World Chess Champions

World Chess Champions 2006 – present

#	Name	Year	Country
20/15	Viswanathan Anand	2007–present	India
19/14	Vladimir Kramnik	2006–2007	Russia

Vishy Anand is the only World Champion in history who won the World Championship in 3 different formats: Match (Bonn 2008), Tournament (Mexico City 2006) and Knockout (New Delhi & Tehran 2000). Anand won the 2003 World Rapid Chess Championship as well.

World Chess Champions 1993 – 2006

FIDE world champions

#	Name	Year	Country
18	Veselin Topalov	05–06	Bulgaria
17	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	04–05	Uzbekistan
16	Ruslan Ponomariov	02–04	Ukraine
15	Viswanathan Anand	00–02	India
14	Alexander Khalifman	99–00	Russia
12	Anatoly Karpov	93–99	Russia

Classical world champions

#	Name	Year	Country
14	Vladimir Kramnik	00–06	Russia
13	Garry Kasparov	93–00	Russia

Why two world chess champions?

In 1993, Garry Kasparov, who was the world champion at the time and his challenger Nigel Short established the Professional Chess Association (PCA), which was competing with FIDE. There were two world chess champions until the reunification match, which was held between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik in late 2006.

The World Chess Federation (Fédération Internationale des Échecs, known as FIDE), was founded in Paris on the 20th day of July 1924. It is responsible for organizing the world chess championships. Its members are chess federations.

	FIDE Presidents	Year	Country
6	Kirsan Ilyumzhinov > 13 yrs	1995 – present	Russia
5	Florencio Campomanes-13yrs	1982-1995	Philippines
4	Fridrik Olafsson - 4 yrs	1978-1982	Island
3	Max Euwe - 8 yrs	1970-1978	Netherlands
2	Folke Rogard - 21 yrs	1949-1970	Sweden
1	Alexander Rueb - 25 yrs	1924-1949	Netherlands

Dominance of the Russian chess players started shortly after FIDE was established. In Russia, the transformation of the game into modern chess emerged in the 17^th century, much later than in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and UK. Read more about the Chess Queen.

World Chess Champions 1886 – 1993

#	Name	Year	Country
13	Garry Kasparov	1985–1993	Soviet Union (Azerbaijan) Russia
12	Anatoly Karpov	1975–1985	Soviet Union (Russia)
11	Robert J. Fischer	1972–1975	United States
10	Boris Spassky	1969–1972	Soviet Union (Russia)
9	Tigran Petrosian	1963–1969	Soviet Union (Armenia)
8	Mikhail Tal	1960–1961	Soviet Union (Latvia)
7	Vasily Smyslov	1957–1958	Soviet Union (Russia)
6	Mikhail Botvinnik	1961–1963 1958–1960 1948–1957	Soviet Union (Russia)
5	Max Euwe	1935–1937	Netherlands
4	Alexander Alekhine	1937–1946 1927–1935	France Russian origin
3	José Raúl Capablanca	1921–1927	Cuba
2	Emanuel Lasker	1894–1921	Germany
1	Wilhelm Steinitz	1886–1894	Austria-Hungary United States

Leading chess masters before 1886

Name	Year	Country
Johannes Zukertort	1879–1886	Germany
Wilhelm Steinitz	1866–1878	Austria-Hungary
Paul Morphy	1858–1862	United States
Adolf Anderssen	1862–1866 1851–1858	Prussia
Howard Staunton	1843–1851	United Kingdom
Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant	1842–1843	France
Louis de la Bourdonnais	~1820–1840	France
Alexandre Deschapelles	~1800–1820	France
Francois-André Philidor	~1747–1795	France
Legall de Kermeur	~1730–1747	France
Gioachino Greco	~1620	Kingdom of Naples
Alessandro Salvio	~1600	Kingdom of Naples
Paolo Boi and Leonardo da Cutri	~1575	Kingdom of Naples
Ruy López de Segura	~1560	Spain
Pedro Damiano	~1520	Portugal
Luis Ramirez de Lucena	~1490	Spain

Chess Players

World Chess Champions

Leading chess masters before 1886

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