The classical chess world championship is not the only world championship in chess. On Sunday the first School Rapid World Champions from U9 to U17, open and female were crowned, on coming Monday the first blitz team world champion, and by Wednesday we will have the first batch of School Blitz World Champions, ten more kids. Seven new titles were awarded at the recent ICCD world championships. Six more new titles will be added in November: World champions U18, U16 and U14, each “open” and female, in problem solving. Bids are open for numerous championships. This includes a not previously held Amateur Team World Championship.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung asked FIDE how many official world championship titles there are in chess, but did not get a reply. The reason may well that noone has made an effort to count. Or officials were too busy counting games played on International Chess Day for establishing a misleading record instead of what may be a real world record for a sport without weight categories.
Below this article you find a list compiled from information on the FIDE website. This list shows 139 individual and 12 team world championships. As FIDE didn’t correct or comment on the list, it does not claim to be complete. Most but not all of them are awarded every year. Roughly 40% of these world championships are not run by FIDE itself but by organisations that are affiliated or FIDE has cooperation agreements with (FISU, ISF).
- International Braille Chess Association (IBCA)
- International Chess Committee of the Deaf (ICCD)
- International Computer Games Association (ICGA)
- International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF)
- International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA)
- World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC)
- International University Sports Federation (FISU)
- International School Sport Federation (ISF).
The list is not only growing. The ICGA has announced that they will discontinue the computer world chess championship after its 50th edition this year.
The list does not include inofficial world championships that are held in online chess, chess variants, or by the private Amateur Chess Organisation (ACO), a German company that has been running Amateur World Championships since 2012. ACO told Chesstech that they have a friendly or neutral relationship with FIDE and there have never been any legal steps against them using the world championship assignation. Competitions held with 45 minutes + 10 seconds/move are called semi classical here.
- Classical open
- Classical women
- Classical 65+ open
- Classical 65+ women
- Classical 50+ open
- Classical 50+ women
- Classical Junior (U20) open
- Classical Junior (U20) girls
- Classical U18 open
- Classical U18 girls
- Classical U16 open
- Classical U16 girls
- Classical U14 open
- Classical U14 girls
- Classical U12 open
- Classical U12 girls
- Classical U10 open
- Classical U10 girls
- Classical U8 open
- Classical U8 girls
- Classical school U17 open
- Classical school U17 girls
- Classical school U15 open
- Classical school U15 girls
- Classical school U13 open
- Classical school U13 girls
- Classical school U11 open
- Classical school U11 girls
- Classical school U9 open
- Classical school U9 girls
- Classical school U7 open
- Classical school U7 girls
- Classical 65+ Team open
- Classical 65+ Team women
- Classical 50+ Team open
- Classical 50+ Team women
- Classical Amateur U2300 rating open
- Classical Amateur U2300 rating women
- Classical Amateur U2000 rating open
- Classical Amateur U2000 rating women
- Classical Amateur U1700 rating open
- Classical Amateur U1700 rating women
- Classical Amateur Team
- Classical Student open (FISU)
- Classical Student women (FISU)
- Classical Student Team (FISU)
- Classical Physically Disabled open (IPCA)
- Classical Physically Disabled women (IPCA)
- Classical Physically Disabled junior (IPCA)
- Classical Blind and Visually Impaired open IBCA)
- Classical Blind and Visually Impaired women IBCA)
- Classical Blind and Visually Impaired junior IBCA)
- Classical Blind and Visually Impaired team IBCA)
- Classical Deaf open (ICCD)
- Classical Deaf women (ICCD)
- Classical Deaf senior (ICCD)
- Classical Deaf junior open (ICCD)
- Classical Deaf junior girls (ICCD)
- Semi Classical Fischer Random (last held in 2022)
- Semi Classical Computer (ICGA, any hardware)
- Semi Classical Software (ICGA, same hardware)
- Semi Classical Classical Team open
- Semi Classical Team women
- Semi Classical School Team U18
- Semi Classical School Team U12
- Rapid open
- Rapid women
- Rapid Junior (U20) open
- Rapid Junior (U20) girls
- Rapid U18 open
- Rapid U18 girls
- Rapid U16 open
- Rapid U16 girls
- Rapid U14 open
- Rapid U14 girls
- Rapid U12 open
- Rapid U12 girls
- Rapid U10 open
- Rapid U10 girls
- Rapid U8 open
- Rapid U8 girls
- Rapid school U17 open
- Rapid school U17 girls
- Rapid school U15 open
- Rapid school U15 girls
- Rapid school U13 open
- Rapid school U13 girls
- Rapid school U11 open
- Rapid school U11 girls
- Rapid school U9 open
- Rapid school U9 girls
- Rapid Deaf open (ICCD)
- Rapid Deaf women (ICCD)
- Rapid Team
- Corporate Team (rapid)
- Blitz open
- Blitz women
- Blitz Junior (U20) open
- Blitz Junior (U20) girls
- Blitz U18 open
- Blitz U18 girls
- Blitz U16 open
- Blitz U16 girls
- Blitz U14 open
- Blitz U14 girls
- Blitz U12 open
- Blitz U12 girls
- Blitz U10 open
- Blitz U10 girls
- Blitz U8 open
- Blitz U8 girls
- Blitz school U17 open
- Blitz school U17 girls
- Blitz school U15 open
- Blitz school U15 girls
- Blitz school U13 open
- Blitz school U13 girls
- Blitz school U11 open
- Blitz school U11 girls
- Blitz school U9 open
- Blitz school U9 girls
- Blitz Deaf open (ICCD)
- Blitz Deaf women (ICCD)
- Blitz Deaf juniors open (ICCD)
- Blitz Deaf girls (ICCD)
- Blitz Student Team (FISU)
- Computer speed (ICGA)
- Correspondence open (ICCF)
- Correspondence women (ICCF)
- Composition Twomover (last held in 2018, WFCC)
- Composition Threemover (last held in 2018, WFCC)
- Composition Moremover (last held in 2018, WFCC)
- Composition Studies (last held in 2018, WFCC)
- Composition Helpmates (last held in 2018, WFCC)
- Composition Selfmates (last held in 2018, WFCC)
- Composition Fairies (last held in 2018, WFCC)
- Composition Retros (last held in 2018, WFCC)
- Problem Solving (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U2000 rating (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U18 open (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U18 girls (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U16 open (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U16 girls (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U14 open (WFCC, replacing Problem Solving U13)
- Problem Solving U14 girls (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U12 open (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U12 girls (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U10 open (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U10 girls (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U8 open (WFCC)
- Problem Solving U8 girls (WFCC)