Chess World Championships
The following studies contain every game from "Official" Chess World Championships. They should be relatively easy to data-mine using the Lichess API. Obviously, over more than a century there is some controversy over which matches or tournaments qualify. Matches and tournaments that are not in the main list here but some might consider legitimate will be given an "Apocrypha" section at the end.
Matches marked with ^ have not been published as Lichess studies yet.
Of note:
- Some players before 1886 like Morphy or La Bourdonnais were called "World Champion" and there is no objective measure of which of their matches "count." The following list is meant to show what is generally accepted as the World Championship lineage starting with Wilhem Steinitz and ending with Ding Liren.
- Lasker played three matches against Janowski over the course of 1909 and 1910, only the third match is considered a World Championship match here. The second match has been called a World Championship match by some sources, but prominent chess historian Edward Winter disagrees.
- The World Championship was decided by a multi-player tournament instead of a 1v1 match on 2 occasions; 1948 and 2007. Those studies contain all games from the event from all players
- Garry Kasparov broke away from FIDE and organized his own match for the world title three times in 1993, 1995, and 2000. FIDE continued to run its own world championship during this time, but the overwhelming majority of chess players consider Kasparov to be the legitimate champion of this era.
- The 2016 and 2018 matches were decided by rapid tiebreak games. These games have been included in Apocrypha instead of the main study for consistency.
Chess World Championship Matches
- 1886 Steinitz vs. Zukertort
- 1889 Steinitz vs. Chigorin
- 1890 Steinitz vs. Gunsburg
- 1892 Steinitz vs. Chigorin II
- 1894 Steinitz vs. Lasker
- 1896 Lasker vs. Steinitz II
- 1907 Lasker vs. Marshall
- 1908 Lasker vs. Tarrasch
- 1910 Lasker vs. Schlechter
- 1910 Lasker vs. Janowski
- 1921 Lasker vs. Capablanca
- 1927 Capablanca vs. Alekhine
- 1929 Alekhine vs. Bogoljubow
- 1934 Alekhine vs. Bogoljubow II
- 1935 Alekhine vs. Euwe
- 1937 Alekhine vs. Euwe II
- 1948 World Championship Tournament
- 1951 Botvinnik vs. Bronstein
- 1954 Botvinnik vs. Smyslov
- 1957 Botvinnik vs. Smyslov II
- 1958 Botvinnik vs. Smyslov III
- 1960 Botvinnik vs. Tal
- 1961 Botvinnik vs. Tal II
- 1963 Botvinnik vs. Petrosian
- 1966 Petrosian vs. Spassky
- 1969 Petrosian vs. Spassky II
- 1972 Spassky vs. Fischer
- 1978 Karpov vs. Korchnoi
- 1981 Karpov vs. Korchnoi II
- 1984 Karpov vs. Kasparov
- 1985 Karpov vs. Kasparov II
- 1986 Karpov vs. Kasparov III
- 1987 Karpov vs. Kasparov IV
- 1990 Karpov vs. Kasparov V
- 1993 Kasparov vs. Short
- 1995 Kasparov vs. Anand
- 2000 Kasparov vs. Kramnik
- 2004 Kramnik vs. Leko
- 2006 Kramnik vs. Topalov
- 2007 World Championship Tournament
- 2008 Anand vs. Kramnik
- 2010 Anand vs. Topalov
- 2012 Anand vs. Gelfand
- 2013 Anand vs. Carlsen
- 2014 Anand vs. Carlsen II
- 2016 Carlsen vs. Karjakin
- 2018 Carlsen vs. Caruana
- 2021 Carlsen vs. Nepomniachtchi
- 2023 Ding vs. Nepomniachtchi
Women's World Championship Matches
- 1927 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament ^
- 1930 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament ^
- 1931 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament ^
- 1933 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament ^
- 1935 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament ^
- 1937 Menchik vs. Graf II ^
- 1937 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament ^
- 1939 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament ^
- 1949 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament ^
- 1953 Rudenko vs. Bykova ^
- 1956 FIDE Women's World Championship Tournament
- 1958 Rubtsova vs. Bykova
- 1959 Bykova vs. Zvorykina
- 1962 Bykova vs. Gaprindashvili
- 1965 Gaprindashvili vs. Kushnir
- 1969 Gaprindashvili vs. Kushnir II
- 1972 Gaprindashvili vs. Kushnir III
- 1975 Gaprindashvili vs. Alexandria
- 1978 Gaprindashvili vs. Chiburdanidze
- 1981 Chiburdanidze vs. Alexandria
- 1984 Chiburdanidze vs. Levitina
- 1986 Chiburdanidze vs. Akhmilovskaya
- 1988 Chiburdanidze vs. Ioseliani
- 1991 Chiburdanidze vs. Xie
- 1993 Xie vs. Ioseliani
- 1996 Xie vs. Polgar S.
- 1999 Xie vs. Galliamova
- 2000 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2001 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2004 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2006 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2008 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2010 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2011 Hou vs. Koneru
- 2012 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2013 Ushenina vs. Hou
- 2015 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2016 Muzychuk M. vs. Hou
- 2017 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2018 Tan vs. Ju
- 2018 FIDE Women's World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2020 Ju vs. Goryachkina
- 2023 Ju vs. Lei
Apocrypha
Various matches or games that did not make the cut.
- 1858 Morphy vs. Anderssen
- 1909 Lasker vs. Janowski
- 1934 Menchik vs. Graf
- 1992 Fischer vs. Spassky II
- 1993 FIDE World Championship Karpov vs. Timman
- 1996 FIDE World Championship Karpov vs. Kamsky
- 1998 FIDE World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 1999 FIDE World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2000 FIDE World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2002 FIDE World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2004 FIDE World Championship KO Tournament ^
- 2005 FIDE World Championship Tournament ^