The 10 Most Exciting World Chess Championships Ever
With the upcoming 2018 world chess championship between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana just days away starting Nov. 9, Chess.com wanted to know: What is the most exciting title match in history?
Below is a countdown of the top 10 as we announce one per weekday until the start of the 2018 world chess championship:
- 10th Place: (Tie) Capablanca-Lasker 1921, Alekhine-Capablanca 1927 and Kasparov-Karpov 1990
- 9th Place: Carlsen vs. Karjakin 2016
- 8th Place: Botvinnik vs. Bronstein 1951
- 7th Place: Carlsen vs. Anand 2013
- 6th Place: Karpov vs. Korchnoi 1978
- 5th Place: Karpov vs. Kasparov 1985
- 4th Place: Tal vs. Botvinnik 1960
- 3rd Place: Karpov vs Kasparov 1984
- 2nd Place: Karpov vs. Kasparov 1987
- 1st Place: Fischer vs Spassky 1972
There were also other world chess championships that didn't make our list but got at least one vote:
20th place, Kasparov-Anand 1995 (2 points); 19th place, Steinitz-Chigorin 1892 (3 points); 18th place, Kramnik-Topalov 2006 (4 points); 17th place, Euwe-Alekhine 1935 (5 points); T-15th place, Spassky-Petrosian 1969 and Kasparov-Karpov 1986 (7 points); 14th place, Kramnik-Kasparov 2000 (9 points); 13th place, Kasparov-Short 1993 (10 points).
Wonder how this list was created?
There was only one way to find out. Chess.com staff members looked back at every title match or tournament in history (FIDE and PCA). They ranked their top 10, with each person's selection for "most exciting in history" getting 10 points, and on down to one point for 10th place (well, with the exception of chief chess officer @danielrensch, who only ranked his top seven, because he is Danny!).
Other voting members: directors of content @mikeklein and @peterdoggers, director of social media and international content @samcopeland, executive editor @pete, Russian social media liaison and photographer @MissLovaLova, director of professional relations @simonmtl, and curriculum specialist @Fischwitsch. With eight voters, that means a perfect score would be 80 if the number one match had been unanimous (it wasn't!).
Don't agree with our choices? Great! Please make your best arguments in the comments.
Let us know a match that should have been moved up or down, or not ranked at all. Or, try to guess which matches we named in our top 10!
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
