The Economics of World Chess Championship in history

Before 1886

Chess was born out of the Indian game chaturanga before the 600s AD, and it eventually evolved into what we know as chess around the 16th century, but it became popular only in the mid 18th century, when Francois-Andre Philidor published his book “Analyse du jeu des Échecs” (“Chess Analysis”), which now represents a turning point in the history of chess. There have been many great players before the 19th century, but since there were no tournaments or championships, they were never recognized as champions. From the late 15th century to the early 17th, the game was dominated by Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese players, while from the 18th century to the mid 19th, French players were the best by far. Chess gained more popularity in the mid 19th century, mainly thanks to the Englishman Howard Staunton, the world’s leading player between 1843 and 1851, who created a new style of chess pieces known as the “Staunton Style”, still used to this day. Ten years later, in 1861, chess clocks were introduced to the game, making it pretty similar to what over-the-board chess looks like nowadays.

To understand how chess evolved and how the economics involved in it changed, a good factor to analyze is the prize for the World Chess Championship over time. The first official world chess championship happened in 1886, but there had been many informal world championship matches or tournaments before it. For example, in 1843 with Staunton against Saint-Amant, which is the first informal world championship match with a purse, of £200 ($36,000 in 2022). For most of the matches before 1948, either the challenger or both players, with the assistance of financial backers, would contribute to a purse. Then, about half of the purse would go to the winner’s backers, nothing to the loser’s backers, and the remaining was split between the winner and the loser ranging from a 50/50 split up to a 100/0 split. The first international tournament in history was held in 1851, in London. It was organized by Staunton, and won by Adolf Anderssen, making him the world’s leading player. The 1851 London Chess tournament was a big event for the time, and it had a purse of £500 ($100,000 in 2022).

In 1858, Anderssen was beaten by Paul Morphy, who quickly became the world’s strongest player by far. Morphy was 300 ELO points higher than the other best players in the world, whereas nowadays the difference is around 60 ELO points. Anderssen refused a purse of $6,000 ($205,000 in 2022), as he considered it too little money for a "formidable enterprise". Morphy quit chess only one year later, re-establishing Anderssen as the world’s best player.

Following Anderssen came Wilhelm Steinitz, who beat him in 1866, and Johannes Zukertort, who won the Paris 1883 chess tournament, against Steinitz. The rivalry between Steinitz and Zukertort led to the first official world chess championship, in 1886, won by Steinitz. The prize for this match set the record, being $4,900 ($150,000 in 2022).

From 1886 to 1948

Wilhelm Steinitz went on to successfully defend his title three times. One of these, in 1889, is known to be the least paid World Chess Championship, with only $1,150 ($35,000 in 2022). He only lost in 1894 to Emanuel Lasker, who held the title from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign ever (27 years). After winning five title defense matches, he lost to Capablanca in 1921. This match took 10 years of negotiations for the conditions and the stakes of the game, furtherly delayed by World War I. Because of this, the match became very popular, so much that the purse was a total of $25,000 ($388,000 in 2022), more than twice the highest before ($4,900, $150,000 in 2022, for Steinitz-Zukertort, 1886). Although Capablanca won, he only received $12,000, while Lasker, being the titleholder, received $13,000. 

During Capablanca’s attempt to reach an agreement for the game, he decided to propose new rules for the world chess championship, later accepted: the champion must be prepared to defend his title once a year, the match should be won by the first player to win six or eight games (the champion had the right to choose), and the stake should be at least £1,000 (about $70,000 in 2022). After the game, Capablanca also decided to propose the “London Rules”, which stated that the champion was not obliged to accept a challenge for a purse of less than $10,000 (about $165,000 in 2022), along with slight changes in the conditions of the game. Due to this rule, out of Alekhine, Rubinstein, and Nimzowitsch, who all challenged Capablanca, only Alekhine was able to raise the $10,000 demanded, and in 1927 he defeated Capablanca, becoming World Champion. He defended his title twice, lost to Max Euwe in 1935, but won the rematch in 1937. Alekhine was the World Champion during World War II and the only World Champion to die as a titleholder, in 1946.

After 1948

FIDE (“Fédération Internationale des Échecs”-“International Chess Federation”) tried to regulate the World Chess Championship many times in the early 20th century, but it wasn’t until the death of Alekhine in 1946 that it was able to become the main chess organization in the world. Alekhine’s death created an interregnum, a period where the title of World Champion remained vacant, for the first time in history. The interregnum ended in 1948, when FIDE organized its first World Chess Championship, won by Mikhail Botvinnik, from the Soviet Union. Botvinnik’s victory started a 20-year dominance of chess by Soviet players, who won every one of the 10 World Chess Championships. The World Chess Championship became an internal affair for the Soviet Union, so much that Tigran Petrosian earned a mere $2,000 bonus ($17,000 in 2022) for winning the title in 1966. 

It was only in 1972, with the so-called “Match of the Century” between Boris Spassky, Soviet titleholder, and Bobby Fischer, American, that this domination ended. This was not only viewed as the most anticipated world chess championship event of all time, but it had great geopolitical ramifications as well. The US and Soviet Union were both fighting the Cold War and fighting for chess supremacy. Bobby Fischer, with his eccentric and questionable actions, brought unprecedented interest and money to the World Chess Championship. He demanded 30% of the match’s television rights and gate, in addition to the agreed-upon purse of $125,000. Even though his request was met, he still didn’t show up to the Opening Ceremony. Fischer finally agreed to play, after a two-day postponement of the match by FIDE President Max Euwe, a doubling of the purse (making it $250,000, the equivalent of $1,662,000 in 2022), and much persuasion, including a phone call from US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. He went on to win the game, but when it came to defending his title three years later against Anatoly Karpov, he refused to play, as he did not agree to the conditions imposed by FIDE. The 1975 World Chess Championship could have been by far the highest-paid match in history, with a purse of $5,000,000 ($25,800,000 in 2022) offered by the city of Manila, about 20 times the highest purse before. Fischer quit chess and only came back in 1992 to play a rematch against Spassky. This rematch is not considered a World Chess Championship, but it’s worth mentioning that the purse was $5,000,000 ($9,905,000 in 2022), making it the highest-paid chess game in history. With Fischer refusing to play, Karpov was nominated World Champion in 1975. With him, another 25 years of Soviet domination started. Karpov was beaten in 1984 by Garry Kasparov, considered by many the best chess player in history. The two of them fought five incredibly close world championship matches, and their match in 1990 had a total purse of $3,000,000 ($6,380,000 in 2022), the highest world championship prize to this day. In 1993, Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short split from FIDE and played their title match under the Professional Chess Association (PCA). For the next 13 years, FIDE and PCA were rivals, only to reunite in 2006. The World Champion in 2007, Viswanathan Anand, held the title until 2013, when he lost to Magnus Carlsen, current World Champion and highest rated player ever, considered by many one of the best players in history, along with Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov.

*1993 and 2000 PCA World Chess Championships are missing, since in the same year the FIDE World Chess Championship took place, with a higher purse. 1995 and 2004 World Chess Championship (in yellow) have also been organized by the PCA.
**In both 2005 (under FIDE) and 2007 (reunited), the World Chess Championship was a tournament, not a match between two players.