who is the world chess champion

Champions Of Chess :: who is the world chess champion

Chess has been around for a very long time. In fact it's one of the oldest games that man has ever known. There are even historians that date it back to the 2nd century. It's been a very entertaining game for man. However, there are also competitions held and tournaments assembled in which chess champions could play against each other for the world champion title of chess.

19th Century Backtrack

Even before the 19th Century, there have been recorded chess games and competitions. In fact, there were a lot of champions coming from that era that have set excellent examples of different strategies and plans. First on the list is Ruy Lopez de Segura that won in 1560 and became an uncontested chess champion till 1575, in which he lost the title to Leonardo de Cutri and Paolo Boi. In 1600, Alessandro Salvio was the one to claim the title, which in turn was lost to Gioachino Greco, 20 years after.

The Real Deal

Although these names have already went down the records of history, real chess championships are actually the ones which started back in 1843. This is when Fournier de Saint Amant was considered to be the worlds best player as he won the competition. He was able to defeat Howard Staunton. This French guy dominated 18th century chess industry in which other names such as Ker, Deschapelles Philidor,and Bourdonnais were also mentioned to be chess champions.

From 1851 up to 1914, chess world champions include names such as Adolf Andersen; Paul Morphy, who was never dethroned since he died in 1884 as a champion; Wilhelm Steinitz, who is considered to be the first official world champion since it was only in 1886 when the official tournament was announced; Lasker, who had the title for 27 long years.

The Grandmasters

During 1914, the Tsar of Russia announced that the chess world championship would be then called Grandmaster of Chess. Thus, this title was given to Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall. These men all had the title grandmaster of Chess.

Until now, Capablanca is recognized to be the most brilliant champion of chess for all times. Dating back 1921 up to 1927, he was literally untouched, but then defeated by Alekhine. Euwe was able to defeat Alekhine but Alekhine was able to regain it in 1937. He was able to defend it well until 1946, as he died a champion.

It was in 1948-1972 when Russia's dominance in the world of chess occurred and a new breed of chess champions began to emerge.

Russia And Chess

The sport of chess was absolutely dominated by Russia from 1948 to 1972. When Alekhine died, the title of champion went to Mikhail Botvinnik in 1948.

Additionally, FIDE laid down new rules for the title to be formalized. It was then that pre-qualifying games, inter-zonal tournaments, and knock-out matches were done first. The winner from these matches can then challenge the reigning chess champion. If ever you're the champion and you got defeated, you could challenge a re-match, as long as it is within one year of your defeat. Thus, the game cycle was set into three years.

After The Rules

After the changes, Botvinnik lost in 1957 to Smyslov. However, Botvinnik asked for a rematch within a year and won back his title 1958. This incident made Smyslov to be the world chess champion to hold the record shortest. Botvinnik was defeated by Mikhail Tal, but he was able to regain the title again within a year. Then, Tigran defeated him. Spassky came into the picture and defeated Tigran. Russians were clearly dominating chess world back in this period of time.

Welcome America

It was in1972, that the title was given to an American and his name is Bobby Fischer, who was astoundingly effortlessness with all his games. He is also considered to be one of the worlds most popular players, even to those people who do not play chess. He remained to be a champion until 1992.

However, Fischer's reign has so many anomalies. Nevertheless, Spassky, Karpov and Kasparov are the other world champions for chess within the time Fischer held the title in obscurity and up until now.