List of World Chess Champions

World Chess Champions are players who have won a match or tournament for the World Championship at chess. Both men and women can become champion, but no woman has ever been a challenger for the title. There is however a separate championship for women. There are also separate championships for specific age groups.

Before 1886, there was no official championship held, but some players were thought to be pre-eminent. From 1948 on, the World Chess Federation FIDE held the championships. Between 1993 and 2006 there were two world champion titles, the FIDE one and the classical one.

The 2013 World Championship match took place between Anand and Magnus Carlsen (challenger) in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, where Anand grew up. Usually, world champions are played on neutral ground. Fischer played Spassky in Iceland; Alekhine played Capablanca in Buenos Aires. The Soviets always played in Moscow. However, sponsorship is needed for these matches, and the decision to accept the Chennai bid was taken by FIDE. The Challenger was victorious winning 3 games and achieving the necessary 6.5 points to win the title at the end of game 10.

Gukesh Dommuraju of India is the youngest and current World Chess Champion since 2024.

 Some players and authors before 1821 
These players are included (pre-18th century) on little more than opinion, and (18th century) on the basis of more substantial information.Van der Linde A. 1874. Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels. Edition Olms reprint 1981. ISBN 3-283-00079-4 Some authors of important early works on chess are noted.

+NameYearCountryFrancesch Vicent (author) ~1475 First printed book on chess. (Catalonia)The author was a Catalan. Until 1716, Catalonia, a principality of the Crown of Aragon, kept its own Constitution, language, usages and laws.Luis Ramirez de Lucena (author)~1490  First printed book on chess to have survived.Pedro Damiano (author)~1512 22px|border PortugalRuy López de Segura (author)1559–1575 El Morro~1560–1575 22px|border PortugalLeonardo da Cutro157522px Kingdom of NaplesPaolo Boi157522px Kingdom of SicilyGiulio Polerio~158022px Kingdom of NaplesAlessandro Salvio (author)~160022px Kingdom of NaplesGioachino Greco (author)~1620–163422px Kingdom of NaplesPietro Carrera~164022px Kingdom of SicilyErcole del Rio (author)~1750 (Duchy of Modena)Giambattista Lolli (author)~1760 (Duchy of Modena)Domenico Ponziani (author) ~1770 (Duchy of Modena)François-André Danican Philidor 1745–1795Johann Baptist Allgaier (author)~1795–~1815Verdoni~1795–~1804Alexandre Deschapelles1815–1821

 World Champions pre-FIDE 
These players are included on the basis of their winning matches against credible opponents. Champions are numbered from Steinitz onwards, because his match against Zukertort was publicly declared as a world championship and generally accepted.Winter, Edward G. (ed) 1981. World chess champions. Pergamon. .Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth 1992. The Oxford Companion to Chess 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, 

NameYearCountryLouis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais1821–1840Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant1840–1843Howard Staunton1843–1851Adolf Anderssen1851–18581860–1868Paul Morphy1858–18601. Wilhelm Steinitz1886–18942. Emanuel Lasker1894–19213. José Raúl Capablanca1921–19274. Alexander Alekhine1927–19351937–1946 Russia 5. Max Euwe1935–1937

 FIDE world champions 1948–1993 
Long matches, initially best of 24 games.
#NameYearCountry6Mikhail Botvinnik1948–19571958–19601961–1963 (Russia)7Vasily Smyslov1957–1958 (Russia)8Mikhail Tal1960–1961 (Latvia)9Tigran Petrosian1963–1969 (Armenia)10Boris Spassky1969–1972 (Russia)11Robert J. Fischer1972–197512Anatoly Karpov1975–1985 (Russia)13Garry Kasparov1985–1993 (Russia)

 FIDE world champions 1993–2006 
These knock-out events are separately numbered.
#NameYearCountry1Anatoly Karpov1993–19992Alexander Khalifman1999–20003Viswanathan Anand2000–20024Ruslan Ponomariov2002–20045Rustam Kasimdzhanov2004–20056Veselin Topalov2005–2006

 Classical world champions 1993–2006 
These are matches of the traditional kind, and of 15 or 20 games.
#NameYearCountry13Garry Kasparov1993–200014Vladimir Kramnik2000–2006

 Undisputed world champions 2006–present 
Various formats have been used, especially during Carlsen's tenure.
#NameYearCountry14Vladimir Kramnik2006–200715Viswanathan Anand2007–201316Magnus Carlsen2013–202317Ding Liren2023–202418Gukesh Dommaraju2024-present

 Women's World Champions 
NameYearsCountryVera Menchik1927–1944 / Lyudmila Rudenko1950–1953 (Ukraine)Elisabeth Bykova1953–1956 (Russia)Olga Rubtsova1956–1958 (Russia)Elisabeth Bykova1958–1962 (Russia)Nona Gaprindashvili1962–1978 / Maia Chiburdanidze1978–1991 / Xie Jun1991–1996Susan Polgar1996–1999 / Xie Jun1999–2001Zhu Chen2001–2004Antoaneta Stefanova2004–2006Xu Yuhua2006–2008Alexandra Kosteniuk2008–2010Hou Yifan2010–2012Anna Ushenina2012–2013Hou Yifan2013–2015Mariya Muzychuk2015-2016Hou Yifan2016-2017 People's Republic of ChinaTan Zhongyi2017–2018Ju Wenjun2018–present

Related pages
 List of chess Grandmasters

 References 

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Category:Chess lists