Classical World Chess Player Champions

Although there have been many great chess players in the history of chess game, there is only a selected few that have the honor to hold the World Champion title. In this article, you can see those officially recognized champions in World Chess however; there were also several unofficial champions such as Paul Morphy previous to 1886.

The World Chess Champions’ classical line began with Wilhelm Steinitz’s victory against Johannes Zukertort in their match in 1886. Since that time, the World Chess Championship has been typically competed between the current chess champion and a chess challenger in a match of chess game. Though, chess tournaments have been used on various occasion for different reasons.

As mentioned earlier, Wilhelm Steinitz is the first official World Chess Champion in 1886. He is acknowledged as the founder of a school in positional chess. His type of play was a sharp change from romantic then attacking chess that is famous all through out the 19th century. Steinitz played this kind of style in his early chess career but came to believe that a subtle and safe positional game play was necessary for mastering truly the chess game. At first, this theory was found strange by most of chess players but eventually proof of their effectiveness came through the chess match victories of Steinitz. Sometimes, his revolutionary style was also his greatest weakness. Most of the time, he often needed a dogmatic defense to his approach. He even played inferior moves and positions just to be able to prove that his theories were correct. There are many notable accomplishments of Steinitz.

Then there is Emmanuel Lasker in 1894 to 1921. Lasker, in his time was seen as such a psychological chess player who would play inferior moves just to throw his opponents off. Lasker was simply a hard headed chess player that played chess moves that sometimes violate the general principle of chess if he felt that they were appropriate for that given situation at hand. He held the World Chess Championship longer that any other chess players in the history of chess. His long termed dominant chess plays find him almost on the top most lists of the all time greatest chess players in the world. He defeated Steinitz and keep as a Chess Champion until he was defeated by Raul Capablanca in 1921.

After Jose Raul Capablanca in 1921 to 1927, there comes Alexander Alekhine in 1927-1935. After 2 years from 1935, in 1937 he became active again up to 1946. Next is Max Euwe in 1935 to 1937. Mikhail Botvinnik won the Championship title in 1948 to 1957 while Vasily Smyslov acquired the title in 1957-1958. Then again, Mikhail Botwinnik got it in 1958-1960 until he was defeated. Mikhail Tal won as Champion in 1960 – 1961. Again, Mikhail Botwinnik grabbed the title in 1961 – 1963 and many other more followed.

They are who inspired us to study and play the game of chess and be better in it. Who knows, maybe you can also emerge as Champion if you can just be patient and master the chess game.