 |
| Wilhelm Steinitz |
| (Austrian Empire, 1836-1900) |
| Champion from 1866 to 1894 |
|
 |
| Emmanuel Lasker |
| (Germany, 1868-1941) |
| Champion from 1894 to 1921 |
|
 |
| Jose Raul Capablanca |
| (Cuba, 1888-1942) |
| Champion from 1921 to 1927 |
|
 |
| Alexander Alekhine |
| (Russia, 1892-1946) |
| Champion from 1927 to 1935 and 1937 to 1946 |
|
 |
| Max Euwe |
| (Netherlands, 1901-1981) |
| Champion from 1935 to 1937 |
|
 |
| Mikhail Botvinnik |
| (Soviet Union-Russia, 1911-1995) |
| Champion from 1948 to 1957, 1958 to 1960 and 1961 to 1963 |
|
 |
| Vasily Smyslov |
| (Soviet Union-Russia, 1921) |
| Champion from 1957 to 1958 |
|
 |
| Mikhail Tal |
| (Soviet Union-Latvia, 1936-1992) |
| Champion from 1960 to 1961 |
|
 |
| Tigran Petrosian |
| (Soviet Union-Georgia, 1929-1984) |
| Champion from 1963 to 1969 |
|
 |
| Boris Spassky |
| (URSS-Russia, 1937) |
| Champion from 1969 to 1972 |
|
 |
| Robert James Fischer |
| (USA, 1943-2008) |
| Champion from 1972 to 1975 |
|
 |
| Anatoly Karpov |
| (Soviet Union-Russia, 1951) |
| Champion from 1975 to 1985 and FIDE from 1993 to 1999 |
|
 |
| Garry Kasparov |
| (Soviet Union-Azerbaijan, 1963) |
| Champion from 1985 to 1993 and PCA from 1993 to 2000 |
|
 |
| Vladimir Kramnik |
| (Soviet Union-Russia, 1975) |
| Classical Champion from 2000 to 2006 and Reunified Title from 2006 to 2007 |
|
 |
| Alexander Khalifman |
| (Soviet Union-Russia, 1966) |
| FIDE Champion from 1999 to 2000 |
|
 |
| Viswanathan Anand |
| (India, 1969) |
| FIDE Champion from 2000 to 2002 and Reunified Title from 2007 |
|
 |
| Ruslan Ponomariov |
| (Soviet Union-Ukraine, 1983) |
| FIDE Champion from 2002 to 2004 |
|
 |
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov |
| (Soviet Union-Uzbekistan, 1979) |
| FIDE Champion from 2004 to 2005 |
|
 |
| Veselin Topalov |
| (Bulgaria, 1975) |
| FIDE Champion from 2005 to 2006 |
|
