International Chess Day 2022: A look at top 10 World Chess Champions-Sports News , Firstpost

International Chess Day is celebrated annually on 20 July all across the globe. Image Courtesy: Official website of Grand Chess Tour/Reuters

The idea was initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to give recognition to the extremely skillful board game. Though the origin of the game is still a matter of debate, many experts think that it was built based on the theory of the Indian war game named ‘Chaturanga’.

This theory is regarded as the most relevant one as Chess carries two prominent features of it – different pieces follow different functions and the victory is based on the king only. Later, a variant of the game called ‘Shatranj’ got widely spread in Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Arabian Empire through Persia. Then, it was established by the Englishmen who introduced Black and White squares and gained worldwide popularity. In 1966, the General Assembly decided on celebrating the special day to mark the foundation of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Today, on the occasion of World Chess Day, let’s take a look at the Top 10 World Chess Champions:

Magnus Carlsen 

The Norway-born chess player Magnus Carlsen is now at the top of the list with 2864 points to his name. After ending in a draw with Gary Kasparov and defeating GM Anatoly Karpov at the age of 13 in 2004, he reached the top spot before reaching 30. In 2009, Carlsen became the youngest player to break the 2800-rating threshold which was later broken by Alireza Firouzja in 2021.

Ding Liren

Ding Liren is a Chinese super grandmaster who won his first Chinese Chess Championship at the age of 16. He bagged three Chinese titles along with two team gold medals and one individual gold medal at the Chess Olympiads. Liren also recorded one team gold medal at the World Team Championships.

Ian Nepomniachtchi

File pic of Ian Nepomniachtchi (R). Image courtesy: David Llada

The Russian super grandmaster is currently third in the world. He has a positive score against both prominent grandmasters, Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand. He clinched the 2020-21 Candidates Tournament and challenged Carlsen for the 2021 World title.

Alireza Firouzja

Firouzja is an Iranian-born grandmaster who is a two-time Iranian champion and the reigning European Fischer Random champion. In 2020, he recorded a second-place finish just one point behind Carlsen. In 2021, Firouzja won the Riga Grand Swiss.

Fabiano Caruana

Caruana became America’s youngest chess grandmaster breaking the record of GM Hikaru Nakamura. In 2018, he faced Carlsen at the World Chess Championship in London but endured defeat in the tie-break playoffs.

Viswanathan Anand

Indian chess great Viswanathan Anand. Image Courtesy: Official website of Grand Chess Tour

Viswanathan Anand is the Indian chess great who won the FIDE World Championships consecutively in 2000 and 2001 and was the undisputed champion from 2007 to 2013. He also won the double round-robin world championship tournament in 2007, beating GM Vladimir Kramnik.

Garry Kimovich Kasparov

Garry Kasparov is a former Russian Chess player who became the youngest ever undisputed world chess champion in 1985 at the age of 22. From 1984 till his retirement in 2005, he had been ranked the world’s No. 1 for a record 255 months during his decorated career.

Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer, an American chess grandmaster was the 11th world chess champion. In 1958, he won the US Championship at the age of 14. He won the World Championship title in 1972 but forfeited it in 1975.

Emanuel Lasker

Emanuel Lasker was the second official world champion who held the title for 27 years. In 1894, he defeated the first official world champion, Wilhelm Steinitz. During his five-decade-long career, he had beaten a host of world-class contenders.

Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Tal, also popular as the ‘Magician from Riga’ was the eighth official world champion who earned the crown at the age of 23 in 1960 becoming the youngest world champion in history at the time.

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