Editing World Chess Championship (section)

===FIDE title (1948–1993)===
====FIDE, Euwe and AVRO====
{{main|FIDE|Max Euwe|AVRO 1938 chess tournament}}
[[File:Max Euwe 1963.jpg|thumb|[[Max Euwe]] became the World Champion by defeating [[Alexander Alekhine]] in 1935 but lost a rematch in 1937.]]
Attempts to form an international chess federation were made at the time of the 1914 [[St. Petersburg]], 1914 [[Mannheim]] and 1920 [[Gothenburg]] Tournaments.<ref name="WallFIDEHistory" /> On 20 July 1924 the participants at the Paris tournament founded [[FIDE]] as a kind of players' union.<ref name="WallFIDEHistory">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/fide.htm | title=FIDE History
 | author=Wall | access-date=15 September 2008
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803194904/http://geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/fide.htm|archive-date=3 August 2009}}</ref><ref name="FIDEHistory">{{cite web | url=http://www.fide.com/fide | title=FIDE History | publisher=FIDE | access-date=15 September 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114072659/http://www.fide.com/fide | archive-date=14 November 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Seirawan1998WhoseTitle">{{cite journal | title=Whose Title Is it, Anyway? | author=[[Yasser Seirawan|Seirawan]], Y. | journal=GAMES Magazine | date=August 1998 | url=http://www.edcollins.com/chess/whose-title.htm | access-date=15 September 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210171408/http://www.edcollins.com/chess/whose-title.htm | archive-date=10 December 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> FIDE's congresses in 1925 and 1926 expressed a desire to become involved in managing the world championship. FIDE was largely happy with the "London Rules", but claimed that the requirement for a purse of $10,000 was impracticable and called upon [[José Raúl Capablanca|Capablanca]] to come to an agreement with the leading masters to revise the Rules. In 1926 FIDE decided in principle to create a title of "Champion of FIDE" and, in 1928, adopted the forthcoming 1928 [[Efim Bogoljubov|Bogoljubow]]–[[Max Euwe|Euwe]] match (won by Bogoljubow) as being for the "FIDE championship". [[Alexander Alekhine|Alekhine]] agreed to place future matches for the world title under the auspices of FIDE, except that he would only play Capablanca under the same conditions that governed their match in 1927. Although FIDE wished to set up a match between Alekhine and Bogoljubow, it made little progress and the title "Champion of FIDE" quietly vanished after Alekhine won the [[World Chess Championship 1929|1929 world championship match]] that he and Bogoljubow themselves arranged.<ref name="WinterChessNotesArchive17">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter17.html#4056._FIDE_championship
 | title=Chess Notes Archive [17]
 | author=Winter, E.
 | access-date=15 September 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509142325/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter17.html#4056._FIDE_championship
 | archive-date=9 May 2008
| url-status=live
 }} Winter cites: Resolution XI of the 1926 FIDE Congress, regarding the "London Rules"; page 5 of the 1926 Congress' minutes about the initial decision to set up an "official championship of FIDE"; ''Schweizerische Schachzeitung'' (September 1927) for FIDE's decision to await the result of the Capablanca–Alekhine match; the minutes of FIDE's 1928 congress for the adoption of the forthcoming 1928 Bologjubow–Euwe match as being for the "FIDE championship" and its congratulations to the winner, Bologjubow; the minutes of FIDE's 1928 congress for Alekhine's agreement and his exception for Capablanca; a resolution of 1928 for the attempt to arrange an Alekhine-Bogoljubow match; subsequent FIDE minutes for the non-occurrence of the match (under FIDE); and the vanishing of the title "Champion of FIDE".</ref>

While negotiating his 1937 World Championship rematch with Alekhine, Euwe proposed that if he retained the title, FIDE should manage the nomination of future challengers and the conduct of championship matches. FIDE had been trying since 1935 to introduce rules on how to select challengers, and its various proposals favored selection by some sort of committee. While they were debating procedures in 1937 and Alekhine and Euwe were preparing for their rematch later that year, the [[Royal Dutch Chess Federation]] proposed that a super-tournament (AVRO) of ex-champions and rising stars should be held to select the next challenger. FIDE rejected this proposal and at their second attempt nominated [[Salo Flohr]] as the official challenger. Euwe then declared that: if he retained his title against Alekhine he was prepared to meet Flohr in 1940 but he reserved the right to arrange a title match either in 1938 or 1939 with [[José Raúl Capablanca]], who had lost the title to Alekhine in 1927; if Euwe lost his [[title]] to Capablanca then FIDE's decision should be followed and Capablanca would have to play Flohr in 1940. Most chess writers and players strongly supported the Dutch super-tournament proposal and opposed the committee processes favored by FIDE. While this confusion went unresolved: Euwe lost his title to Alekhine; the [[AVRO tournament]] in 1938 was won by [[Paul Keres]] under a tie-breaking rule, with [[Reuben Fine]] placed second and Capablanca and Flohr in the bottom places; and the outbreak of World War II in 1939 cut short the controversy.<ref name="WinterWorldChampionshipDisorder">{{cite web
 | title=World Championship Disorder
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/disorder.html
 | access-date=15 September 2008
| author=Winter, E.
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208193807/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/disorder.html
 | archive-date=8 December 2008
| url-status=live
 }}</ref>

====Birth of FIDE's World Championship cycle (1946–1948)====
{{main|Interregnum of World Chess Champions}}
[[Alexander Alekhine]] died in 1946 before anyone else could win against him in match for the World Champion title. This resulted in an [[Interregnum of World Chess Champions|''interregnum'']] that made the normal procedure impossible. The situation was very confused, with many respected players and commentators offering different solutions. FIDE found it very difficult to organize the early discussions on how to resolve the ''interregnum'' because problems with money and travel so soon after the end of World War II prevented many countries from sending representatives. The shortage of clear information resulted in otherwise responsible magazines publishing rumors and speculation, which only made the situation more confusing.<ref name="Winter2003Interregnum" />
It did not help that the Soviet Union had long refused to join FIDE, and by this time it was clear that about half the credible contenders were Soviet citizens. But, realizing that it could not afford to be excluded from discussions about the vacant world championship, the Soviet Union sent a telegram in 1947 apologizing for the absence of Soviet representatives and requesting that the USSR be represented on future FIDE Committees.<ref name="Winter2003Interregnum" />
[[File:Botvinnik 1936.jpg|thumb|[[Mikhail Botvinnik]] was the first World Champion under FIDE jurisdiction.]]
The eventual solution was very similar to FIDE's initial proposal and to a proposal put forward by the Soviet Union (authored by [[Mikhail Botvinnik]]). The 1938 [[AVRO tournament]] was used as the basis for the [[World Chess Championship 1948|1948 Championship Tournament]]. The AVRO tournament had brought together the eight players who were, by general acclamation, the best players in the world at the time. Two of the participants at AVRO – Alekhine and former world champion [[José Raúl Capablanca]] – had died; but FIDE decided that the championship should be awarded to the winner of a [[round-robin tournament]] in which the other six participants at AVRO would play four games against each other. These players were: [[Max Euwe]], from the Netherlands; Botvinnik, [[Paul Keres]] and [[Salo Flohr]] from the Soviet Union; and [[Reuben Fine]] and [[Samuel Reshevsky]] from the United States. However, FIDE soon accepted a Soviet request to substitute [[Vasily Smyslov]] for Flohr, and Fine dropped out in order to continue his degree studies in [[psychology]], so only five players competed. Botvinnik won convincingly and thus became world champion, ending the ''interregnum''.<ref name="Winter2003Interregnum">{{cite web | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/interregnum.html | access-date=15 September 2008 | title=Interregnum | author=Winter, E. | date=2003–2004 | publisher=Chess History Center | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206160240/http://chesshistory.com/winter/extra/interregnum.html | archive-date=6 December 2010 | url-status=live }}</ref>

The proposals which led to the 1948 Championship Tournament also specified the procedure by which challengers for the World Championship would be selected in a three-year cycle: countries affiliated to FIDE would send players to Zonal Tournaments (the number varied depending on how many good enough players each country had); the players who gained the top places in these would compete in an Interzonal Tournament (later split into two and then three tournaments as the number of countries and eligible players increased<ref name="WeeksWorldChampionshipEvents1948to1990">{{cite web | url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indy.htm | access-date=15 September 2008 | title=World Chess Championship FIDE Events 1948–1990 | author=Weeks, M. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901124131/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indy.htm | archive-date=1 September 2014 | url-status=live }}</ref>); the highest-placed players from the Interzonal would compete in the [[Candidates Tournament]], along with whoever lost the previous title match and the second-placed competitor in the previous Candidates Tournament three years earlier; and the winner of the Candidates played a title match against the champion.<ref name="Winter2003Interregnum" /> Until 1962 inclusive the Candidates Tournament was a multi-cycle round-robin tournament – how and why it was changed are described below.

====FIDE system (1949–1963)====
{{further|World Chess Championship 1951|World Chess Championship 1954|World Chess Championship 1957|World Chess Championship 1958|World Chess Championship 1960|World Chess Championship 1961|World Chess Championship 1963}}
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 400
| image1            = Interpolisschaaktoernooi Tilburg 1819 Smyslov aan zet, Bestanddeelnr 929-3630.jpg
| caption1          = [[Vasily Smyslov]] (1957–1958)
| image2            = Mikhail Tal 1962.jpg
| caption2          = [[Mikhail Tal]] (1960–1961)
| image3            = Tigran Petrosian 1962.jpg
| caption3          = [[Tigran Petrosian]] (1963–1969)
}}
The FIDE system followed its 1948 design through five cycles: 1948–1951, 1951–1954, 1954–1957, 1957–1960 and 1960–1963.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indy.htm|title=Index of FIDE Events 1948–1990 : World Chess Championship|website=www.mark-weeks.com|access-date=5 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901124131/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indy.htm|archive-date=1 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last=Wade | first=R. G. | author-link=Robert Wade (chess player) | year=1964 | title=The World Chess Championship 1963 | publisher=Arco | lccn=64514341 }}</ref> The first two world championships under this system were drawn 12–12 – Botvinnik-Bronstein in 1951 and Botvinnik-Smyslov in 1954 – so Botvinnik retained the title both times. In 1956 FIDE introduced two apparently minor changes which Soviet [[grandmaster (chess)|grandmaster]] and chess official [[Yuri Averbakh]] alleged were instigated by the two Soviet representatives in FIDE, who were personal friends of reigning champion [[Mikhail Botvinnik]]. A defeated champion would have the right to a return match. FIDE also limited the number of players from the same country that could compete in the [[Candidates Tournament]], on the grounds that it would reduce Soviet dominance of the tournament. Averbakh claimed that this was to Botvinnik's advantage as it reduced the number of Soviet players he might have to meet in the title match.<ref name="Kingston2002InterviewAverbakhPart2">{{cite web | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles183.pdf | access-date=16 September 2008 | title=Yuri Averbakh: An Interview with History – Part 2 | author=Kingston, T. | year=2002 | publisher=The Chess Cafe | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140526125535/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles183.pdf | archive-date=26 May 2014 | url-status=live }}</ref> Botvinnik lost to [[Vasily Smyslov]] in 1957 but won the return match in 1958, and lost to [[Mikhail Tal]] in 1960 but won the return match in 1961. Thus Smyslov and Tal each held the world title for a year, but Botvinnik was world champion for rest of the time from 1948 to 1963. The return match clause was not in place for the 1963 cycle. [[Tigran Petrosian]] won the 1962 Candidates and then [[World Chess Championship 1963|defeated Botvinnik in 1963]] to become world champion.

====FIDE system (1963–1975)====
{{further|World Chess Championship 1966|World Chess Championship 1969|World Chess Championship 1972}}

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 350
| image1            = Eerste_ronde_IBM-schaaktoernooi,_Boris_Spasski,_Bestanddeelnr_926-5521.jpg
| caption1          = [[Boris Spassky]] won the World Championship in [[World Chess Championship 1969|1969]], and defended his title against Fischer in [[World Chess Championship 1972|1972]].
| image2            = Bobby Fischer 1972.jpg
| caption2          = [[Bobby Fischer]] ended the 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Championship in 1972.
}}
After the 1962 Candidates, [[Bobby Fischer]] publicly alleged that the Soviets had colluded to prevent any non-Soviet – specifically him – from winning. He claimed that Petrosian, [[Efim Geller]] and [[Paul Keres]] had prearranged to draw all their games, and that [[Viktor Korchnoi]] had been instructed to lose to them. [[Yuri Averbakh]], who was head of the Soviet team, confirmed in 2002 that Petrosian, Geller and Keres arranged to draw all their games in order to save their energy for games against non-Soviet players.<ref name="Kingston2002InterviewAverbakhPart2" /> Korchnoi, who defected from the USSR in 1976, never confirmed that he was forced to throw games. FIDE responded by changing the format of future Candidates Tournaments to eliminate the possibility of collusion. Beginning in the next cycle, 1963–1966, the [[round-robin tournament]] was replaced by a series of elimination matches. Initially the quarter-finals and semi-finals were best of 10 games, and the final was best of 12. Fischer, however, refused to take part in the 1966 cycle, and dropped out of the 1969 cycle after a controversy at 1967 Interzonal in Sousse.<ref name = "Wade-p331">{{cite book
| author1=[[Robert Wade (chess player)|Wade, R.]] | author2=O'Connell, K. | year=1972
| title=The Games of Robert J. Fischer | publisher=[[Anova Books|Batsford]] | pages=331–46
}}</ref> Both these Candidates cycles were won by [[Boris Spassky]], who lost the title match to Petrosian in 1966, but won and became world champion in 1969.<ref name="WeeksFIDEEvents1948to1990">{{cite web|url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indy.htm|title=Index of FIDE Events 1948–1990 : World Chess Championship|access-date=16 September 2008|author=Weeks, M.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901124131/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indy.htm|archive-date=1 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WeeksAboutFIDEWCC">{{cite web|url=http://chess.about.com/od/worldchampionship/p/aa06c11.htm |access-date=16 September 2008 |title=FIDE World Chess Championship 1948–1990 |author=Weeks, M. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720005910/http://chess.about.com/od/worldchampionship/p/aa06c11.htm |archive-date=20 July 2008 }}</ref>

In the 1969–1972 cycle Fischer caused two more crises. He refused to play in the 1969 US Championship, which was a Zonal Tournament. This would have eliminated him from the 1969–1972 cycle, but [[Pal Benko]] was persuaded to concede his place in the Interzonal to Fischer.<ref>{{cite web | title=Ed Edmondson Letter | author=Donlan, M. | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/edmund.pdf | access-date=16 September 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203222006/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/edmund.pdf | archive-date=3 December 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> FIDE President [[Max Euwe]] accepted this maneuver and interpreted the rules very flexibly to enable Fischer to play, as he thought it important for the health and reputation of the game that Fischer should have the opportunity to challenge for the title as soon as possible.<ref name="Sosonko2001RememberingEuwePart1">{{cite web | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles167.pdf | access-date=16 September 2008 | title=Remembering Max Euwe Part 1 | first=Gennadi | last=Sosonko | author-link=Gennadi Sosonko | year=2001 | publisher=The Chess Cafe | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806014241/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles167.pdf | archive-date=6 August 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> Fischer crushed all opposition and won the right to challenge reigning champion [[Boris Spassky]].<ref name="WeeksFIDEEvents1948to1990" /> After agreeing to play in Yugoslavia, Fischer raised a series of objections and Iceland was the final venue. Even then Fischer raised difficulties, mainly over money. It took a phone call from [[United States Secretary of State]] [[Henry Kissinger]] and a doubling of the prize money by financier [[Jim Slater (accountant)|Jim Slater]] to persuade him to play. After a few more traumatic moments Fischer won the match 12½–8½.<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://www.espn.com/espn/news/story?id=3202460
| access-date=16 September 2008
| title=Fischer, outspoken ex-chess champion, dies of kidney failure
| date=19 January 2008
| publisher=ESPN
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516021931/http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3202460
| archive-date=16 May 2008
| url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/72fs$$.htm | access-date=16 September 2008 | title=World Chess Championship 1972 Fischer – Spassky Title Match:Highlights | author=Weeks, M. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925034703/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/72fs$$.htm | archive-date=25 September 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref>

An unbroken line of FIDE champions had thus been established from 1948 to 1972, with each champion gaining his title by beating the previous incumbent. This came to an end when [[Anatoly Karpov]] won the right to challenge Fischer in 1975. Fischer objected to the "best of 24 games" championship match format that had been used from 1951 onwards, claiming that it would encourage whoever got an early lead to play for draws. Instead he demanded that the match should be won by whoever first won 10 games, except that if the score reached 9–9 he should remain champion. He argued that this was more advantageous to the challenger than the champion's advantage under the existing system, where the champion retained the title if the match was tied at 12–12 including draws. Eventually FIDE deposed Fischer and crowned Karpov as the new champion.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/7375$wix.htm | access-date=16 September 2008 | title=World Chess Championship 1975: Fischer forfeits to Karpov | author=Weeks, M. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211095654/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/7375$wix.htm | archive-date=11 December 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> Fischer privately maintained that he was still World Champion. He went into seclusion and did not play chess in public again until 1992, when Spassky agreed to participate in an unofficial rematch for the World Championship. Fischer won the [[Fischer–Spassky (1992 match)|1992 Fischer–Spassky rematch]] decisively with a score of 10–5.

====Karpov and Kasparov (1975–1993)====
{{see|World Chess Championship 1978|World Chess Championship 1981|World Chess Championship 1984|World Chess Championship 1985|World Chess Championship 1986|World Chess Championship 1987|World Chess Championship 1990}}

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 350
| image1            = Interpolisschaaktoernooi Tilburg Karpov aan zet, Bestanddeelnr 929-3627.jpg
| caption1          = [[Anatoly Karpov]] became World Champion after Fischer refused to defend his title in 1975 and held the title till 1985. He was the FIDE World Champion from 1993 to 1999 when the world title was split.
| image2            = De 18-jarige Rus Garri Kasparov aan zet, Bestanddeelnr 931-7203.jpg
| caption2          = [[Garry Kasparov]] defeated Karpov to become the 13th World Champion, and was the undisputed World Champion from 1985 to 1993. He held the split title until 2000.
}}
After becoming world champion by default, Karpov confirmed his worthiness for the title with a string of tournament successes from the mid 70s to the early 80s. He defended his title twice against ex-Soviet [[Viktor Korchnoi]], first in [[Baguio]] in [[World Chess Championship 1978|1978]] (6–5 with 21 draws) and in [[Merano]] in [[World Chess Championship 1981|1981]] (6–2, with 10 draws). In the [[World Chess Championship 1984|1984 World Chess Championship]], Karpov fought against [[Garry Kasparov]]. Karpov retained the title after the tournament went for more than five months and was terminated with Karpov leading with five wins to Kasparov's three and 40 draws after 48 matches.

Karpov eventually lost his title in [[World Chess Championship 1985|1985]] to Kasparov, who won the title by a scoreline of 13&ndash;11. The two played three more subsequent championships in [[World Chess Championship 1986]] (won by Kasparov, 12½–11½), [[World Chess Championship 1987]] (drawn 12–12, Kasparov retained the title), and [[World Chess Championship 1990]] (won by Kasparov, 12½–11½). In the five tournaments, Kasparov and Karpov played a total of 144 World Championship games with 104 draws, 21 wins by Kasparov and 19 wins by Karpov.<ref>{{cite news |title=The chess games of Garry Kasparov |url=https://www.chessgames.com/player/garry_kasparov.html |access-date=21 February 2022 |work=Chessgames.com |archive-date=21 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221115102/https://www.chessgames.com/player/garry_kasparov.html |url-status=live }}</ref>