The concept of a world chess championship extends back beyond the match in 1886 between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johann Zukertort, a battle that Steinitz won, +10 -5 =5. References to Paul Morphy as a world chess champion or as the champion of the chess world were numerous in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Steinitz himself spoke of being “champion” in the early 1870s.

What follows is an annotated list of matches and tournaments that have been interpreted by chess scholars as having something to do with determining who was world chess champion at a given moment. In the case of, say, the match between Alexander Alekhine and Jose Capablanca in 1927, chess writers are unanimous in considering the match to be for the world chess championship. In the case of, say, the second match between Howard Staunton and Pierre Saint-Amant in 1843, only those chess writers who extend the title line back further than Steinitz-Zukertort 1886 would include this event as being for the world title.

Here, then, is our list of the world title canon with the match winner listed first:

	Andre PHILIDOR vs Phillip Stamma London, 1747: +8 -1 =1
	Louis Charles de La BOURDONNAIS vs Alexander McDonnell London, 1834: +45 -27 =13, in a series of six matches
	Pierre Saint-Amant vs Howard Staunton London, 1843: +3 -2 =1
	Howard Staunton vs Pierre Saint-Amant Paris, 1843: +11 -6 =4
	Howard Staunton vs Bernhard Horwitz London, 1846: +14 -7 =3
	LONDON 1851
	Paul Morphy vs Adolf Anderssen Paris, 1858: +7 -2 =2
	LONDON 1862
	Wilhelm Steinitz vs Adolf Anderssen London, 1866: +8 -6
	Wilhelm Steinitz vs Johann Zukertort London, 1872: +7 -1 =4
	LONDON 1883
	Wilhelm Steinitz vs Johann Zukertort New York, St. Louis, New Orleans, 1886: +10 -5 =5
	Wilhelm Steinitz vs Mikhail Tchigorin Havana, 1889: +10 -6 =1
	Wilhelm Steinitz vs Isidor Gunsberg New York, 1890-91: +6 -4 =9
	Wilhelm Steinitz vs Mikhail Tchigorin Havana, 1892: +10 -8 =5
	Emanuel Lasker vs Wilhelm Steinitz New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, 1894: +10 -5 =4
	Emanuel Lasker vs Wilhelm Steinitz Moscow, 1896-97: +10 -2 =5
	Emanuel Lasker vs Frank Marshall New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Chicago, Memphis, New York, 1907: +8 =7
	Emanuel Lasker vs Siegbert Tarrasch Duesseldorf, Munich, 1908: +8 -3 =5
	Emanuel Lasker vs David Janowski Paris, 1909: +7 -1 =2
	Emanuel Lasker vs Carl Schlechter Vienna, Berlin, 1910: +1 -1 =8
	Emanuel Lasker vs David Janowski Berlin, 1910: +8 -0 =3
	Jose Capablanca vs Emanuel Lasker Havana, 1921: +4 -0 =10
	Alexander Alekhine vs Jose Capablanca Buenos Aires, 1927: +6 -3 =25
	Alexander Alekhine vs Efim Bogolyubov Several cities in Germany and The Netherlands, 1929: +11 -5 =9
	Alexander Alekhine vs Efim Bogolyubov Several cities in Germany, 1934: +8 -3 =15
	Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine Played in 13 cities in The Netherlands, 1935: +9 -8 =13
	Alexander Alekhine vs Max Euwe Played in several cities in The Netherlands, 1937: +10 -4 =11 or, including games from the “exhibition match,” +11 -6 =13
	THE HAGUE - MOSCOW, 1948
	Mikhail Botvinnik vs David Bronstein Moscow, 1951: +5 -5 =14
	Mikhail Botvinnik vs Vasily Smyslov Moscow, 1954: +7 -7 =10
	Vasily Smyslov vs Mikhail Botvinnik Moscow, 1957: +6 -3 =13
	Mikhail Botvinnik vs Vasily Smyslov Moscow, 1958: +7 -5 =11
	Mikhail Tal vs Mikhail Botvinnik Moscow, 1960: +6 -2 =13
	Mikhail Botvinnik vs Mikhail Tal Moscow, 1961: +10 -5 =6
	Tigran Petrosian vs Mikhail Botvinnik Moscow, 1963: +5 -2 =15
	Tigran Petrosian vs Boris Spassky Moscow, 1966: +4 -3 =17
	Boris Spassky vs Tigran Petrosian Moscow, 1969: +6 -4 =13
	Robert Fischer vs Boris Spassky Reykjavik, 1972: +7 -3 [one win by forfeit] =11
	Anatoly Karpov vs Viktor Korchnoi Moscow, 1974: +3 -2 =19
	Anatoly Karpov vs Viktor Korchnoi Baguio, The Philippines, 1978: +6 -5 =21
	Anatoly Karpov vs Viktor Korchnoi Merano, Italy, 1981: +6 -2 = 10
	Anatoly Karpov vs Garry Kasparov Moscow, 1984 - 85: +5 -3 =40
	Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov Moscow, 1985: +5 -3 =16
	Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov London and Leningrad [St. Petersburg], 1986: +5 -4 =15
	Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov Seville, Spain 1987: +4 -4 =16
	Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov New York City and Lyon, 1990: +4 -3 =17
	Robert “Bobby” Fischer vs Boris Spassky Sveti Stefan and Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1992: +10 -5 =15
	Garry Kasparov vs Nigel Short London, 1993: +6 -1 =13
	Anatoly Karpov vs Jan Timman Zwolle, Arnhem, Amsterdam and Djakarta, 1993: +6 -2 =13
	Garry Kasparov vs Viswanthan Anand New York, 1995: +4 -1 =13
	Anatoly Karpov vs Gata Kamsky Elista, Kalmykia, 1996: +6 -3 =9
	Anatoly Karpov vs Viswanathan Anand Lausanne, Switzerland, 1998: +4 -2 =2, including two wins by Karpov in a speed chess playoff
	Alexander Khalifman vs Vladimir Akopian Las Vegas, Nevada, 1999: +2 -1 =3
	Vladimir Kramnik vs Garry Kasparov London, October 2000: +2 -0 =13
	Viswanathan Anand vs Alexei Shirov Tehran, December 2000: +3 -0 =1