World chess championship (human) observations

Purpose

To collect observations about the statistics of the world chess championship (regarding human players only with no external helps during games).

Candidate Players according to country

It is interesting to see the statistics of the country distribution from candidate players according to the country of origin. Considering only the cases where candidates qualify from qualification tournaments in a sort of "final tournament before the last match". So ignoring chess championship where the champion accepts the challenger. Although qualifications path sometimes were questionable, it is the best that was produced at that time.

This will likely show a trend. Now in chess it is relatively easy (compared to other competitive sport) to change allegiance from a country or another, but it doesn't happen often that strong players switch federations or countries so it is another index to show the state of the chess maturity of a country. If the chess competition is advanced, the country produces also players that can win qualification tournaments. Although this is less and less true with an interconnected world where actually one should start to consider groups of countries if those are small enough and share many properties together.

If equal amount of players, sorted alphabetically

2018 FIDE

  • 3 Russia
  • 2 USA
  • 1 Armenia
  • 1 Azerbaijan
  • 1 China
  • 1 Norway (has the champion)

2016 FIDE

  • 2 Russia
  • 2 USA (0.5 Italy with a player switching to the USA)
  • 1 Armenia
  • 1 Bulgaria
  • 1 India
  • 1 Netherlands
  • 1 Norway (has the champion)

2014 FIDE

  • 4 Russia
  • 1 Armenia
  • 1 Azerbaijan
  • 1 Bulgaria
  • 1 India
  • 1 Norway (has the champion)

2013 FIDE

  • 3 Russia
  • 1 Armenia
  • 1 Azerbaijan
  • 1 India (has the champion)
  • 1 Israel
  • 1 Norway
  • 1 Ukraine

2012 FIDE

  • 2 Russia
  • 2 Azerbaijan
  • 1 Armenia
  • 1 Bulgaria
  • 1 India (has the champion)
  • 1 Israel
  • 1 USA

2010 FIDE

  • 1 Bulgaria
  • 1 India (has the champion)
  • 1 USA (poor Kamsky. His father was a ultra toxic figure for too long)

2007 FIDE

  • 4 Russia (has the champion)
  • 1 Armenia
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 India
  • 1 Israel

2005 FIDE

  • 2 Hungary
  • 2 Russia
  • 1 Bulgaria
  • 1 England
  • 1 India
  • 1 Uzbekistan (has the champion)

2004 alternative to FIDE

  • 3 Russia (has the champion)
  • 1 Bulgaria
  • 1 Germany
  • 1 England
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 Israel
  • 1 Spain

2004 FIDE (from top 8 to final plus previous champion)

  • 2 Russia
  • 1 Armenia
  • 1 Azerbaijan
  • 1 Bulgaria
  • 1 Cuba
  • 1 England
  • 1 Ukraine (has the champion, didn't play)
  • 1 Uzbekistan

2002 FIDE (from top 8 to final plus previous champion)

  • 2 Russia
  • 2 Ukraine
  • 1 France
  • 1 India (has the champion)
  • 1 Israel
  • 1 Spain

2000 FIDE (from top 8 to final plus previous champion)

  • 3 Russia (has the champion)
  • 1 Bulgaria
  • 1 England
  • 1 France
  • 1 India
  • 1 Spain

2000 alternative to FIDE

  • Qualifications overturned. Not considered

1999 FIDE (from top 8 to final plus previous champion)

  • 3 Russia (has the champion, he didn't play)
  • 2 Armenia
  • 1 England
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 Romania
  • 1 Spain

1998 FIDE (from top 8 to final plus previous champion)

  • 2 England
  • 2 Russia (has the champion)
  • 1 Belarus
  • 1 India
  • 1 Netherlands
  • 1 Poland
  • 1 Spain

1996 FIDE final knockouts

  • 4 Russia (has the champion)
  • 2 Netherlands
  • 1 Belarus
  • 1 England
  • 1 France
  • 1 Germany
  • 1 India
  • 1 Israel
  • 1 USA

1995 altenative to FIDE (final knockouts)

  • 3 Russia (has the champion)
  • 2 England
  • 2 USA
  • 1 India
  • 1 Ukraine

1993 FIDE / alternative to FIDE (final knockouts from top 16 and then two finals)

  • 7 Soviet Union/CSI (has the champion)
  • 2 England
  • 2 Germany
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 India
  • 1 Netherlands
  • 1 Switzerland
  • 1 Yugoslavia

1990 FIDE

  • 7 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 2 England
  • 2 Hungary
  • 1 Canada
  • 1 Iceland
  • 1 Netherlands
  • 1 Switzerland
  • 1 USA

1987 FIDE

  • 9 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 2 Hungary
  • 1 Canada
  • 1 Cuba
  • 1 England
  • 1 France
  • 1 Netherlands
  • 1 Switzerland
  • 1 USA

1984 (leading to WCC 1984/5/6) FIDE

  • 4 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 2 Hungary
  • 1 Germany
  • 1 Philippines
  • 1 Switzerland

1981 FIDE

  • 5 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 2 Hungary
  • 1 Germany
  • 1 Switzerland

1978 FIDE

  • 4 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 1 Brazil
  • 1 Czechoslovakia
  • 1 Denmark
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 FIDE

1975 FIDE

  • 5 Soviet Union
  • 2 USA (has the champion)
  • 1 Brazil
  • 1 Hungary

1972 FIDE

  • 5 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 2 Germany (West, Est)
  • 1 Denmark
  • 1 USA

1969 FIDE

  • 5 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 1 Denmark
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 Yugoslavia
  • 1 USA

1966 FIDE

  • 6 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 1 Denmark
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 Yugoslavia

1963 FIDE

  • 6 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 2 USA
  • 1 Czechoslovakia

1960 FIDE

  • 5 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 1 FIDE
  • 1 Iceland
  • 1 Yugoslavia
  • 1 USA

1957 FIDE

  • 7 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 2 Argentina
  • 1 Czechoslovakia
  • 1 Hungary

1954 FIDE

  • 10 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 1 Argentina
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 Netherlands
  • 1 Sweden
  • 1 Yugoslavia
  • 1 USA

1951 FIDE

  • 8 Soviet Union (has the champion)
  • 1 Argentina
  • 1 Hungary
  • 1 Sweden

1948 FIDE

  • 3 Soviet Union
  • 1 Netherlands
  • 1 USA

Pre 1948

No official qualifications in place.

Sources

The great site for overview on many topics. Wikipedia (English). Hopefully will be there as long as this document will be available in some form.

Observations

  • Impressive how single players were able to keep a country visible in the final qualifications for the world chess championship for decades. Examples: Viswanathan Anand for India, Viktor Korchnoi for Switzerland.
  • Before 1975, the Soviet Union almost plays alone.
  • the USA are and were more represented than I expected.
  • Europe (and a bit less North/South America) were the historical strong places for chess, with Russia and the region around the Caucasus leading. Recently due to more available information India and China seem becoming stronger also on individual level.
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