World Chess Championship

The competition that determines the world champion in classical over-the-board chess, contested through championship matches or tournaments.

Candidates Tournament: A tournament that selects the challenger for the classical World Chess Championship match. Since 1950, it has usually determined who earns the right to challenge the reigning champion.
Wilhelm Steinitz: An Austrian-born chess player widely recognized as the first official world chess champion. His 1886 match with Johannes Zukertort established the conventional starting point of the championship lineage.
Emanuel Lasker: A German chess player who held the world championship from 1894 to 1921. His 27-year reign set a record for the longest uninterrupted tenure as world champion.
Classical World Chess Championship: The title awarded through the traditional, long-time-control form of over-the-board chess. It distinguishes the title addressed here from chess championships in faster time controls.
World Chess Championship match: A head-to-head contest between the reigning world champion and a challenger for the title. The match is the championship’s defining format across most of its history.
Johannes Zukertort: A Polish-born chess player who challenged Wilhelm Steinitz in the first generally recognized world championship match. His challenge helped turn the claim to world supremacy into a formal match.
José Raúl Capablanca: A Cuban chess player who held the world championship from 1921 to 1927. His title loss to Alexander Alekhine helped establish the champion’s vulnerability to a successful challenger.
World Rapid Chess Championship: FIDE’s annual championship in rapid chess, played with shorter time controls than classical chess. Its champion holds a separate title from the classical world champion.
FIDE World Chess Championship 1993: A 1993 title contest organized by FIDE after Garry Kasparov broke with the federation. It began the split between the classical title and FIDE’s separate championship.
World Chess Championship 1886: The match between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, commonly treated as the first World Chess Championship. The modern championship lineage is usually dated from this contest.

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