Chess World Championship Data

We hope you enjoy this deep dive into the statistical history of the worlds greatest game. You can start by viewing the timeline of chess world championship history below. Check stats by player or match and enjoy the Positional History of the championship by making moves on the board and discovering who played that position, when and where and how it turned out for them.

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World Championship Timeline

WilhelmSteinitz

1886

1894

EmanuelLasker
JoseCapablanca

1921

1927

AlexanderAlekhine
MaxEuwe

1935

1938

AlexanderAlekhine

1946

AlekhinePasses

The chess world was faced with the issue of solving the problem of a dying champion. The 1948 FIDE World Chess Championship Tournament was the answer.

MikhailBotvinnik

1948

1957

VasilySmyslov
MikhailBotvinnik

1958

1960

MikhailTal
MikhailBotvinnik

1961

1963

TigranPetrosian
BorisSpassky

1969

1972

BobbyFischer
AnatolyKarpov

1975

1985

GarryKasparov
SplitTitle

1993

In 1993 Garry Kasparov broke away from FIDE for many reasons and declared he would defend his title in a newly created organization called the PCA (Professional Chess Association). This created a split-title as FIDE continued it's own championship cycle.

1993 PCA

GarryKasparov
AnatolyKarpov

1993 FIDE

1999 FIDE

AlexanderKhalifman
VladimirKramnik

2000 PCA

2000 FIDE

ViswanathanAnand
RuslanPonomariov

2001 FIDE

2004 FIDE

RustamKasimdzhanov
veselintopalov

2005 FIDE

2006

UNIFICATIONMATCH

Finally after 13 years the decision to unify the title was made. FIDE champion Veselin Topalov played a match against PCA champion Vladimir Kramnik for the new title.

VladimirKramnik

2006

2007

viswanathanAnand
MagnusCarlsen

2013

2022

CarlsenLeaves

"I am not motivated to play another match. I simply feel that I don’t have a lot to gain, I don’t particularly like it, and although I’m sure a match would be interesting for historical reasons and all of that, I don’t have any inclination to play and I will simply not play the match."
- Magnus Carlsen

DingLiren

2023