In this post, you will see all the great chess champions of all time. These champions must be studied if you want to improve your chess game.

Those chess games played by these champions are still worth it. So let’s start with chess champions.

List of all chess champions

1.Luis Ramirez de Lucena

2.Pedro Damiano

3.Ruy Lopez de Segura

4.Francois-Andre Danican Philidor

5.Adolf Anderssen

6.Paul Morphy

7.Wilhelm Steinitz

8.Emanuel Lasker

9.Jose Raul Capablanca

10.Alexander Alekhine

11.Max Euwe

12.Mikhail Botvinnik

13.Vasily Smyslov

14.Mikhail Tal

15.Tigran Petrosian

16.Boris Spassky

17.Robert James Fischer

18.Anatoly Karpov

19.Garry Kasparov

20.Vladimir Kramnik

21.Viswanathan Anand

22.Magnus Carlsen

In our opinion the first champion was Luis Ramirez de Lucena. Lets see why we selected Lucena as a first chess champion.

Luis Ramirez de Lucena

Today we have the oldest chess book written by him. the book named ” Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con 101 Juegos de Partido (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess) ” . This book contains analysis of openings and elementary errors.

Lets watch his game.

[Event "Huesca"] [Site "Huesca ESP"] [Date "1515.??.??"] [EventDate "1515.??.??"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Luis Ramirez de Lucena"] [Black "Quintana"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "63"] 1. c3 Nc6 2. d4 e6 3. e4 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. g3 Bd6 6. Bh3 Bxh3 7. Nxh3 Qd7 8. Nf4 Nf6 9. Qf3 Bxf4 10. Bxf4 O-O-O 11. O-O Qh3 12. Bg5 Ng4 13. Qg2 Qxg2+ 14. Kxg2 f6 15. Bd2 Rhe8 16. Re1 Rxe1 17. Bxe1 Re8 18. Nd2 Nh6 19. Nf1 Nf5 20. Bd2 Nd6 21. h4 Ne4 22. Be3 g5 23. hxg5 fxg5 24. f3 Nd6 25. Bxg5 Re2+ 26. Kh3 Rxb2 27. Ne3 Nb5 28. Nxd5 Rc2 29. Re1 Nxc3 30. Re8+ Kd7 31. Nf6+ Kd6 32. Bf4+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Pedro Damiano

Pedro was a Portuguese chess player. he was pharmacist by his profession. He wrote the book ” Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li partiti ( in this book he analyzed some openings, problems and gave suggestions on strategy ). Lets watch one of his game.

[Event "Casual"] [Site "Rome ITA"] [Date "1497.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Pedro Damiano"] [Black "NN"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "27"] 1. e4 {Source: “Damiano, O Portugues E A Sua Obra” by Mario Silva Araujo.} e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Qe7 5. Qxe4 d6 6. d4 f6 7. f4 Nd7 8. Nc3 dxe5 9. Nd5 Qd6 10. dxe5 fxe5 11. fxe5 Qc6 12. Bb5 Qc5 13. Be3 Qxb5 14. Nxc7+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Ruy Lopez de Segura

He was a priest in Segura (Spain). He was considered the first unofficial chess champion because at that time he defeated all strong players in italy including Leonardo and Boi (Finest players of Italy at that time). His famed book is ” Libro de la Invencion Liberal y Arte del Juego del Axedrez (Book of Liberal Invention and Art in the Game of Chess) “. In this book he talked about strategy and openings. Lets watch one of his game.

[Event "Rome"] [Site "Rome ITA"] [Date "1560.??.??"] [EventDate "1560.??.??"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Ruy Lopez de Segura"] [Black "Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona da Cutri"] [ECO "C20"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "18"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Nxe5 fxe5 4.Qh5+ g6 5.Qxe5+ Qe7 6.Qxh8 Nf6 7.d4 Kf7 8.Bc4+ d5 9.Bxd5+ Nxd5 {and White goes on to win.} 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

François-André Danican Philidor

He was a musical and chess prodigy. In 1744 Philidor played blindfold two games in public in Paris. In 1749 his ” Analysis of Chess” was published. In which he talked about openings, middle game, and endgame. You can not forget the line from his book “Les pions sont l’ame du jeu(the pawns are the soul of chess) “. His name is associated with an endgame called Philidor position.The legend passed away in London, England in 1975. Lets watch one of his game.

[Event "Unknown"] [Site "Unknown"] [Date "1790.??.??"] [EventDate "1790.??.??"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "François André Philidor"] [Black "NN"] [ECO "C32"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "45"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 4. Nf3 Qxd5 5. d4 Qe4+ 6. Kf2 Be7 7. Bd3 Qc6 8. Bxf4 Be6 9. Qe2 Qd7 10. c4 c6 11. Nc3 Nf6 12. h3 O-O 13. g4 Bd6 14. Ne5 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Ne8 16. Rad1 Qe7 17. g5 Nd7 18. Qh5 g6 19. Qh6 Qc5+ 20. Kg3 Nxe5 21. Ne4 Qd4 22. Nf6+ Nxf6 23. gxf6 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Adolf Anderssen

His full name was ” Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen “. He was German chess master. he was considered best players in in the world in 1850s to 1860s. At that Paul Morphy toured Europe and defeated him soundly. but later Morphy retired and Adolf Anderssen become best players in the world. Anderesson is famous even today for attacking play and for his immortal game, lets watch his immortal game.



[Event "London"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "1851.06.21"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Adolf Anderssen"] [Black "Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky"] [ECO "C33"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "45"] 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 b5 5.Bxb5 Nf6 6.Nf3 Qh6 7.d3 Nh5 8.Nh4 Qg5 9.Nf5 c6 10.g4 Nf6 11.Rg1 cxb5 12.h4 Qg6 13.h5 Qg5 14.Qf3 Ng8 15.Bxf4 Qf6 16.Nc3 Bc5 17.Nd5 Qxb2 18.Bd6 Bxg1 19. e5 Qxa1+ 20. Ke2 Na6 21.Nxg7+ Kd8 22.Qf6+ Nxf6 23.Be7# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Paul Morphy

He was a genius as bobby Fischer stated. (“Morphy was probably the greatest genius of them all.” Bobby Fischer)

In 1857 Paul Morphy won the First American Chess Congress with outstanding performance. And in a tour of Europe he defeated Adolf Andersson. In his time the title of world champion did not exist. But even today we analyze his games and we can say that he is a legend. Lets watch one of his game.

[Event "Casual Game"] [Site "Paris FRA"] [Date "1858.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Paul Morphy"] [Black "Adolf Anderssen"] [ECO "C39"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "45"] 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.Nxg4 Nxe4 7.d3 Ng3 8.Bxf4 Nxh1 9.Qe2+ Qe7 10.Nf6+ Kd8 11.Bxc7+ Kxc7 12.Nd5+ Kd8 13.Nxe7 Bxe7 14.Qg4 d6 15.Qf4 Rg8 16.Qxf7 Bxh4+ 17.Kd2 Re8 18.Na3 Na6 19.Qh5 Bf6 20.Qxh1 Bxb2 21.Qh4+ Kd7 22.Rb1 Bxa3 23.Qa4+ 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

This post is being too lengthy, that’s why we will include a list of remaining chess champions below. They are well known.

Wilhelm Steinitz (1886-1894)

Emanuel Lasker (1894-1921)

Jose Raul Capablanca (1921-1927)

Alexander Alekhine (1927-1935, 1937-1946)

Max Euwe (1935-1937)

Mikhail Botvinnik (1948-1957, 1958-1960, 1961-1963)

Vasily Smyslov (1957-1958)

Mikhail Tal (1960-1961)

Tigran Petrosian (1963-1969)

Boris Spassky (1969-1972)

Robert James Fischer (1972-1975)

Anatoly Karpov (1975-1985)

Garry Kasparov (1985-2000)

Vladimir Kramnik (2000-2007)

Viswanathan Anand (2007-2013)