The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Ding Liren, who defeated his opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 World Chess Championship. Magnus Carlsen, the previous world champion, had declined to defend his title.
William Steinitz was a Bohemian-Austrian and, later, American chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first World Chess Champion. He was also a highly influential writer and chess theoretician.
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was a Cuban chess player who was the third world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play.
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was a German chess master. He won the great international tournaments of 1851 and 1862, but lost matches to Paul Morphy in 1858, and to Wilhelm Steinitz in 1866. Accordingly, he is generally regarded as having been the world's leading chess player from 1851 to 1858, and leading active player from 1862 to 1866, although the title of World Chess Champion did not yet exist.
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher. He was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champion in history. In his prime, Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players in history.
Paul Keres was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five occasions. As Estonia was repeatedly invaded and occupied during World War II, Keres was forced by the circumstances to represent the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany (1941–44) in international tournaments.
Johannes Hermann Zukertort was a Polish-born British-German chess master. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, but lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886, which is generally regarded as the first World Chess Championship match. He was also defeated by Steinitz in 1872 in an unofficial championship.
Joseph Henry Blackburne was a British chess player. Nicknamed "The Black Death", he dominated the British scene during the latter part of the 19th century. Blackburne learned the game at the relatively late age of 17 or 18, but he quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years. At one point he was one of the world's leading players, with a string of tournament victories behind him, and popularised chess by giving simultaneous and blindfold displays around the country. Blackburne also published a collection of his own games.
James Mason was a British-American chess player, journalist and writer who became one of the world's best half-dozen players in the 1880s. Mason was ranked the number 1 player in the world by Chessmetrics during 11 separate months between August 1877 and June 1878.
Szymon Abramowicz Winawer was a Polish chess player who won the German Chess Championship in 1883.
Miksa (Max) Weisz was an Austrian chess player born in the Kingdom of Hungary.
The Oxford University Chess Club (OUCC) was founded at the University of Oxford in 1869. It is the oldest university chess club in the United Kingdom. The Club meets each Wednesday evening during University term time. They field two teams in the Oxfordshire Chess League.
Samuel Rosenthal was a Polish-born French chess player. Chess historian Edward Winter wrote, "He dedicated his life to chess-playing, touring, writing, teaching and analysing. Despite only occasional participation in first-class events, he scored victories over all the leading masters of the time. He also acquired world renown as an unassuming showman who gave large simultaneous displays and blindfold séances, invariably producing a cluster of glittering moves."
Emil Schallopp was a German chess master and author. He became head of the shorthand department of the Reichstag. He wrote many books, including one on the Steinitz–Zukertort 1886 World Championship match. He is best known today as an author, particularly of the seventh edition (1891) of the Handbuch des Schachspiels.
London 1851 was the first international chess tournament. The tournament was conceived and organised by English player Howard Staunton, and marked the first time that the best chess players in Europe would meet in a single event. Adolf Anderssen of Germany won the sixteen-player tournament, earning him the status of the best player in the world.
William Henry Krause Pollock was an English chess master, and a surgeon.
Philipp Meitner was an Austrian lawyer and chess master. His most famous game was the "Immortal Draw". He won at Vienna 1875, and won a match against Adolf Schwarz (6½–3½) at Vienna 1878.
The American Chess Congress was a series of chess tournaments held in the United States, a predecessor to the current U.S. Chess Championship. It had nine editions, the first played in October 1857 and the last in August 1923.
George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip was an American-English chess master and writer. He competed in chess tournaments between 1870 and 1895, playing against most of the world's leading players, but with only modest success. The writer G. H. Diggle calls him "the King of Wooden Spoonists" because he usually finished last in strong tournaments.
