World Champions By World Title Reigns
The number of world championship wins, or world championship reigns, can be considered as a guide to player greatness. The table below organises the world champions in order of championship wins. (For the purpose of this table, a successful defence counts as a win, even if the match was drawn.) The table is made more complicated by the split between the "Classical" and FIDE world titles between 1993 and 2006.
| Champion | Total | Undisputed | FIDE | Classical | Years as Undisputed Champion | Years as FIDE/Classical Champion | Total Reign |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emanuel Lasker | 6 | 6 | 27 | 27 | |||
| Garry Kasparov | 6 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 15 | |
| Anatoly Karpov | 6 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 16 | |
| Mikhail Botvinnik | 5 | 5 | 13 | 13 | |||
| Viswanathan Anand | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 7 | |
| Alexander Alekhine | 4 | 4 | 17 | 17 | |||
| Wilhelm Steinitz | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | |||
| Vladimir Kramnik | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | |
| Tigran Petrosian | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | |||
| José Raúl Capablanca | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | |||
| Boris Spassky | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Bobby Fischer | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Max Euwe | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Vasily Smyslov | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Mikhail Tal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Ruslan Ponomariov | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Alexander Khalifman | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Veselin Topalov | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Read more about this topic: Comparison Of Top Chess Players Throughout History
Famous quotes containing the words world, champions, title and/or reigns:
“The only way to give finality to the world is to give it consciousness.”
—Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936)
“Did all the lets and bars appear
To every just or larger end,
Whence should come the trust and cheer?
Youth must its ignorant impulse lend—
Age finds place in the rear.
All wars are boyish, and are fought by boys,
The champions and enthusiasts of the state:”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Now that the steam engine rules the world, a title is an absurdity, still I am all dressed up in this title. It will crush me if I do not support it. The title attracts attention to myself.”
—Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle] (1783–1842)
“In the whole vast dome of living nature there reigns an open violence, a kind of prescriptive fury which arms all the creatures to their common doom: as soon as you leave the inanimate kingdom you find the decree of violent death inscribed on the very frontiers of life.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)