World Champions By Number of Title Match Victories
The table below organises the world champions in order of championship wins, and is current through the World Chess Championship 2012. (For the purpose of this table, a successful defence counts as a win, even if the match was drawn.) The table is made more complicated by the split between the "Classical" and FIDE world titles between 1993 and 2006.
| Champion | Total | Undisputed | FIDE | Classical | Years as champion | Years as undisputed champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emanuel Lasker | 6 | 6 | 27 | 27 | ||
| Garry Kasparov | 6 | 4 | 2 | 15 | 8 | |
| Anatoly Karpov | 6 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 10 | |
| Mikhail Botvinnik | 5 | 5 | 13 | 13 | ||
| Viswanathan Anand | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 6 | |
| Alexander Alekhine | 4 | 4 | 17 | 17 | ||
| Wilhelm Steinitz | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | ||
| Vladimir Kramnik | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | |
| Tigran Petrosian | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | ||
| José Raúl Capablanca | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | ||
| Boris Spassky | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Bobby Fischer | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Max Euwe | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Vasily Smyslov | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Mikhail Tal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Ruslan Ponomariov | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Alexander Khalifman | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Veselin Topalov | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Read more about this topic: World Chess Championships
Famous quotes containing the words world, champions, number, title, match and/or victories:
“Palestine is the cement that holds the Arab world together, or it is the explosive that blows it apart.”
—Yasir Arafat (b. 1929)
“While the Governor, and the Mayor, and countless officers of the Commonwealth are at large, the champions of liberty are imprisoned.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“While I do not suggest that humanity will ever be able to dispense with its martyrs, I cannot avoid the suspicion that with a little more thought and a little less belief their number may be substantially reduced.”
—J.B.S. (John Burdon Sanderson)
“If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity is his own—the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title should be simple—a few plain words—”My Heart Laid Bare.” But—this little book must be true to its title.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)
“I need not say what match I would touch, what system endeavor to blow up; but as I love my life, I would side with the light, and let the dark earth roll from under me, calling my mother and my brother to follow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
““... Knowledge he shall unwind
Through victories of the mind,
Till, clambering at the cradle-side,
He dreams himself his mother’s pride,
All knowledge lost in trance
Of sweeter ignorance.””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)