Karpov, Kasparov, Carlsen... And who else was the world chess champion?

Wilhelm Steinitz became the first world champion in 1886. He defended the title several times and held it for eight years. In the championship matches, he beat Mikhail Chigorin from Russia twice.

In 1894, Emanuel Lasker took the title from Steinitz. The Germans dominated chess until 1921. Such a long series is also associated with the First World War, but 27 years is an amazing record!

From 1921 to 1927, the brilliant Cuban José Raul Capablanca was world champion. Interestingly, from 1916 to 1924, Capablanca did not lose a single match at the highest level at all.

Alexander Alekhin is the only chess player who died with the title of champion. He won the title in 1927 but lost it by two years in 1935. Alekhine died in 1946.

The Dutchman Max Euwe was the one who stripped Alekhine of the championship in 1935. Already after the end of his career in 1970, Euwe became FIDE President and held this post for eight years.

From 1948 to 1972, only chess players from the USSR became world champions. Mikhail Botvinnik held this title for the longest time. True, with two breaks: 1948-1957; 1958-1960; 1961-1963

Botvinnik's champion title was temporarily taken away by Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal. In 1963, the crown passed to Tigran Petrosyan for six years, and then to Boris Spassky.

Tigran Petrosyan :

Boris Spassky : 

The dominance of Soviet chess players was interrupted in 1972 by the eccentric American Robert Fischer. Three years later, he was stripped of the title for not wanting to defend it.

The crown was tried on by Anatoly Karpov, who became the best in the candidates' matches. For 10 years, the chess player defended the title of champion three times, and then Garry Kasparov took him.

From 1993 to 2006, due to the split, there were two champions at once. According to FIDE, the winners are: Anatoly Karpov, Alexander Khalifman, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomarev, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Veselin Topalov.

According to the PCA, the world champions during the split were Garry Kasparov (until 2000) and Vladimir Kramnik (until 2006). In 2006, Kramnik won the unification match against Topalov.

In 2007, Kramnik lost to Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. Since then, the Russians have not been world champions. And Anand himself stayed on the chess throne until 2013.

The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen. He has retained the title for eight years and has already defended his title three times.

If you like this blog, then write comments and ask questions, please help too, what topic should I write the next blog about? May I write about some world champion? Write topics that interest you and see you soon😊