He was without question the best player of his time and considered the World Champion since there was no official World Championship at the time. A match with Staunton would have resolved the issue.

To determine Morphy's successor, a match was held between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort in NY, St. Louis and New Orleans.  Steinitz won by a score of 12-7, becoming the 1st World Champion.

Emanuel Lasker's more refined and superior style proved decisively for Steinitz and in 1894, Lasker defeats Steinitz by a score of 12-7 in a match held in New York, Philadelphia and Montreal. 

Only an even stronger engame player like Jose Raul Capablanca could replace Dr. Lasker.  The "Chess Machine" as he was called, won the title against Emanuel Lasker in 1921 without a single game lost.

In a long match in Buenos Aires in 1927, Alekhine defeats Capablanca on his initial defense by 18 to 15.  His relations with Capablanca were so bad, that he never gave him a chance to regain the title.

In 1935, in Holland, Dutchman Max Euwe won the title to Alekhine by a score of 15 to 14 and was the World Champion from 1935-37.  Max Euwe was the President of FIDE, the World's official body.

When Alekhine died (he had regained the title from Euwe earlier), FIDE took control of the title and held a match to determine a new Champion.  Botvinnik won the five-player event with 14 out of 20 points.

Vasily Smyslov's great endgame skill was the main reason he defeated Botvinnik for the title in 1957 and yet he played three matches against Mikhail Botvinnik for the title over the years 1954- 58.

Tal, from Riga returned from Moscow with the tile after defeating Botvinnik by 12 to 8 in 1960. He was World Champion for one year after losing the Championship title back to Botvinnik in 1961.

Petrosian defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in 1963 with a 12 - 9 score.  He retained his Championship in a match against Boris Spassky in 1966 by a 12 - 11 score.  He loved constricted and cramped positions.