Who was the first world chess champion? Men's World Chess Champions

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

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. Developments in this area have been closely monitored only since the Middle Ages, when the first books on chess positions and the art of this game begin to be published, as well as more orderly competitions.

History 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 become winners in international tournaments. Thus, the work of Francis Vicente, published in 1495 in Valencia, is considered lost and almost mythical. But the work of Damiano that has come down to us, published in Rome in 1512, Averbakh considers just a plagiarism of the bookVicenta.

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 of the 16th - mid-19th century

Reliable documentary evidence of serious competitions refers 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. In Madrid, an international chess congress was held in 1575, it was held at the court of King Philip II. Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri from Italy won here.

Gioachino Greco was considered the best among the best since 1619. 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 François Danican became famous. The first was especially remembered for the game against Saint-Bris, where he delivered a unique checkmate (then called Checkmate Legal) in a game without a rook. Philidor was inferior to Legal in his youth, but in 1747, after a London match with Philippe Stamma, he was recognized as the best player.

An interesting match between Louis Charles Mahe de Labourdonnais and A. McDonnell, which took place in 1834 in London. Labourdonnet was declared the winner, although the match was abandoned. In the same year, also in London, Labourdonnet lost two matches to Alexander McDonnell. The match in 1843 in London, where Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant overtook Howard Staunton, was not so spectacular. That periodconsidered a decline. Staunton took revenge on Saint-Aman at a match in Paris in the same 1843, remaining the champion. In 1949, a knockout tournament was held in London, where Henry Thomas Buckle became the first.

The beginning of a new chess era

The period since 1851, when the great Adolf Andersen appeared, who also won in London according to the knockout system, is considered a new take-off in chess. Only the best chess players from all countries were invited to this tournament. So Andersen could also claim the place of the one who was 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 golden crown and a silver wreath in 1859 in Boston.

Official Men's World Chess Champions

The beginning of the countdown of official world-class competitions is still considered to be 1866, when the name “world championship” slipped through the documents. This put an end to the debate about who was the first world chess champion. It was Wilhelm Steinitz who won this match against Andersen.

But from 1867 to 1883 there were no world championships, although the names of Kolisch, Vinaver, Neumann and Chigorin went down in history. Included in the list of champions Johann Zuckertort, who won the London Super Tournament in 1883

The second chess champion was in 1894 the German Emanuel Lasker, who defeated Steinitz in the USA. Although he moved to third place in the 1895 super tournament in Hastings, he was the championthe winner of the Harry-Nelson Pillsbury tournament has not been announced. 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, not on his own, but with the help of grandmasters led by Lasker. In 1937, Alekhine regained the title, remaining undefeated champion until his death: the chess player was poisoned in 1946

Since 1948, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) took over the organization of matches where the world championship was determined. In 1948 Mikhail Botvinnik (USSR) won. He was replaced by compatriot Vasily Smyslov in 1957. In 1960, Mikhail Tal (USSR) emerged victorious. In 1963, Botvinnik was beaten by Tigran Petrosyan (USSR), who lost in 1969 to Boris Spassky. The victory in 1972 went to the American Robert James Fisher. Next was the Russian Anatoly Karpov in 1975, and in 1985 he was overtaken by Garry Kasparov.

The ups and downs of the last decades

The period from 1992 to 2006 is considered a troubled time. In 1993, Kasparov quarreled with FIDE, was stripped of his title (Fischer was considered the champion in 1992), and created his own league - the Professional Chess Association. Within the framework of the new organization, Kasparov defeated Short and became the champion in 1993 according to the PCHA, and according to FIDE, Karpov became the first. So at the turn of the century, the world chess champions Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer were the strongest.

Further, FIDE chose the format of the knockout system, where such champions as Khalifman, Anand, Ponomarev, Kasimdzhanov, Topalov appeared. The PSHA disintegrated, the league began to be called the championship according to the classical version (victory over the current champion), where Kasparov was beaten by Kramnik in 2000. It was only in 2006 that they held a unification match between the champions in both versions, where Kramnik defeated Topalov, becoming the absolute world champion.

In 2007 Viswanathan Anandu became the strongest. In 2013 he was replaced by the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.

The best female chess players on the planet

If world chess champions among men can be traced back centuries, then women began to take an active part in competitions relatively recently. The countdown has been going on since 1927, when the world-class 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 the age of 15, only then she moved 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, and remained 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 in1953 Another Soviet chess player Olga Rubtsova won the title in 1956, but again lost to Bykova in 1958. Then the best in the world also became Soviet athletes, but from Georgia: Nona Gaprindashvili from 1962 and Maya Chiburdanidze from 1978.

Only in 1991 did the Chinese Xie Jun become the strongest, losing the championship to the Hungarian Zhuzha Polgar in 1996 and rising to the top again in 1999. In 2001, Zhu Chen from China became the champion, in 2004 the best recognized Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria, but in 2006 the first was the Chinese Xu Yuhua. In 2008, the title was given to Russian Alexandra Kosteniuk, who was replaced in 2010 by Chinese Hou Yifan.

In 2012, Ukrainian Anna Ushenina won the title, but since 2013, Hou Yifan has become the best again.