CHAMPIONS OF THE CHESS

Name: Emir Abdullah Kılıçaslan Student ID: 150130007 Class: BIL103E (CRN 12289) Lecturer: Hayri Turgut Uyar

Contents What is Chess 1 Cha m pions and Number of their Leads 2 Countries of the Champions 3 Which year, Which one ? 4 Conclusion 5

1. What is Chess?

Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a chessboard, a checkered gameboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide in homes, parks, clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments. Each player begins the game with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. Each of the six piece types moves differently. The objective is to 'checkmate' the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. To this end, a player's pieces are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces, while supporting their own. In addition to checkmate, the game can be won by voluntary resignation by the opponent, which typically occurs when too much material is lost, or if checkmate appears unavoidable. A game may also result in a draw in several ways, where neither player wins. The course of the game is divided into three phases: opening, middlegame, and endgame. 2. Champions

CHAMPIONS NUMBER OF THEIR WINS Wilhelm Steinitz 8 Emanuel Lasker 27 Jose Raul Capablanca 6 Alexander Alekhine 17 Max Euwe 2 Mikhail Tal 1 Mikhail Botvinnik 13 Vassily Smyslov 1 Tigran Petrosian 6 Boris Spassky 3 Robert Fischer 3 Anatoly Karpov 15 Gary Kasparov 8 Alexander Khalifman 1 Viswanathan Anand 8 Ruslan Ponomariov 2 Rustam Kasimdzhanov 1 Veselin Topalov 1 Vladimir Kramnik 1 Magnus Carlsen 1

Table 1 : Champions and Number of their Leads

The first official World Chess Championship played in 1886 and Wilhelm Steinz is the first World Chess Champion. 3. Countries of the Champions

NAME COUNTRY Alexander Alekhine Russia Alexander Khalifman Russia Anatoly Karpov Russia Boris Spassky Russia Emanuel Lasker Germany Gary Kasparov Russia Jose Raul Capablanca Cuba Max Euwe Holland Mikhail Botvinnik Russia Mikhail Tal Latvia Robert Fischer USA Ruslan Ponomariov Ukraine Rustam Kasimdzhanov Uzbekistan Tigran Petrosian Russia Vassily Smyslov Russia Veselin Topalov Bulgaria Viswanathan Anand India Vladimir Kramnik Russia Wilhelm Steinitz Austria-Hungary Magnus Carlsen Norway

Table 2 : Champions and their Countries

As you can see lots of the champions are from Russia.

4. Which Year, Which One ?

NAME YEARS TIMES Wilhelm Steinitz 1886 -1894 8 Wilhelm Steinitz 1894 -1921 27 Jose Raul Capablanca 1921 -1927 6 Alexander Alekhine 1927 -1935 8 Max Euwe 1935 -1937 2 Alexander Alekhine 1937 -1946 9 Mikhail Botvinnik 1948 -1957 9 Vassily Smyslov 1957 -1958 1 Mikhail Botvinnik 1958 -1960 2 Mikhail Tal 1960 -1961 1 Mikhail Botvinnik 1961 -1963 2 Tigran Petrosian 1963 -1969 6 Boris Spassky 1969 -1972 3 Robert Fischer 1972 -1975 3 Anatoly Karpov 1975 -1985 10 Gary Kasparov 1985 -1993 8 Anatoly Karpov 1993 -1999 6 Alexander Khalifman 1999 -2000 1 Viswanathan Anand 2000 -2002 2 Ruslan Ponomariov 2002 -2004 2 Rustam Kasimdzhanov 2004 -2005 1 Veselin Topalov 2005 -2006 1 Vladimir Kramnik 2006 -2007 1 Viswanathan Anand 2007 -2013 6 Magnus Carlsen 2013 -2014 1

Tabşe 3: Years of the Championships and number of Championships 5. Conclusion

Russia has the most number of champions in the World. Nine different champions was from Russia. Other countries do not have more than one. (Check T2) Emanuel Lasker was champion more than quarter of a century. Gary Kasporov and Anatoly Karpov who were the bests of last quarter of centrury do not have more championships than Emanuel Lasker have. So, we can say that Emanuel Lasker was the best. (Check T3) I wanted to finish my report with Lasker's photo.

Data Source 1 Data Source 2