Top 10 Players Who Never Won World Chess Championship

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7. Samuel Reshevsky (1911-1992)

Samuel Reshevsky- World Class Chess Player who never won the world Championship

Reshevsky was an American grandmaster who was widely celebrated as a chess prodigy before he was even 10 years old. He was already giving simultaneous exhibitions at the age of six! He went on to win seven US Championships and had a stellar chess career – remaining among the world’s elite during most of it. He tied for third in the 1948 Candidates’ Tournament, and tied for second in 1953. However, it was later revealed by Bronstein that Soviet chess officials had fixed the match to prevent Reshevsky from challenging the champion Mikhail Botvinnik.

Reshevsky did prove himself to be one of the best chess players in the world by beating Botvinnik in a four-game match in the USA vs. USSR team games. Reshevsky was an outstanding match player who also won many elite tournaments during his career. His chess intuition was extremely strong. With his accomplishments, Reshevsky has definitely secured a unique place in chess history.

6. Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908)

Mikhail Chigorin- Top Chess Player who never won a championship

Chigorin was one of the last players of the Romantic Chess Era, which had a culture of daring attacks and brilliant tactics. He was a Russian chess master who had a great influence in the formation of the Soviet Chess School, which went on to dominate the game of chess for many years to come.

He played two matches against Steinitz for the world championship, but lost both of them. Despite this, his overall score against Steinitz was very close (+24-27=8). He also managed to draw Tarrasch in 1893, in a match that can be considered the Candidates’ tournament of the time. Chigorin relied heavily on spectacular combinations and daring gambits. This has made his games extremely important to chess literature, because they represent the shift from pure tactical play to strategic thinking.

5. Siegbert Tarrasch (1864-1934)

Siegbert Tarrasch- Top Chess Player who never won a Championship

Tarrasch was a prolific chess author, and an elite chess player for the first two decades of the 20th century. He was among the best chess players of his time, and was considered by many to be even stronger than the reigning world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, against whom he had a heavy positive score. He won several strong tournaments and proved himself to be a worthy challenger for the chess crown. Despite this, he was never actually able to arrange a match for the World Championship with Steinitz, primarily because of the demands of his medical profession. After the old Steinitz lost his crown to the young Lasker, Tarrasch was one of the first challengers to play against the new champion. He lost to Lasker, and was hence never able to win the World Championship.

He went on to become an influential chess teacher and the author of “The Game of Chess”, an extremely popular didactic chess book. His games and books are immortalized in chess history.

4. David Bronstein (1924-2006)

David Bronstein- Top Chess Player Who never won a Championship

David Bronstein never won the World Championship, but he came as close to winning it as is humanly possible! In 1951, after leading the world championship match against the reigning champion Mikhail Botvinnik by a margin of 11.5 to 10.5, with only 2 games remaining, he lost one game and drew the other, thereby drawing the whole match 12-12. This allowed Botvinnik to retain the title of World Champion.

There are many rumors about Soviet officials “convincing” Bronstein to drop the match, so that Botvinnik could remain the champion. One thing is for sure: Bronstein was an extremely strong chess player who has secured his place in chess history because of his chess strength and accomplishments.

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1 thought on “Top 10 Players Who Never Won World Chess Championship”

  1. Thank you for sharing valuable information. Nice post. I enjoyed reading this post. The whole blog is very nice found some good stuff and good information here Thanks..

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