World Chess Championship/Gallery - Definition and Overview

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Unofficial World Champions

Ruy López de Segura, ~1560, Spain	Boi, ~1575, Italy	Leonardo da Cutri, ~1575, Italy	Alessandro Salvio, ~1600, Italy
Gioacchino Greco, ~1620, Italy	Legall de Kermeur, ~1730-1747, France	Francois-André Philidor, ~1747-1795, France	Alexandre Deschapelles, ~1800-1820, France
Louis de la Bourdonnais, ~1820-1840, France	Howard Staunton, 1843-1851, England	Adolf Anderssen, 1851-1858, Germany	Paul Morphy, 1858-1859, United States of America
Adolf Anderssen, 1858-1866, Germany	Wilhelm Steinitz, 1866-1886, Austria

Undisputed World Champions

Wilhelm Steinitz, 1886-1894, Austria	Emanuel Lasker, 1894-1921, Germany	José Raúl Capablanca, 1921-1927, Cuba	Alexander Alekhine, 1927-1935, Soviet Union
Max Euwe, 1935-1937, Netherlands	Alexander Alekhine, 1937-1946, Soviet Union	Mikhail Botvinnik, 1948-1957, Soviet Union	Vasily Smyslov, 1957-1958, Soviet Union
Mikhail Botvinnik, 1958-1960, Soviet Union	Mikhail Tal, 1960-1961, Soviet Union	Mikhail Botvinnik, 1961-1963, Soviet Union	Tigran Petrosian, 1963-1969, Soviet Union
Boris Spassky, 1969-1972, Soviet Union	Bobby Fischer, 1972-1975, United States of America	Anatoly Karpov, 1975-1985, Soviet Union	Garry Kasparov, 1985-1993, Soviet Union/Russia

PCA (Classical) World Champions

Garry Kasparov, 1985-1993, Russia

Vladimir Kramnik, 2000-date, Russia

FIDE World Champions since 1993

Anatoly Karpov, 1975-1985, Soviet Union	Alexander Khalifman, 1999-2000, Russia	Viswanathan Anand, 2000-2002, India	Ruslan Ponomariov, 2002-2004, Ukraine
Rustam Kasimdzhanov, 2004-date, Uzbekistan