir Kramnik 6 to 0 with 6draws
• Lost to Vishwanathan Anand 8 to 0 with 3 draws
• Win against Magnus Carlsen with 1 wins and 0 defeats
  
  Viktor Korchnoi(80) vs 2700 Rated Fabiano Caruana(18) in 2011
  

  Its understandable that Korchnoi has a bit poor score against new World Champions as Korchnoi got older. But his score against the rest is simply spectacular. Another outstanding fact about Korchnoi is that, at the age of 80, he defeated 18 year old Fabiano Caruana(currently no 5 in the world) whose rating was 2700 back then. It simply shows how great Korchnoi was till his last years. Still he really couldn’t make it to climb the top of the world.

  
  
  

  I hope you enjoyed reading this article. You may not agree with ranking but am sure Korchnoi tops the list for everyone. Let me know in the comments, who should be in the list in your opinion and who shouldn’t be.