Greetings! Welcome back to my blog. Today I will be comparing all the undisputed world chess champions and showing some of their best games. In total, as of 2022, there have been 16 undisputed champions starting with Wilhelm Steinitz and as of 2022, Magnus Carlsen. So let's get started!
Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm Steinitz was the first undisputed World champion. He reigned supreme in the years 1886-1894. He was a chess writer and theoretician. Though he was one of the best chess players, he was in poverty most of his life due to more money management. That aside, he was still a great chess player, with many great games.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $489,860
Peak Rating: N/A
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker was the 2nd Undisputed world champion. He was the Champion from 1894-1921 (The longest ever- almost 30 years!) He was a chess writer, and he also invented his own board game, Lasca. In 1921, he faced Jose Raul Capablanca in a match where he lost his world champion title.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $655,235
Peak Rating: N/A
Jose Raul Capablanca:
Jose Raul Capablanca was the third Undisputed Champion after beating Emanuel Lasker in 1921. He then held his title until the year 1927. When he wasn't playing chess, he was a chess writer, and his book, Chess Fundamentals, was, and still is regarded as one of the best. He was influential to many including Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, Ect.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $467,211
Peak Rating: N/A
Alexander Alekhine:
Alexander Alekhine was the 4th undisputed World Chess Champion. Notable for using the Alekhine Opening, He was the champ from the years 1927-1935 and regained the title from 137-1946. Like many other chess champs, he was a writer, and he also was great at endgame skill at the board. Alekhine died when he choked on a piece of food, leaving him the only champion to die while holding the title.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $453,134
Peak Rating: N/A
Max Euwe:
Max Euwe was a Dutch mathematician and chess master. He was also the 5th undisputed chess champion. He was the champion from the years 1935-1937. In his later years of life, He was also the FIDE President.
Total money made (Inflation Adjusted: $146,941
Peak Rating: 2530
Mikhail Botvinnik:
Mikhail Botvinnik was the 6th Undisputed Champion from the years 1948-1963. He was a Computer Scientist and a pioneer in Computer Chess. He also coached many of the great, including Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Vladimir Kramnik.
Total Money made (Inflation adjusted): $157,206
Peak Rating: 2630
Vasily Smyslov:
The 7th undisputed Chess Champion, Vasily Smyslov, reined supreme from the years 1957-58. He was a candidate for the World Chess Championship on 8 different occasions. Up until he died in 2010, he remained active in chess composition and puzzles. He won one of his last-ever tournaments, the World Senior Chess Championship.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $125,720
Peak Rating: 2620
Mikhail Tal:
The 8th undisputed Chess Champion, Mikhail Tal, was the best from the years 1960-61. He is considered a creative chess player and widely known as one of the best. He held the longest streak of unbeaten chess games until Ding Liren beat him with 100. He died in 1992 and every year since 2006 there has been a tournament in his memorial in Moscow.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $95,689
Peak Rating: 2705
At this point, we are halfway through the champions! So what are you waiting for? Keep reading!
Tigran Petrosian:
Tigran Petrosian was the 9th undisputed World Champion. He was the Champ for 6 years from 1963-69. He was known as "Iron Tigran" because of his defensive strategy during games. He is known also for popularizing chess in Armenia. He was partially dead but that did not prevent him from being one of the best.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted: $178,061
Peak rating: 2645
Boris Spassky:
The 10th undisputed World Champion, Boris Spassky, was the Best of the Best from the years 1969-1972. After losing to Tigran Petrosian in 1966, he went on to beat him in 1969 to claim the title until Bobby Fischer took it from him. As of 2022, he is the oldest former Champion still alive.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $4,379,557
Peak rating: 2690
Bobby Fischer:
The 11th undisputed Champion, Bobby Fischer is widely regarded as one of the best and many believe he is the best. He has won a grand total of 8 U.S championships the first one when he was only 14! In 1972, he defeated Boris Spassky in a match that left him the Champion. even though he made some bad choices (Which I will not be going over in this blog) he still was a brilliant chess player. His most notable game was Dubbed as the Game of the Century which I will be showing you down below.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $8,283,512
Peak rating: 2785
Anatoly Karpov:
The 12th undisputed Champ was Anatoly Karpov. He held this title for 10 years (1975-1985). He is known for being one of the greats, and one of his matches against Garry Kasparov lasted 48 games and 5 months! It was terminated for the player's health and it is said that Karpov lost 22 pounds from that match. He had 102 months being number 1 which is the thrid longest of all time.
Total money won (Inflation Adjusted): $14.213,888
Peak rating: 2780
Garry Kasparov:
With many people claiming he is the best, Garry Kasparov was the 13th undisputed Champion from the years 1985-93 (Keep in mind this is undisputed Champion. He broke off from FIDE to make his own championship program until 2007.) Garry Kasparov has been ranked number 1 for a grand total of 255 months in his career (the most of all time)! He also holds the youngest ever undisputed Champion at the age of 22 when he defeated Anatoly Karpov. To this day he rarely plays chess, but he does still occasionally do speed chess.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $17,170,361
Peak rating: 2851
Vladmir Kramnik:
The 14th undisputed Champion, Vladimir Kramnik, was the best from the years 2006-07. He got this from beating Veselin Topalov when there were two different champions so they settled on who would be the undisputed Champ with a match that Kramnik won. He is one of the few players to get a rating over 2800 with a rating of 2817.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $7,180,304
Peak rating: 2817
Viswanathan Anand:
Viswanathan Anand was the 15th undisputed Chess Champion. He was the Top Player from the years 2007-13. He was the 4th ever player to cross the 2800 rating mark with a rating of 2817. He has won many top-level tournaments including the 2000 World Blitz Cup, the 1980 World Rapid Chess Championship, the 2007 Candidates Tournament, Ect. He still plays professionally to this day and is still one of the top players.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $13,412,549
Peak rating: 2817
Magnus Carlsen:
Last but DEFINITELY not least, it's Magnus Carlsen. The 16th undisputed world champion, He has reigned supreme since 2013 and he is still the Champ. He started his career off with a BANG when he defeated Anatoly Karpov and drew Garry Kasparov in the SAME TOURNAMENT. He earned Grandmaster at only age 13, at 15 he won the Norwegian Chess Championship, and at 18 he surpassed the rating of 2800. From then it was smooth sailing to being World Champion, a title he still holds.
Total money made (Inflation adjusted): $10,916,423
Peak rating: 2882
Awards:
Best chess career: Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov
The reason I had them tied is that Garry Kasparov has had a more amazing career than Magnus but Magnus also had a higher peak rating. Garry Kasparov's career is basically over while Carlsen is still going strong. It was tough but I ultimately decided to give them a tie.
Best youth player: Bobby Fischer
I chose Bobby Fischer because while Magnus Carlsen did come close, Bobby Fischer in his youth won Every U.S Open he competed in with many of those wins before he was 18, but he also performed the Game of the Century in his youth as well.
Biggest chess pioneer: Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik was a computer scientist so he was able to help make computer chess a thing. Without him, Online chess might not be the way it is today.
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Wow. This has by far been the longest blog I have ever written. Thanks for reading to the end! Seeya!
