Editing World Chess Championship (section)

==World champions==
{{Further|List of World Chess Championships}}

===Pre-FIDE world champions (1886–1946)===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!#||Name||Country||Years
|-
|1||[[Wilhelm Steinitz]]||{{flag|Austria-Hungary}}<br />{{flag|United States|1877}}||1886–1894
|-
|2||[[Emanuel Lasker]]||{{flagicon|Germany|empire}} [[German Empire|Germany]]<br />{{flagicon|Germany|Weimar}} [[Weimar Republic|German Republic]]||1894–1921
|-
|3||[[José Raúl Capablanca]]||{{flag|Cuba|1902}}||1921–1927
|-
|4||[[Alexander Alekhine]]||{{flagdeco|France|1794}} [[French Third Republic|France]]||1927–1935
|-
|5||[[Max Euwe]]||{{flag|Netherlands}}||1935–1937
|-
|''(4)''||[[Alexander Alekhine]]||{{flagdeco|France|1794}} [[French Third Republic|France]]||1937–1946
|-
|colspan=5 align=center|''[[Interregnum of World Chess Champions|Interregnum]]''
|-
|}

===FIDE world champions (1948–1993)===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!#||Name||Country||Years
|-
|6||[[Mikhail Botvinnik]]|| rowspan="7" |{{flag|Soviet Union}}||1948–1957
|-
|7||[[Vasily Smyslov]]||1957–1958
|-
|''(6)''||[[Mikhail Botvinnik]]||1958–1960
|-
|8||[[Mikhail Tal]]||1960–1961
|-
|''(6)''||[[Mikhail Botvinnik]]||1961–1963
|-
|9||[[Tigran Petrosian]]||1963–1969
|-
|10||[[Boris Spassky]]||1969–1972
|-
|11||[[Bobby Fischer]]||{{flag|United States}}||1972–1975
|-
|12||[[Anatoly Karpov]]||{{flag|Soviet Union}}||1975–1985
|-
| rowspan="2" |13
| rowspan="2" |[[Garry Kasparov]]
|{{flag|Soviet Union}}
| rowspan="2" |1985–1993
|-
|{{flag|Russia|1991}}
|}

===Classical (PCA/Braingames) world champions (1993–2006)===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!#||Name||Country||Years
|-
|13||[[Garry Kasparov]]|| rowspan="2" |{{flag|Russia}}||1993–2000
|-
|14||[[Vladimir Kramnik]]||2000–2006
|}

===FIDE world champions (1993–2006)===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Name||Country||Years
|-
|[[Anatoly Karpov]]|| rowspan="2" |{{flag|Russia}}||1993–1999
|-
|[[Alexander Khalifman]]||1999–2000
|-
|[[Viswanathan Anand]]||{{flag|India}}||2000–2002
|-
|[[Ruslan Ponomariov]]||{{flag|Ukraine}}||2002–2004
|-
|[[Rustam Kasimdzhanov]]||{{flag|Uzbekistan}}||2004–2005
|-
|[[Veselin Topalov]]||{{flag|Bulgaria}}||2005–2006
|}

===FIDE (reunified) world champions (2006–present)===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!#||Name||Country||Years
|-
|14||[[Vladimir Kramnik]]||{{flag|Russia}}||2006–2007
|-
|15||[[Viswanathan Anand]]||{{flag|India}}||2007–2013
|-
|16||[[Magnus Carlsen]]||{{flag|Norway}}||2013–2023
|-
|17||[[Ding Liren]] ||{{flag|China}} ||2023–2024
|-
|18||[[Gukesh Dommaraju]] ||{{flag|India}} ||2024–present
|}

===World Champions by number of title match victories===
The table below organises the world champions in order of championship wins. A successful defense counts as a win for the purposes of this table, even if the match is drawn. The table is made more complicated by the split between the "Classical" and FIDE world titles between 1993 and 2006. If total number of championship wins is identical, the number of wins at undisputed championships, the number of years as undisputed champion, the number of years as champion are used as tie-breakers (in that order). If all numbers are the same, the players are listed by year of first victory at world championships (in chronological order).

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!rowspan=2|Champion !!colspan=4|Number of wins!!colspan=2|Years as
|-
!Total !!Undisputed !!FIDE !!Classical !!Champion !!Undisputed<br />champion
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Germany 01|{{flagicon|GER|empire}} {{flagicon|GER|Weimar}} [[Emanuel Lasker]]}} ||6|| 6||||||27||27
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 07|{{flagicon|URS}} {{flagicon|RUS}} [[Garry Kasparov]]}} ||6|| 4||||2||15||8
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 06|{{flagicon|URS}} {{flagicon|RUS}} [[Anatoly Karpov]]}} ||6|| 3||3||||16||10
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 01|{{flagicon|URS|1955}} [[Mikhail Botvinnik]]}} ||5|| 5||||||13||13
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Norway 01|{{flagicon|NOR}} [[Magnus Carlsen]]}} ||5||5|| ||||10||10
|-
|align=left| {{sort|India 01|{{flagicon|IND}} [[Viswanathan Anand]]}} ||5|| 4||1||||8||6
|-
|align=left| {{sort|France 01|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Alexander Alekhine]]}} ||4|| 4||||||17||17
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Austria 01|{{flagicon|Austria-Hungary|1886}} {{flagicon|USA|1891}} [[Wilhelm Steinitz]]}} ||4|| 4||||||8||8
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 09|{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Vladimir Kramnik]]}} ||3||1 ||||2||7||1
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 04|{{flagicon|URS|1955}} [[Tigran Petrosian]]}} ||2||2 ||||||6||6
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Cuba 01|{{flagicon|CUB}} [[José Raúl Capablanca]]}} ||1|| 1||||||6||6
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 05|{{flagicon|URS|1955}} [[Boris Spassky]]}} ||1|| 1||||||3||3
|-
|align=left| {{sort|United States 01|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Bobby Fischer]]}} ||1||1 ||||||3||3
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Netherlands 01|{{flagicon|NED}} [[Max Euwe]]}} ||1|| 1||||||2||2
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 02|{{flagicon|URS|1955}} [[Vasily Smyslov]]}} ||1||1 ||||||1||1
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 03|{{flagicon|URS|1955}} [[Mikhail Tal]]}} ||1||1 ||||||1||1
|-
|align=left| {{sort|China 01|{{flagicon|CHN}} [[Ding Liren]]}} ||1||1 ||||||1||1
|-
|align=left| {{sort|India 02|{{flagicon|IND}} [[Gukesh Dommaraju]]}} ||1||1 ||||||0||0
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Ukraine 01|{{flagicon|UKR}} [[Ruslan Ponomariov]]}} ||1|| ||1||||2||0
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Soviet Union/Russia 08|{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Alexander Khalifman]]}} ||1|| ||1||||1||0
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Uzbekistan 01|{{flagicon|UZB}} [[Rustam Kasimdzhanov]]}} ||1|| ||1||||1||0
|-
|align=left| {{sort|Bulgaria 01|{{flagicon|BUL}} [[Veselin Topalov]]}} ||1|| ||1||||1||0
|}