World Champion

• Wilhelm Steinitz
• Emanuel Lasker
• Jose Raul Capablanca
• Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
• Max Euwe
• Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik
• Vasily Smyslov
• Mikhail Tal
• Tigran Petrosjan
• Boris Vasilievich Spassky
• Robert James Fischer
• Anatoli Yevgenyevich Karpov
• Garry Kimovich Kasparov
• Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik
• Viswanathan Anand

In this list we don't mention the following FIDE champions between 1992 and 2005 when there were different World Championship matches played.

These players include:

• Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman
• Ruslan Ponomariov
• Rustam Kasimdzhanov
• Veselin Topalov

Also not listed are players before the first official between Steinitz and Zukertort. But they were the strongest players of their time.

These players include:

• Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen
• Paul Charles Morphy