French players dominated between the 18th and 19th centuries. Legall de Kermeur (1730-1747), Francois-Andre Philidor (1747-1795), Alexandre Deschapelles (1800-1820) and Louis de la Bourdonnais (1820-1840) were regarded as the strongest of their time.

In 1843, the Englishman Howard Staunton won a match against another Frenchman, Pierre-Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant, and was considered to have been the world`s strongest player of that decade. However he only finished third in the 1851 London tournament, and was considered to have surrendered the role to the tournament`s winner, Adolf Anderssen (1851-1858).

Anderssen was then convincingly defeated in a match by the American Paul Morphy. He was toasted across the chess world as the champion. After winning against Anderssen, Morphy announced his retirement from chess, but many considered him the world champion until his death in 1884.

With the death of Morphy, Anderssen was considered again as the world`s strongest active player specially after he won the strong London tournament of 1862. In 1866, he narrowly lost a match against Wilhelm Steinitz, and some regard this to be the first world championship match. However, the match was not announced as a world championship at that time.

Only after the death of Morphy in 1884 was a World Championship Match declared. The match between Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort in 1886 was won by Steinitz. Though not held under the auspices of any official body, it is widely regarded as the first official World Chess Championship Match and Steinitz the first official World Champion.

The Stenitz-Zukertort world championship match was conducted informally. At the turn of the century if a player considered himself a worthy challenger, he would issue a challenge to the reigning world champion. If he won, he declared himself the new world champion. There was no structure of qualification to be challenger although it was generally considered that the challenger system did produce champions who were the strongest of their time. The players who held the title until World War II were Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, and Max Euwe, each one defeating the previous title holder in a match.

Nottingham 1936

Standing (>): R. Fine, Dr. S. Tartakower, Dr. M. Vidmar, E. D. Bogoljubov, T. H. Tylor, C. H. O'D. Alexander, S. Flohr, S. Reshevsky, M. Botvinnik, A. J. Mackenzie.
Seated (>): Sir G. A. Thomas, Dr. E. Lasker, J. R. Capablanca, Ald. J. H. Derbyshire, Mrs Derbyshire, Dr. M. Euwe, Dr. A. Alekhine, W. Winter.

Lasker became the next champion. He was criticized for playing infrequently but he dominated the field in a series of tournaments. He held the title from 1894 to 1921, a reign of 27 years unlikely to be equaled by any champion.

In 1921 a challenger emerged from a small island nation. Jose Raul Capablanca, a young Cuban, was a natural player who hardly prepared for his matches but won them convincingly. He had an uncanny knack to judge positions over the board. He was well known for his skill to translate a small advantage into a win. He was undefeated from 1916 to 1923.

In 1927, a new challenger stunningly upset Capablanca. Before the match, Alexander Alekhine was not given much chance to upset the feared Cuban. However, Alekhine`s rigorous preparation paid off against Capablanca`s natural talent. Alekhine`s hard work specially in opening analysis set the trend for future grandmasters.

Alekhine used tactical skill to complicate the game whereas Capablanca preferred simple positions. Due to alcoholism, Alekhine lost the title in 1935 to Max Euwe but won it back shortly in two years after restoring his health. He then held the title until his death in 1946.

FIDE Takes Over Organization of World Championship

The death of Alekhine left the chess world without a champion. The informal challenge system could not deal with this unexpected occasion. The World Chess Federation (known as FIDE from its French acronym of Federation Internationale des Echecs) took over the world championship and organized a match tournament in 1948. Five of the world`s strongest players, namely Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, Paul Keres, Samuel Reshevsky, and Vasily Smyslov were invited. Also invited was Reuben Fine who declined since he was finishing his doctorate. Botvinnik won the tournament and the title of World Champion. Thereafter FIDE continued to organize the world championship.

Instead of the informal challenge system, FIDE designed a democratic system of qualifying tournaments and matches. FIDE was subdivided into zones and winners of qualification tournaments joined the world`s strongest players in Interzonal tournaments. The top finishers in these Interzonals qualified into the Candidates series. Originally a tournament, the Candidates format was changed into a series of knockout matches. The winner of the Candidates would then be the Challenger to the reigning world champion who did not have to qualify. The champion also enjoyed a rematch privilege. A three-year cycle was needed from the Zonals to Interzonals, Candidates and World Championship.

World champion Mikhail Botvinnik, who won the 1948 tournament, successfully defended his title two times in the next six years. He held both David Bronstein and Vasily Smyslov to 12:12 draws to retain his title.

In 1957, however, Smyslov won the match and the title, beating Botvinnik 12.5 - 9.5. Botvinnik, however, won it back in 1958. Smyslov was then the world champion for the shortest period. This dubious honor went to Mikhail Tal in 1960. Known as the Magician of Riga, he won over Botvinnik by 12.5 - 8.5. But Botvinnik regained his title the next year by a score of 13-8 in their rematch when Tal fell ill.

FIDE abolished the rematch privilege and Botvinnik played only one more world championship match, losing 12.5-9.5 to Tigran Petrosian of Armenia.

Petrosian defended his title successfully in 1966 against Boris Spassky by a narrow margin of 12.5 - 11.5 in Moscow. Three years later, also in Moscow, Spassky had his revenge 12.5 - 10.5 against Petrosian.

In 1972, a brash young American, Bobby Fischer electrified the sports world. He became the first non-Soviet challenger since before World War II and the first under FIDE. To qualify, he had crushed his opponents Bent Larsen 6-0, Mark Taimanov 6-0 and Tigran Petrosian 6.5-2.5.

The "Match of the Century" held in Reykjavik, Iceland was the most famous in chess history being between a Soviet and an American at the height of the cold war. At first Fischer complained about the prize fund which was then doubled by an English millionaire. The purse at that time was more than the total prize funds of all the previous world championship matches combined.

Then Fischer threw away the first game and defaulted the second game. He refused to show up after complaining against playing conditions. But he came for the third game which he won spectacularly. Fischer ended the match 12.5-8.5 ceding only one more win to Spassky.

In 1975, another Soviet challenger emerged, Anatoly Karpov, to challenge Fischer for the world championship. However, Fischer made demands to change the format of the match to an unlimited number of games, draws not counting, with the first player to win 10 points declared champion. In case of a 9-9 tie, the champion would retain his title. This meant that the Challenger had to win by a score of 10-8.

The FIDE General Assembly did not accept the demands of Fischer. He gave up his FIDE title but maintained that he was still world champion and became a recluse. He returned in 1992 to play a rematch with Spassky purportedly for the world championship although the chess community did not take this seriously since they had both been inactive for many years.

FIDE in 1975 declared Karpov the world champion and he dominated the tournament circuits for almost two decades. He successfully defended his title against Soviet defector Viktor Korchnoi twice, in 1978 in the Philippines and three years later in Italy, in matches with the format of first to win six in an unlimited number of games, draws not counting.

This format was changed by FIDE, however, when in 1984 FIDE President Florencio Campomanes stopped the match without result after it had reached 48 games.

In 1984, another Soviet emerged as challenger, Garry Kasparov, a fiery young player who fought five very close matches with his arch rival. Kasparov won in Moscow in 1985 by a score of 13-11 and in London and Leningrad in 1986 narrowly by 12.5-11.5. Then in Sevilla, Spain in 1987, Kasparov and Karpov drew 12-12 allowing Kasparov to retain the title. In 1990 the match was held in two halves in New York, USA and Lyon, France with a record prize fund of 4.1 million Swiss Francs. Kasparov won by the narrowest of margins, 12.5-11.5.

In 1993, Nigel Short of England emerged as challenger in the FIDE 3-year cycle and was set to play a match against Kasparov in Manchester, England. Complaining that they could get a bigger prize fund, Short and Kasparov split from FIDE and formed the now defunct Professional Chess Association and held their match in London.

According to FIDE regulations calling for substitutions in case players do not exercise their right to play in the world championship, FIDE conducted the world championship between Karpov, who regained his title, and the other semifinalist, Jan Timman.

Since then there have been official world champions under FIDE and a parallel series led by Kasparov who beat Viswanathan Anand but lost to Vladimir Kramnik in 2000.

In the FIDE cycle, Gata Kamsky emerged challenger in 1995 and Karpov successfully defended his title against him in 1996.

That year, FIDE approved a new world championship system of month-long series of knockout matches consisting of two regular games and rapid chess and blitz tie breaks among some one hundred of the world`s top players.

In the first knock out world championship series in 1998, Viswanathan Anand emerged as challenger in the knock out series in the Netherlands. Karpov as the defending champion was seeded directly into the finals and won over Anand in the final held at the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The champion`s privilege of seeding was withdrawn in 1999 and Karpov declined to participate. Alexander Khalifman of Russia won in Las Vegas in 1999, Anand became champion in New Delhi, India and Teheran, Iran in 2000 and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine became champion in 2002 in Moscow.

In May 2002 in Prague, Czech Republic, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov led players in signing a unity agreement called the "Prague Agreement". Kasparov and Kramnik were among the players signing the agreement. The plan was to have an undisputed world champion and to meld the format of the world championship using the traditional system.

The plan was for matches between Ponomariov and Kasparov, and between Kramnik and Peter Leko. The former was set to be organized by FIDE in Yalta under the patronage of President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine but was cancelled after Ponomariov refused to sign the contract.

The Kramnik-Leko Budapest, Hungary, but sponsorship could not be found. Instead it a 14-game match took place in Brissago, Switzerland from 25 September to 18 October 2004. Kramnik drew the match with Leko (7-7) and moved to the final of Joint World Chess Championship.

Instead of Ponomariov, it was decided the the World Champion from the 2004 Fide World Championship shall play a match with Kasparov in accordance with the Prague Agreement. Rustam Kasimdzanov of Uzebekistan became the Champion of Fide World Championship, 2004. In accordance to plan Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov match was supposed to be held in in Dubai, January 2005. But The World Chess Federation (FIDE: http://www.fide.com) has announced the termination of negotiations with the candidate Dubai organiser of the World Chess Championship match Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov. The Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov match is now scheduled to be organised in spring 2005 and FIDE has already entered discussions with other candidate organisers and sponsors.