Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years (from 1894 to 1921). In his prime Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of...

José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is considered by many as one of the greatest players of all time, widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill...

Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players ever. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already among the strongest chess...

Machgielis "Max" Euwe was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion (1935–37). Euwe served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 t...

Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and World Chess Champion for most of 1948 to 1963. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few profes...

Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions (1948, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1983, and 198...

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet Armenian Grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost impenetrable defensive playing style, which emphasised safety above all else. Pe...

Mikhail Tal was a Soviet Latvian chess Grandmaster and the eighth World Chess Champion (from 1960 to 1961). Widely regarded as a creative genius and the best attacking player of all time, Tal played in a daring, combinatorial style. His...

Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. He is the oldest surviving former world champion. Spassky won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outri...

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Many consider him to be the greatest chess player of all time. In 1972, he captured the World Chess Championship from Boris Spassky of the...

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1...

Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1986 until his retirement in 2005, Kasparov was ranked...

Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman is a Russian chess Grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion in 1999. Khalifman gained the Grandmaster title in 1990 with one particularly good early result being his first place in the 1990 New York C...

Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand is an Indian chess Grandmaster and a former World Chess Champion. Anand became India's first grandmaster in 1988. He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002. He became the undisputed World Champ...

Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion. Topalov became FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. He lost his title in the World Chess Champions...