The youngest world chess champion. Russian world chess champions
The 2018 World Chess Championship is the 56th edition of the championship among chess players of the highest level, during which the best grandmaster on the planet will be determined. Two people will take part in the competition: the current world champion and the winner of the candidates tournament. Everything is clear with the first participant - this is Magnus Carlsen. But the name of the second opponent will become known only in March 2018, when the Candidates Tournament will take place. Dozens of the most talented players on the planet are vying for the vacant position, such as Boris Gelfand, Sergey Karjakin, Viswanathan Anand and Peter Svidler. So the fight for a ticket to the 2018 World Cup promises to be hot!
Tournament format
Strictly speaking, it's just a very long chess match. The match involves up to 12 games. Therefore, the meeting of grandmasters often takes many days. For example, the last final match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin lasted from November 11 to November 30.
Two players take part in the competition: the current holder of the chess crown and the winner of the Candidates Tournament. The Candidates Championship takes place several months before the World Cup. The 8 best athletes in the world are selected for it: leaders of the FIDE rating, finalists of last year's important competitions, vice-champion of the last world championship and wild card holder.
Where and when will the 2018 World Chess Championship take place?
The match for the chess crown will take place November 7 – 28, 2018. A few months before it, a candidates tournament will be organized, at which the second participant in the 2018 World Cup will be determined. This championship is scheduled for March 8–29, 2018. All dates are purely approximate. Therefore, it is worth waiting for the official release from officials of the International Chess Federation.
But the venue is still unclear. The tournament organizers are eager to hold the competition in one of the Asian countries. It is assumed that China, Japan, Singapore or Hong Kong could take on the role of host country.
Participants of the 2018 World Chess Championship
So far, one character of the upcoming fight is known. This is the winner of the last World Cup, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. His opponent will be one of the 8 participants in the candidates tournament, which the following athletes will be able to qualify for:
- vice-champion of the 2016 World Cup;
- 2 finalists of the FIDE Cup 2017;
- 2 winners of the FIDE Grand Prix 2017;
- 2 athletes with the highest FIDE rating (as of 2017);
- wild-card holder (issued by the tournament organizers).
The vice-champion of the World Cup is known. This is Sergey Karyakin. This title gives a Russian the right to immediately qualify for the Candidates Championship.
As for the World Chess Cup, it will take place from September 1 to 25, 2017 in the Georgian city of Batumi. 128 athletes will take part in it. But only the finalists will receive the coveted tickets.
Another competition, the Grand Prix, will be held from February 17 to November 26, 2017. The competition will be organized in 4 stages:
- February 17 – 28 (Sharjah, UAE);
- May 11 – 22 (Moscow, Russia);
- July 5 – 16 (Geneva, Switzerland);
- November 15 – 26 (Palma de Mallorca, Spain).
Places in the Candidates' Tournament will be given to the 2 players who score the most points at the end of the Grand Prix.
The holders of 2 more tickets will be the athletes with the highest rating of the International Chess Federation. Last time they were the Dutchman Anish Giri and the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov.
And finally, another “ticket” will be held by the grandmaster, who will be invited by the organizers of the Candidates Tournament. In 2015, such a lucky winner was the athlete from Armenia Levon Aronyan.
Winner of the 2018 World Chess Championship
The modern history of the World Cup began in 2006, when the title of absolute champion was challenged by Russian Vladimir Kramnik and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov. A native of the Krasnodar region celebrated the victory. However, since then, domestic athletes have no longer become triumphants of the world championship, as evidenced by the statistics of the last winners of the world championship:
- 2016 – Magnus Carlsen;
- 2014 – Magnus Carlsen;
- 2013 – Viswanathan Anand;
- 2012 – Viswanathan Anand;
- 2000 – Viswanathan Anand;
- 2008 – Viswanathan Anand;
- 2007 – Viswanathan Anand.
The last drawing of the tournament, held in 2016, almost broke the losing streak for Russian grandmasters. After all, for the first time since 2008, a domestic athlete, Sergey Karyakin, took part in the championship. Fans of the Russian chess school hoped that for once they would be able to interrupt the Hindu-Norwegian rule! But fortune smiled on the Scandinavian again, although Sergey Karjakin was very close to victory.
The upcoming championship will be the third attempt in a row to dethrone the 26-year-old Norwegian prodigy. Let's hope that the troublemaker this time will definitely be a Russian!
Afterword
Kasparov, Capablanca, Botvinnik, Karpov, Tal, Fischer, Alekhine - these are the names with which chess is associated with the average person. The last world championship, where two of the most talented young grandmasters of the chess world, Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin, met, again drew the attention of millions of people to this seemingly elite sport. Let's hope that the upcoming 2018 World Cup will receive as much attention from spectators and the press as the last world championship!
Description
Austrian Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) won the first ever official world championship match, held in 1886 in three US cities. He is considered the founder of the positional school of chess. Several variations and systems in the opening of the game are named after him (Steinitz defense, Steinitz system)
Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) became world champion at the age of 25, defeating Steinitz. He retained the title of world champion for 27 years, which is a record. In the photo: Wilhelm Steinitz (left) and Emanuel Lasker, 1894
After the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany, Lasker lived in Great Britain, the USSR and the USA. Repeatedly stopped playing chess to study mathematics and philosophy
The third world champion, Cuban Jose Raul Capablanca (pictured), defeated Lasquera in Havana. From 1916 to 1924 he remained undefeated in official matches. He was interested in developing new, improved chess, proposed, in particular, two new combination pieces, to increase the size of the board, but then lost interest in these ideas
The fourth world champion Alexander Alekhine competed for three countries - the Russian Empire, the RSFSR and France. He became a world champion while being a French citizen. He died in 1946 in Portugal a day after the FIDE executive committee decided to hold a world championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik. In the mid-1930s, he became addicted to alcohol, which may have been due to homesickness. This could be one of the reasons for his defeat in the 1935 world championship to the Dutchman Max Euwe
The fifth world champion, Dutchman Max Euwe (1901-1981), held the title for two years between his two matches with Alexander Alekhine. After the death of the Russian champion, he took part in the match-tournament for the chess crown in 1948, but took fifth and last place in the competition and then finished his performances at the highest level. In 1970-1978 he served as FIDE President
Mikhail Botvinnik - the first Soviet world champion (1948), patriarch of the Soviet chess school. Founder and permanent director of the Botvinnik School, where the youngest talented chess players of the USSR studied
The seventh world champion Vasily Smyslov was a 10-time winner of the World Chess Olympiads. Age record holder among participants in the Candidates Tournament: in 1984, at 62, he lost to Garry Kasparov
Mikhail Tal (1936-1992) won the championship match against Botvinnik at the age of 23, but lost the title a year later. Despite the fact that Tal was a champion for only one year, he is considered one of the most prominent representatives of the Soviet chess school. Almost until his death in 1992, he was one of the ten strongest chess players in the world.
World Chess Championship match between Tigran Petrosyan and Boris Spassky (right). At the referee's table, international referee, chief judge of the championship Alberic Kelly, 1969
The ninth world champion (1963-1969) Tigran Petrosyan received the nickname Iron Tigran for his style of defense. Considered the most difficult player in the history of chess. He was also called Chess Lefty because of his playing style, which baffled many opponents.
10th world champion Boris Spassky. Became world champion after his second match with Tigran Petrosyan in 1969. He defended the title in a match against American grandmaster Robert Fischer, to whom he lost in 1972 in Reykjavik. Last year, Spassky changed the chess federation from the French one, for which he had played since 1984, to the Russian one.
American Bobby Fischer became world champion in 1972, beating Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky ahead of schedule in Reykjavik. After this, Fischer did not play a single game in official competitions. In 1974, he came into conflict with FIDE and refused to defend his title. He had a scandalous reputation, but it is noted that thanks to his requests, the size of the prize fund for the world championship match increased significantly
A solemn ceremony in honor of the proclamation of grandmaster Anatoly Karpov as world chess champion. In the photo: FIDE President Max Euwe presents Anatoly Karpov with a laurel wreath, 1975
World Chess Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, 1984. The confrontation between Karpov and Kasparov became one of the most epic in the history of chess. In total, they played five world championship matches - more than any other pair. In 2002, Karpov beat Kasparov in an unofficial rapid chess match.
New world chess champion Garry Kasparov after the end of the chess match for the title of world champion in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, 1985. After 2005, he devoted himself to political activities, participating in a number of opposition movements. In 2014, he participated in the FIDE presidential elections, losing to the current head of the organization, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. In May 1997, he took part in a match against the chess supercomputer Deep Blue, losing one game out of six.
14th world champion Vladimir Kramnik in a match against Hungarian Peter Leko. In 2006, in a unification match, he beat the FIDE world champion, Bulgarian Veselin Topalov. In 2000, he became the PSA world champion, beating Kasparov
The 15th world champion Viswanathan Anand won the title in 2007 following a tournament in Mexico City. Anand successfully defended his title three times against Kramnik, Topalov and the Israeli Boris Gelfand. In November 2013, the Indian grandmaster lost the world championship match to the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen
Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is the first absolute world champion in the history of chess (in classical chess since 2013, since 2014 in rapid and blitz). One of the youngest grandmasters in the world, he became one at the age of 13 years, 4 months and 27 days. He is also the youngest chess player to top the FIDE ranking (at 19 years and 1 month).
Since the 16th century, chess clubs have appeared in Europe, which helps to popularize chess and spread the game throughout the continent. In the 18th century, various tournaments, national championships and matches between the strongest chess players were already held. Generally recognized best chess masters appear. So the second half of the 18th century belongs to the French, in the 40s of the 19th century the British were considered the best.
In 1851, an international tournament was held in London, the winner was a German. He is considered the first unofficial king of chess. Until 1858 he was unbeatable in serious matches and tournaments, until a young American came to Europe. The young talent, a chess player from America, defeated the best players of the old world, including Andersen. After Morphy left the chess arena, Andersen regained the title of the best player in the world, but not for long.
In 1866, a match was organized between Andersen and the Austrian chess player Wilhelm Steinitz. The Austrian won and many believe that this match and 1866 should be considered the beginning of the reign of the first world chess champion. But still, for the first time the phrase “world championship match” was in the match agreement between Steinitz and Zukertort in 1886. The status of the best player in the world in this match was confirmed by Wilhelm Steinitz, who is deservedly mentioned in all sources as the first official world chess champion.
129 years have passed since then and during this time the world has seen 16 world champions. Among them, chess players from Russia (USSR) won the title the most. The oldest champion was Steinitz, he was 50 years old. The person who won the world title the most was Mikhail Botvinnik; he became the strongest player on the planet three times. The second world champion, Emanuel Lasker, held the chess crown for the longest time. You will learn many other interesting facts, stories, excerpts from famous games of world chess champions by clicking on the photo of the champion you are interested in.
World chess champions
![](https://i1.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Steinitz01-e1435491280269.jpg)
![](https://i1.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/lasker-e1435491358570.jpg)
![](https://i0.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Jose-Raul-Capablanca-e1435491398848.jpg)
![](https://i0.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Alehin.jpg)
![](https://i1.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Max-Euwe.jpg)
![](https://i0.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/botvinnik.jpg)
![](https://i0.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/vasilyi-smyslov.jpg)
![](https://i2.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Mihail-Tal.jpg)
![](https://i2.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Tigran-Petrosyan.jpg)
![](https://i0.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Spasskyi.jpg)
![](https://i1.wp.com/wmsg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/fischer.jpg)
Even in Ancient Egypt they loved chess, as evidenced by the wall paintings of those times. In antiquity, Olympiads and various tournaments were held, so it is impossible now to say who was the first world chess champion in those days. They began to closely monitor developments in this area only since the Middle Ages, when publications began to be published about chess positions and the art of this game, as well as more organized competitions were held.
Background of serious chess competitions
Already in the Middle Ages, scientific works appeared demonstrating a deep analysis of the game. It is quite possible that the authors of these books could well emerge as winners in international tournaments. Thus, the work of Francis Vicente, published in 1495 in Valencia, is considered lost and almost mythical. But Averbakh considers Damiano’s work that has come down to us, published in Rome in 1512, to be plagiarism of Vicente’s book.
Another famous author was Luis Ramirez de Lucena, who published his book in 1497 in Salamanca. It is his candidacy that many consider the most suitable when considering the question of who was the first world chess champion.
Tournaments and matches 16th - mid-19th century
Reliable documentary evidence of serious competitions dates back to a tournament in Rome in 1560. It was there that Ruy Lopez de Segura emerged victorious, defeating the strongest chess players of that time. An international chess congress was held in Madrid in 1575, it was held at the court of King Philip II. Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri from Italy won here.
Since 1619, Gioachino Greco has been considered the best among the best. This chess player traveled to different countries, including France, Italy, England, Spain and America, defeating the strongest players everywhere.
In the 18th century, such chess champions as Kermur Legal and André Philidor Francois Danican became famous. The first one is especially memorable for the game with Saint-Brie, where he delivered a unique checkmate (later called Legal's Checkmate) in a game without a rook. Philidor was inferior to Legal in his youth, but in 1747, after a London match with Philip Stamma, he was recognized as the best player.
An interesting match between Louis Charles Maheu de Labourdonnais and A. McDonnell, which took place in 1834 in London. Labourdonnais was declared the winner, although the match was interrupted. That same year, also in London, Labourdonnais lost two matches to Alexander McDonnell. The 1843 match in London, where Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant beat Howard Staunton, was not so spectacular. That period is considered a decline. Staunton took revenge over Saint-Amand at a match in Paris in the same 1843, remaining champion. In 1949, a tournament was held in London using the knockout system, where Henry Thomas Buckle became the first.
The beginning of a new chess era
A new rise in chess is considered to be the period from 1851, when the great Adolf Andersen appeared, who also won in London using the knockout system. Only the best chess players from all countries were invited to this tournament. So Andersen could also lay claim to being the first world chess champion.
Morphy followed as a bright star in 1858. He managed to defeat Andersen in a match in Paris. This chess player received a gold crown and a silver wreath in 1859 in Boston.
Official men's world chess champions
The beginning of official world-scale competitions is still considered to be 1866, when the name “world championship” slipped into the documents. This made it possible to end the debate about who was the first world chess champion. It was Wilhelm Steinitz who defeated Andersen in this match.
But from 1867 to 1883, no world championships were held, although the names of Kolisch, Winaver, Neumann and Chigorin went down in history. Johann Zukertort, who won the London super tournament in 1883, was included in the list of champions.
The second chess champion was the German Emanuel Lasker, who defeated Steinitz in the USA in 1894. Although he moved to third place in the 1895 super tournament in Hastings, the winner of the tournament, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, was not declared champion. But Lasker won super tournaments in St. Petersburg in 1914 and in New York in 1924.
In 1921, Lasker lost the title to Cuban Jose-Raul Capablanca. The next champion was Alexander Alekhine, defeating Capablanca in 1927. The 1935 match was won by the Dutchman Mahgilis Euwe, who managed to beat Alekhine, but not on his own, but with the help of grandmasters led by Lasker. In 1937, Alekhine regained his title, remaining the undefeated champion until his death: the chess player was poisoned in 1946.
Since 1948, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) has taken over the organization of matches where the world championship was determined. In 1948, the USSR won. He was replaced by his compatriot in 1957. In 1960, the USSR emerged victorious. In 1963, Botvinnik beat (USSR), and he lost in 1969 to Boris Spassky. The victory in 1972 went to the American Robert James Fischer. Next was Russian Anatoly Karpov in 1975, and in 1985 he was surpassed by Garry Kasparov.
The ups and downs of recent decades
The period from 1992 to 2006 is considered a time of troubles. In 1993, Kasparov had a falling out with FIDE, was deprived of the title (Fischer was considered the 1992 champion), and created his own league - the Professional Chess Association. Within the framework of the new organization, Kasparov beat Short and became the 1993 champion according to the PCA, and according to FIDE, Karpov became the first. So at the turn of the century, the most powerful world chess champions were Kasparov, Karpov, and Fischer.
Next, FIDE chose the knockout system format, where such champions as Khalifman, Anand, Ponomarev, Kasimzhanov, Topalov appeared. The PSA collapsed, the league began to be called the championship according to the classical version (victory over the current champion), where Kasparov beat Kramnik in 2000. Only in 2006 was a unification match held between the champions in both versions, where Kramnik defeated Topalov, becoming the absolute world champion.
In 2007, Viswanathan Anand became the strongest. In 2013, he was replaced by the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
The best chess players on the planet
While world chess champions among men can be traced back centuries, women began to take an active part in competitions relatively recently. The countdown dates back to 1927, when the world women's championship was officially held in London. Vera Menchik is the first world chess champion. It is noteworthy that, being the daughter of a Czech and an Englishwoman, she was born and lived in Moscow until she was 15, only then did she move with her parents to England. Menchik confirmed her title in numerous matches and tournaments that took place in different cities of the world from 1927 to 1939, but in 1944 she died, still remaining the champion.
The next champion was Soviet chess player Lyudmila Rudenko in 1950, when world championship matches resumed. She was replaced by compatriot Elizaveta Bykova in 1953. Another Soviet chess player Olga Rubtsova won the title in 1956, but lost again to Bykova in 1958. Then Soviet athletes, but from Georgia, also became the best in the world: from 1962 and from 1978
Only in 1991 did the Chinese Xie Jun become the strongest, losing the championship to the Hungarian Zsuzsa Polgar in 1996 and rising to the top again in 1999. In 2001, Zhu Chen from China became the champion, in 2004 Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria was recognized as the best , well, in 2006 the Chinese woman Xu Yuhua became the first. In 2008, the title was received by a Russian woman, who was replaced in 2010 by a Chinese woman, Hou Yifan.
In 2012, Ukrainian Anna Ushenina won the title, but since 2013, Hou Yifan again became the best.
The first world chess champion was determined in the official match between Steinitz and Zukertort from January 11 to March 29, 1886 in three US cities (New York, St. Louis, New Orleans). Steinitz won this match with a score of +10 – 5 = 5 and was declared world champion.
Wilhelm Steinitz - Austrian and American chess player, the first official world chess champion (1886-1894). At the turn of the 1860-1870s, having already received recognition as the strongest player of his time after winning a match against Adolf Andersen, Steinitz developed the doctrine of positional play, which replaced the dominant “romantic” combination school and significantly enriched chess.
Johann Hermann Zukertort is one of the strongest chess players in the world of the 2nd half of the 19th century, a contender for the world championship. Chess journalist, together with Adolf Andersen, founder of the Chess Monthly magazine.
The match began on January 11, 1886, at Cartier Hall, Fifth Avenue, in New York, and ended on January 20, when Zukertort scored 4 victories in a row after losing the first game. The match was resumed on February 3 in St. Louis. The judges were Ben R. Foster for Steinitz and William Duncan for Zukertort. The St. Louis match ended on February 10 after Steinitz had scored 3 wins and a draw.
After resting for almost 2 weeks, the match resumed in New Orleans on February 26. But carnival events led to the suspension of the match for several days. After the draw, Steinitz took the lead with two victories. Zukertort in the next 5 games: won 1, 3 ended in a draw and 1 loss. Steinitz then won the last 3 games, becoming the first official world champion, on March 29, 1886, the match ended with the final score (+10 -5 =5).
Let's look at the final 20 game of the match for the title of the first world chess champion between Steinitz and Zukertort in 1886.
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 played out (diagram 1). 3...ef 4.d4 d5 5.ed Qh4+ 6.Kre2 Qe7+ (gave black nothing 6...Bg4+ 7.Nf3) 7.Kрf2 Qh4+ 8.g3 fg+ 9.Kрg2 N:d4(9...gh? 10.R:h2 Q:d4 11.dc Q:d1 12.K:d1 bc and White has a piece for three pawns and the opportunity to place his pieces more actively).
10.hg Qg4 11.Qe1+ Be7 12.Bd3 Nf5 13.Nf3 Bd7 14.Bf4 f6 15.Ne4 Ngh6 16.B:h6 N:h6 17.R:h6! an unexpected combination after which Black loses his queen or is left without a piece.17...gh 18.K:f6+ Kрf8 19.K:g4 and blacks admitted defeat.