Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Champion.
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion.
The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland, and has been dubbed the Match of the Century. Fischer became the first American born in the United States to win the world title, and the second American overall. Fischer's win also ended, for a short time, 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Championship.
The FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13, 2004.
The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence is one of the most popular, reputable, and deeply studied of all chess openings. Modern Chess Openings calls it the "Cadillac" or "Rolls-Royce" of chess openings. The opening is named after the Polish-Argentine grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, although he was not the first strong player to play the variation. Many players have relied on the Najdorf.
The Wade Defence is a chess opening characterised by the initial moves:
Kamran Shirazi is an International Master of chess, who won the Iranian Chess Championship in 1972. Born in Tehran, he has represented Iran, the United States, and France. He moved to the United States in the late 1970s and quickly became one of the most active players in the country, winning many tournaments, including the Southern California Open, the World Open, the National Open, and the Memorial Day Classic.
Edmar John Mednis was a Latvian-American chess player and writer of Latvian origin. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1980.
The World Chess Championship 2006 was a match between Classical World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik and FIDE World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov. The title of World Chess Champion had been split for 13 years. This match, played between September 23 and October 13, 2006, in Elista, Kalmykia, Russia, was to reunite the two World Chess Champion titles and produce an undisputed World Champion.
The World Chess Championship 2008 was a best-of-twelve-games match between the incumbent World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand, and the previous World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik had been granted a match after not winning the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament.
The World Chess Championship 2010 match pitted the defending world champion, Viswanathan Anand, against challenger Veselin Topalov, for the title of World Chess Champion. The match took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from 24 April to 13 May 2010, with a prize fund of 2 million euros. Anand won the final game to win the match 6½–5½ and retain the title.
The World Chess Championship 1886 was the first official World Chess Championship match contested by Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort. The match took place in the United States from 11 January to 29 March, the first five games being played in New York City, the next four being played in St. Louis and the final eleven in New Orleans. The winner was the first player to achieve ten wins. Wilhelm Steinitz won the match 10–5, winning his tenth game in the twentieth game of the match. There were five draws.
The World Chess Championship 2012 was a chess match between the defending World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and Boris Gelfand of Israel, winner of the 2011 Candidates Tournament. After sixteen games, including four rapid games, Anand retained his title. The match, held under the auspices of the World Chess Federation FIDE, took place between 10 and 31 May 2012 in the Engineering Building of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. The prize fund was US$2.55 million.
Baadur Jobava is a Georgian chess grandmaster and three-time Georgian champion. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2004 and in the FIDE World Cup in 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, where he reached round of 16 after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi, and in 2021. He also participated in the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, where he finished joint 4th out of 12 participants in the Tashkent Leg after beating Sergey Karjakin. He won the individual board performance gold medals in the Chess Olympiads of 2004 and 2016.
The 1978 World Chess Championship was played between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio, Philippines, from July 18 to October 18, 1978. Karpov won, thereby retaining the title.
The 1992 Fischer–Spassky match between former world chess champions Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky was billed as a World Chess Championship, though it was an unofficial rematch of their 1972 World Championship match. Fischer won 10–5, with 15 draws.
The World Chess Championship 2016 was a chess match between the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Sergey Karjakin to determine the World Chess Champion. Carlsen had been world champion since 2013, while Karjakin qualified as challenger by winning the 2016 Candidates Tournament. The best-of-12 match, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon, was played in New York City between 10 and 30 November 2016.
The 15th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on the 6 March 2019 and ended on 12 May 2019.
The 17th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on 2 January 2020 and ended on 22 April 2020. TCEC Season 16 3rd-place finisher Leela Chess Zero won the championship, defeating the defending champion Stockfish 52.5-47.5 in the superfinal.
The 20th season of the Top Chess Engine Championship began on 1 December 2020 and ended on 1 February 2021. The defending champion was Stockfish, which defeated Leela Chess Zero in the previous season's superfinal. The season 20 superfinal was a rematch between the same two engines. Stockfish once again came out ahead, winning by 6 games.
