The great undisputed world Champions

The game of chess which originated in India around the 6th century regarded as Chaturanga(four divisions of the military)it fittingly had its own Olympiad which started in 1927 in London which was organized by FIDE, with Russia as the most successful nation. Naturally, like in other sports, the top contenders struggled to be called a chess king, a world champion across generations, emerging especially, when the winner of the championship for the title either in a tournament, knockout or challenger format. These legitimate winners are often times regarded as the best and strongest player in that era not just because of their results but for their original and enriching advancements in chess theory. Usually the contender emerges and challenges the incumbent for the title but occasionally, the champion was determined from a single event like the 1948 Avro tournament after the death of the incumbent, Alekhine and in 2007 in Mexico. The official undisputed world champion was established during the reign of Steinitz until 1993 when Kasparov was stripped of his title for leading the formation of a parallel body. The unification match between Kramnik and Topalov in 2006 ended the schism and continued a succession of undisputed world champions till date.

Europe especially the Russians dominate this list, North America with 3 and Asia have two.

Credit ChessMood Liren is the first Chinese and current world champion

From Lasker to Alekhine and afterwards Botvinnik and until the Fisher-Karpov title match, the champions dethroned the incumbent during which the soviet school of chess started a domination from 1948 until 1975 when the enigmatic American Bobby Fisher temporarily broke the monopoly which was reinstated by the two greatest rivalries in history Kasparov and Karpov. Carlson and his predecessor Anand and Liren were the only non-Soviet Union (Russia) undisputed champions in recent times.

After the removal of Garry kasparov as FIDE champion, the challenger Nigel Short, who had earlier emerged from the candidate’s tournament knocking out Anatoly Karpov in the semifinals (which marked the end of the eternal duel between kasparov and karpov for the chess title which stretched from 1984 until 1993 and had five classic encounters) then defeated Jan Timman in the finals. both the Russian and British grand masters vied for the PCA title while FIDE provided the challengers for the vacant position, finalists Timman and Karpov, with the winner becoming the new champion. Unsurprisingly kasparov and karpov vanquished their opponents respectively. In 1995 Kasparov defended his title against the rising star fondly regarded as the tiger of madras Anand. Five years later,Kramnik took the title from Kasparov. while Karpov defended his title successfully a year later against Anand, but declined and stepped down in protest of the changes of the status of the defending champion in the next edition. The leading grandmasters were participating in both associations for the title of world champion but rightly regarded the PCA as the more prestigious of the titles.

The unification won by Kramnik by defeating Topalov in a controversial encounter ended the reign of multiple champions at the same time usually found in boxing, exactly 3 decades later (1993)after the creation of another championship body (2023)Magnus Carlson relinquished the undisputed world champion title citing a lack of motivation paving the way for a new chess king. Luckily it was a personal decision that did not disrupt the functional set up which produced the best players to compete for the title.

The seventeen undisputed champions are profiled independently in summary to highlight their greatness

Wilhelm Steinitz

He was the first official world champion. several countries will claim him as their champion.he and others had previously held claim to the title as a result of past tournament and match wins but by defeating Johannes Zukertort in 1886, which was the foremost contest prepared in advance for the sole purpose of picking a winner. He became a legitimate champion. Wilhelm advanced chess theory creating a modern and analytical framework for assessing various elements from a position and was supportive of recommendations regulating title matches including a candidates’ championship for the selection of a challenger which held in New York in 1889, he defended his title by defeating Isadore Ginsberg in 1890-1891, the leading contenders from the candidates Mikhail Chigorin and Max Weiss had withdrawn. He had also defeated Chigorin twice in 1889 his first title defense and in 1892. he lost to Emmanuel Lasker in 1894 and the rematch three years later.

Emmanuel Lasker

Laser’s 27 years as world champion was the longest reign in chess. his longevity was as a result of his excellent tactical abilities which set him apart from his peers. He saw chess as a struggle, a clash between adversaries. he created strategies that imposed a game plan that he is suited to exploit fully,taking advantage of each opponent’s shortcomings.

he defended his title convincingly against frank Marshall, Siegbert Tarrasch and David Janowski, and was only seriously threatened in a tight 1910  drawn match against Carl Schlechter. Lasker clearly  lost to Jose Casablanca in 1921.

Jose Raul Capablanca

The Cuban master, a chess prodigy with a sound positional ability rarely seen even till now. He played in a deceptively simple and effective style which produced outstanding results.one of the greatest endgame specialists.

Alexander Alekhine

The Moscow born player later migrated to France after the Russian Revolution.He created some sort of revolution on the chess board by advancing strategy which linked the three phases of the game, this deepened the knowledge of chess positions with a concrete and tactical play which created an imbalance on the chess board and also providing more insight into creating a harmony of the chess pieces that led to dynamism which gave him a competitive edge over his rivals including Capablanca at the title match, his research into the opening phase leading to advantages in the middle game phase was a milestone. He successfully defended his title twice against Bogoljubow. He surprisingly lost to Euwe but reclaimed the title which he held until his death.

Max Euwe

In 1935, Euwe an amateur and a mathematics teacher shocked the chess world by defeating Alekhine by a narrow margin winning nine, drawing thirteen and losing eight. He was the first world champion in the use of seconds and trainers, a lesson in team work, in introducing specialists to improve performance it gave him a leverage, this novel approach to his preparations for the encounter led to an upset. He is still the only Dutch champion. He lost the rematch two years later.

Mikhail Botvinnik

He was a great champion and was also famous for establishing a chess school in fact he is regarded as the Patriarch of the Soviet training school which had produced great players and future world champions. He increased the scope of chess analysis in all phases of the game particularly in similar positions in different openings being assessed in a scientific and systematic manner to enhance knowledge and understanding. He also broadened the depth of applying psychology against opponents. he accumulated all the elements that guaranteed success and also created and benefited from his innovations, like Football`s Beckenbauer he was world champion as player and coach. His major legacy from his school the three Ks-Karpov,Kasparov and Kramnik. He was champion at three different times regaining his title in several rematches.

Vasily Smyslov

Vasily was the seventh world champion and also an opera singer, He was the first to dethrone Botvinnik temporarily ending his nine-year reign. he was a very skillful and strong endgame player. He was part of the soviet grandmasters that dominated the world before the second world war until the eighties. He lost his title to Botvinnik.

Mikhail Tal

The second Mikhail in succession as world champion, at his best his tactical ability was without rival, he was apt in making very bold sacrifices which unsettled his opponents. Tal had a legendary 95 match unbeaten streak between 1973 until 1974 which was only bettered 30 years later like Smyslov, lost the title to Botvinnik.

Tigran Petrosian

He defeated Botvinnik to become champion and then Spassky, in his first defense before losing to the young grandmaster. Tigran introduced a pragmatic and prophylactic style of play which anticipated the opponents` moves and responded with a better plan. this made him invincible. he made the exchange sacrifice a popular and necessary strategic element that provided solidity in the chess position. he was a very difficult opponent to defeat. Tigran will be remembered for ending Fisher`s great winning streak.

Boris Spassky

He took the title from Tigran in his second attempt, he lost it to the mercurial American in one of the most famous world championship matches in history.he is regarded as a universal player capable of playing all the positions in a very strong way.

Bobby Fisher

He took chess to another level. the first world champion that was not from Russia since Euwe, He had a winning streak of 20 matches if the forfeiture of Panno is included, this extraordinary feat was against the strongest opposition and is quite rare which included 6-0 defeats to both Taimanov and Larsen, he also defeated Petrosian in the candidates final in a convincing 6.5-2.5. in the world title win against Spassky which he won 12.5-8.5 against a player he had not defeated before and had a losing H2H this gave him a 2785 Elo rating the highest by far within that period astonishingly,only 22 players have surpassed this mark in more than four decades. He sadly declined to defend his title against Karpov. he used the E4 opening move and rarely had options and it was very successful. he made the scilian defense especially the Najdorf very popular.

Anatoly karpov

He won his title by default but he was by no means inferior to any champion both in the past or present, he defended his title twice against Korchnoi and was FIDE world champion for ten years and also won the less prestigious FIDE title in 1993 and relinquished it six years later over dispute with the Chess Federation.Anatoly`s positional play was legendary, prophylactic often likened to the boa constrictor,a grip like hold on opponents which he usually converts to victories.

Garry Kasparov

Kasparov is arguably the greatest champion ever, His dynamic playing style, marked by solid and precise calculation of multiple moves ahead, consistently overwhelmed his opponents. his experience encompassing Botvinnik`s scientific approach, psychology and computer analysis was close to perfection, he was able to assimilate knowledge from all aspects of life, he had the passion and drive to match and the physical conditioning.after taking the title from Karpov in 1985 he held it for eight years before claiming the PCA title in 1993 which was regarded stronger than the FIDE title. he was world number one for most of twenty years. he was also a very strong grandmaster in the endgame. he lost to Kramnik in 2000 and retired five years later still ranked number one. he made chess popular.

The schism

In chess championship history the champion had always lost the crown by dethronement. losing and relinquishing the crown on the chess board and never from the boardroom. Fisher set a precedence refusing to defend his crown against Karpov after negotiations broke down. then in 1993 Kasparov and Short left FIDE and formed a parallel body, PCA after disagreement with the regulatory body. This led FIDE to make an alternative arrangement which changed the course of history. both contenders` career had an unfavorable outcome as a result of this turbulence, for the rising British grandmaster, this was his best opportunity to become champion, if kasparov was the only protagonist, like karpov in 1975, Short would have been made a champion by default.  As for Kasparov `s action it had two consequences first his main rival Karpov won the FIDE title without playing the best at that time(hardly Anatoly `s fault)increasing his tenure as champion which in hindsight was getting impossible to achieve, statistically, in each of their five Championship duels and their subsequent ELO ratings, other factors such as age and form pointed to only one victor in any future contest second, for Kasparov, his loss to Kramnik in 2000 was untimely and this acrimony which started seven years ago expedited his loss as champion and later early retirement. in a normal cycle Shirov who defeated Kramnik in the challenger match was the authentic contender for Kasparov, the title match and outcome would have been different based on history and head to head records against each other. It was a well-known fact that Kramnik was mainly the only opponent that would have unseated Kasparov which was anticipated for the future but the political situation and fortune presented him with this opportunity and he grabbed it with both hands claiming victory without losing a single match, winning two and drawing thirteen from sixteen games. this fortune also enabled Ponomariov, Kasimdzhanov and Khalifman to become champions without necessarily becoming the best or strongest players in the world. The tournament process used by FIDE was also not convincing, leading kasparov, kramnik and recently Carlson to withdraw from the candidate’s event until FIDE introduced the format being used today However before the unification Kramnik, Topalov and Anand were regarded as worthy champions because of their dominance over rivals during their reign and also reaching the number one ranking. The new format assisted in producing the best.

The withdrawal of Fisher then Kasparov and Short from the title matches from a purely sporting consideration alone was counterproductive diminishing the quality of the competition thereby depriving chess enthusiasts the opportunity of enjoying great moments beyond whatever rivalry that had existed previously based on their great achievements, for clarity, Fisher`s presence from 1975 could have provided a triumvirate rivalry of Fischer,Karpov and Kasparov likened to the Federer/Nadal/Djokovic rivalry that had captivated sports in general and would  have extended into the late eighties at least. The unification in 2007 reestablished the undisputed champion heritage produced by the strongest competition and have left the credibility of chess intact until this moment.

Vladimir Kramnik

The first undisputed champion after the unification and one of the greatest champions, he was among the few players that defeated kasparov in his prime and the only player to do so in a world title contest. His contributions to chess strategy is remarkable even breathing new life to the obsolete Berlin defense. He was a very difficult opponent to play against.

Viswanathan Anand

The fifteenth champion was a multiple champion, The first from Asia and India to sit on the throne, He won the title in different category and format, his defeat by Kasparov in 1995 and Karpov in 1996 gave him an invaluable experience,Anand won the PCA title in 2000 and he dethroned Kramnik in 2007,the only player to have won both titles. He won the rematch and also defeated Topalov to become the strongest player after Kasparov`s retirement. he is known for his speed, analytical and dynamic ability, he was also good in defense.

Magnus Carlson

The sixteenth world champion, Magnus held world titles in blitz, rapid and classical at the same time which is a record. Since he dethroned Anand in 2013 he has defended his title successfully with victories over Anand,Karjakin, Caruna and Nepomniachtchi he has been world number one in different categories. He stepped down as world champion in 2023 like Fischer is an undefeated champion and like Kasparov is still the current world number one, his peak rating of 2882 in may 2014, it even unofficially went as high as 2889 in the live rating, which is still the highest ever.

Ding Liren

He benefited from Karjakin`s sanction and removal from the candidates and went as a replacement and then he finished runner up at the candidates,Carlson`s unexpected withdrawal enabled him compete for the crown, at the title match, he came back from the jaws of defeat several times, he evened the score an astonishing three times and went on to win against the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi in a tie breaker. He is one of the fourteen super grandmasters that has cracked the 2800 rating, he peaked at 2816 and has the second longest unbeaten streak in history a 100 games sequence without defeat between august 2017 until November 2018. he will defend his title later this year against Indian`s rising star Gukesh.

What we can learn from the champions

The champions provided new approach to the game which gave them an edge. some key points are highlighted below:

Euwe introduced trainers and seconds.a lesson on collaboration to improve performance.

Botvinnik provided a scientific approach and improvement of existing theories. he was a mathematician, electrical engineer and computer scientist. all these knowledge were applied in the study of chess giving him a profound grasp of the elements and fundamentals of the game.

Petrosian had a game management approach which rescued him from defeats and gave him an edge.

Tal provided a tactical brilliance which made him difficult to play against it gave him a lot of victories.

Karpov did not allow the stigma of not becoming champion over the board act as a setback but rather it was a springboard and motivation to become one of the best ever. he was an unassuming player and never took things for granted over the board.

Kasparov embraced technology at the time others were still suspicious of it, it improved his abilities, although he was the first champion to lose to a machine but the advancement in technology as made it impossible for the best humans to compete against them. he was so willing to learn and always cited the workings of past champions.he provided lots of novelties to various openings.

Kramnik had two of the best mentors,Botvinnik and then Kasparov, the value of having such experience is invaluable.

Anand like Fisher before him was the major challenge to the Soviet dominance at that time but was a likeable person. Rivalries does not need to become toxic to achieve success.he went on to become one of the greatest champion.

Carlson also had Kasparov as a mentor, these type of relationship will provide insight and an advantage. he was from a country that was hardly known for chess, we can not let any disadvantage to compromise our ambition or career.

Liren studied law establishing the fact that diversification can always help in creating a balance in life which can complement your goals rather than act as a distraction, he was ready as well to take advantage of circumstance which was beyond control.his rise to the top was destined but he was ready and prepared. China is currently world champion in both the male and female category and Liren’s doggedness has played a huge part in this reality.