World Chess Championship 1993 World Chess Championship 1993 The World Chess Championship 1993 was one of the most controversial matches in chess history, with incumbent World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, and official challenger Nigel Short, splitting from FIDE, the official world governing body of chess, and playing their title match under the auspices of the Professional Chess Association. In response, FIDE stripped Kasparov of his title, and instead held a title match between Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman. The matches were won by Kasparov and Karpov respectively. For the first time in history, there were two rival World Chess Champions, a situation which persisted
Interregnum of World Chess Champions Interregnum of World Chess Champions The Interregnum of World Chess Champions was the period between March 24, 1946 (the date of Alexander Alekhine's death) and May 17, 1948 (when Mikhail Botvinnik won a special championship tournament). When Alekhine suddenly died in 1946, the title of World Chess Champion became vacant for the first time in its 60-year history. Since the 19th century, the title was decided by matches between the current champion and a challenger, who by winning would become the new champion. Alekhine died holding the title, leaving no obvious method for a new player to succeed him. The