World Championship Formats

The champion chose when and whom to play. The challenger had to raise a stake (typically $2,000-$10,000) and the champion set the terms. First to win a set number of games (draws didn't count). Steinitz beat Zukertort 10-5 in the first official match in 1886.

This was essentially a private arrangement between gentlemen. There was no governing body, no qualifying system, and the champion could simply refuse to play anyone. Some champions were inactive for years.

FIDE established a proper qualifying cycle after WWII:

1. Zonal Tournaments - Regional qualifying events feeding into the Interzonal
2. Interzonal Tournament - The top qualifiers from all zones competed (typically 20-30 players)
3. Candidates Tournament - Top finishers from the Interzonal + loser of previous match competed in a round-robin (later knockout)
4. World Championship Match - Candidates winner challenged the champion over 24 games

If the match was tied 12-12, the champion retained the title. This was a massive advantage and proved controversial, especially in 1978 when Karpov won the last game to draw the match and keep his title.

Kasparov broke away from FIDE in 1993, creating the Professional Chess Association. There were now two World Champions:

• Classical Champion (Kasparov line): Traditional long match format. Kasparov defended against Short and Anand. Kramnik took the title in 2000.
• FIDE Champion: Annual knockout tournaments. Karpov won the first. The short format led to surprising winners (Khalifman, Anand, Ponomariov, Kasimdzhanov, Topalov).

The split lasted 13 years and devalued the title. Neither champion was universally recognized.

Kramnik (classical) beat Topalov (FIDE) in the 2006 Toiletgate match to reunify the title. But FIDE then bizarrely held a World Championship tournament in 2007, which Anand won. Anand successfully defended in matches against Kramnik (2008), Topalov (2010), and Gelfand (2012).

Carlsen won the title from Anand in 2013, defended against Anand (2014), Karjakin (2016), Caruana (2018), and Nepomniachtchi (2021). The format was 14 classical games, followed by rapid and blitz tiebreaks if tied.

Carlsen voluntarily relinquished his title in 2023, unwilling to prepare for another match. Ding Liren won the 2023 Championship against Nepomniachtchi. In 2024, 18-year-old Gukesh became the youngest World Champion by defeating Ding Liren. The Candidates tournament (8-player double round-robin) remains the qualifying mechanism.