List of World Chess Championships Emanuel Lasker (left) facing incumbent champion Wilhelm Steinitz (right) in Philadelphia during the 1894 World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship has taken various forms over time, including both match and tournament play. World Chess Championship : Only 17 players have been crowned world champions in chess , Can an 18-year-old from India join their ranks? Chess World Championship : Winners full list , history, all you need to know Austrian-American Wilhelm Steinitz was the first Chess World Champion, holding the title from 1886 to 1894 with four victories. India's 18-year-old Gukesh is the youngest Chess champion World chess championship winners list : If you are a chess player, people will often identify you as someone with a brain. Being a chess player is not everyone’s cup of tea. Becoming a World Chess Champion is a rarity. Only 21 players in history have held that title. Of those, seventeen of them are considered the Classical Champions , while the rest, because of the political disparity in the chess world between 1993 and 2006, are called FIDE World Champions . Let’s find out who has sat in ...
