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Glossary : World Championship
The World Championship is based on a hierarchical qualifying cycle. From 1948 to 1996, the cycle consisted of zonal tournaments, an Interzonal, a Candidates' event, and a title match. In recent years, the cycle was compressed into a knockout tournament.

Birth of the FIDE World Chess Championship
After the death of World Champion Alexander Alekhine in 1946, the World Chess Federation took on the job of building a structure for determining fairly a new World Champion and subsequent title challengers. At the same time FIDE rebuilt itself decentrally to match the first organizational steps of the qualifying cycle. The early FIDE delegates did their job well.

World Chess Championship for Women
Ask any player to list the World Champions and you're likely to get an answer like 'Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, ...' It's a rare player who will ask, 'Which champions : men or women?' Menchik, Gaprindashvili, Chiburdanidze, ... : remember those name

The World Chess Championship
Complete history of the World Chess Championship covers unofficial championships, pre-FIDE championships, FIDE championships, and recent non-FIDE championships, including interzonals, candidates, and title events. Has subsections covering women's championships, correspondence championships, and computer championships. All games are available for download. By your About Chess Guide.

World Chess Championship for Women
Quick jump into the previous site ('The World Chess Championship' by your About Chess Guide) for the World Women's Championship

Introduction to FIDE Zones
The World Chess Championship qualifying cycle starts with zonal tournaments organized by FIDE zone. Using this qualification structure, any player in the world has the opportunity to climb the ladder to become the next World Chess Champion.

2005 World Chess Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia), Official Site
In November 2005, FIDE started to use its controversial knockout format as a World Championship qualifier rather than as the World Championship event. Khanty-Mansiysk was the first such qualifying event.

2005 FIDE World Chess Championship
One of the many qualities that determine a good chess game is a surprising sacrifice. The 2005 FIDE World Championship at San Luis, Argentina, was full of excellent sacrifices. Here are seven from the first half of the tournament.

2005 FIDE World Championship Photos
Photos from the 2005 FIDE World Championship, San Luis, Argentina. • Michael Adams, Viswanathan Anand, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Peter Leko, Alexander Morozevich, Judit Polgar, Peter Svidler, Veselin Topalov. • Courtesy 'Prensa Mundial / World Chess Championship Press', used with permission.

2005 FIDE World Championship, San Luis (Argentina), Official Site
San Luis, Argentina, September 2005. FIDE's solution to the stalemate in World Championship unification.

2004 Kramnik - Leko
Vladimir Kramnik played a tied match with Peter Leko to retain his title of World Chess Champion, October 2004, in Brissago, Switzerland. Here are highlights from the decisive games plus a link to play the games in our game viewer.

2004 Kramnik - Leko, Official site
Brissago, Switzerland, October 2004. Sponsored by the Dannemann cigar company.

2004 FIDE Knockout : Background
The 5th FIDE World Championship knockout tournament is underway in Tripoli, Libya. The event is one of the most controversial chess competitions ever held. We present the controversies, previous knockout events, participants, and important rules.

2004 FIDE Knockout : Results
Despite the organizational difficulties, 124 players (out of 128 invited) participated in the FIDE World Championship in Tripoli, Libya. We list important start data for the 2004 participants plus their results from all five FIDE knockout tournaments.

2002 Reunification of the World Chess Title
If all goes according to the Prague Plan, the World Chess Championship title should soon be reunified. Why is one title better than two? Find out how the schism happened and how it should end.

2001 FIDE Knockout, Official site
Moscow, preliminary rounds November - December 2001, final January 2002. Won by Ponomariov; Ivanchuk runnerup. • From the Internet Archive (www.archive.org).

2000 FIDE Knockout, Official site
New Delhi/Tehran, November - December 2000. Won by Anand; Shirov runnerup. • From the Internet Archive (www.archive.org).

2000 Kramnik - Kasparov
The ChessCenter.com site for the Brain Games match.

2000 Kramnik - Kasparov, Braingames site
London, October - November 2000. • From the Internet Archive (www.archive.org).

World Correspondence (ICCF) Championships
By your About.com Guide.