| |
|
As of early 2004, there are two Men's World Champions (Vladimir Kramnik and Ruslan Ponomariov), though there are plans to reunite them.
The championship dates back to the 19th century, with most commentators regarding the match that Wilhelm Steinitz won against Johannes Zuckertort in 1886 being the first, though a few consider an earlier one which Steinitz won from Adolf Anderssen in 1866 as the first.
The championship was conducted on a fairly informal basis through the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth: if a player thought he was strong enough, he would challenge the reigning world champion to a match. If he won, he would become the new champion. There was no formal system of qualification. However, it is generally regarded that the system did on the whole produce champions who were the strongest players of their day.
The changed when reigning champion Alexander Alekhine died in 1946, leaving the championship vacant for the first time. FIDE stepped in to organise a match tournament in 1948 between five of the world's strongest players: Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, Paul Keres, Samuel Reshevsky and Vasily Smyslov. Botvinnik won the tournament and thus the championship, and FIDE continued to organise the championship thereafter.
In place of the previous informal system, a new system of qualifying tournaments and matches was arranged. The world's strongest players were seeded into "Interzonal tournaments", where they were joined by players who had qualified from "Zonal tournaments". The leading finishers in these Interzonals would go on the "Candidates" stage, which was initially a tounrment, later a series of knock-out matches. The winner of the Candidates would then play a match against the reigning champion (who did not have to qualify through this process) for the championship. This system worked on a three-year cycle.
This system ran smoothly until 1975, when Bobby Fischer, who had won the title from Boris Spassky three years previously in one of the most famous chess matches in history, refused to defend his title against Anatoly Karpov. He therefore defaulted his title, and, as it happened, did not play chess in public again until 1992 (and then only for one match against Spassky).
A more lasting set-back to FIDE's system came in 1993, when champion Garry Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short split from FIDE to set up the Professional Chess Association, under whose auspices they held their match (it was won by Kasparov). FIDE held a championship match between Karpov (who had been champion before Kasparov) and Jan Timman (who had been defeated by Short in the Candidates final). Ever since, there have been two world champions and two world championships.
Kasparov went on to defend his title against Viswanathan Anand, who had qualified through a series of events similar to those in the old FIDE system. He lost his title to Vladimir Kramnik in 2000.
FIDE, meanwhile, after one more traditional championship cycle which resulted in Karpov successfully defending his title against Gata Kamsky in 1996, largely scrapped the old system, instead have a large knock-out event in which a large number of players contested short matches against each other over just a few weeks. In the first of these events, champion Karpov was seeded striaght into the final (as in previous championships), but subsequently the champion had to qualify like other players. Karpov defended his title in the first of these championships in 1998 before Alexander Khalifman won in 1999, Anand in 2000 and Ruslan Ponomariov in 2002.
At present, under the terms of the so-called "Prague Agreement" masterminded by Yasser Seirawan, there are plans to reuinite the two world championship. Kramnik is to play a match against Peter Leko, while Kasparov is to play a match against the next FIDE champion. The winner of these two matches will play one another to determine the undisputed world champion. This plan has met several set-backs, however, and as of February 2004 it is unclear whether it will come to fruition.
The Women's World Championship was established by FIDE in 1927 as a single tournament held alongside the Chess Olympiad. The winner of that tournament, Vera Menchik, did not have any special rights as the men's champion did - instead she had to defend her title by playing as many games as all the challengers. She did this successfully in every other championship in her lifetime (1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1939).
Menchik died as champion in 1944. The next championship was another round-robin tournament in 1949-50 and was won by Ludmilla Rudenko. Thereafter a system similar to that of the men's championship was established, with a cycle of Candidates events (and later Interzonals) to pick a challenger to face the reigning champion.
This system remained in place until 2000 when a knock-out event, won by reigning champion Xie Jun, was held alongside the men's championship. In 2001 a similar event determined the champion, Zhu Chen. As of Feburary 2004, there has been no women's championship since.
Men's Championship
Undisputed Men's Champions
PCA and other men's champions
FIDE Men's Champions since 1993
See also List of chess world championship matches.Women's World Championship
List of Women's World Champions
Junior and Senior World Champions
The Junior and Senior Champions have always been determined by a single tournament each year (initially every other year in the case of the Juniors). See World Junior Chess Championship.