| Year | Champion | Challenger | Score | Decisive Classical Game Percentage | Comments | ||
| 1886 | Steinitz | Zukertort | 10-5-5 | 75.00 | first player to win 10 games. 9-9 tie | ||
| 1888 | Steinitz | Chogorin | 10-6-1 | 94.11 | |||
| 1890 | Steinitz | Gunsberg | 6-4-9 | 52.63 | first to win 10 or best score after 20 | ||
| 1892 | Steinitz | Chigorin | 10-8-5 | 78.26 | first player to win 10 games | ||
| 1894 | Steinitz | Lasker | 5-10-4 | 78.94 | |||
| 1896 | Lasker | Steinitz | 10-2-5 | 70.58 | |||
| 1907 | Lasker | Marshall | 8-0-7 | 53.33 | first to win 8 games | ||
| 1908 | Lasker | Tarrasch | 8-3-5 | 68.75 | |||
| 1910 | Lasker | Schlechter | 1-1-8 | 20.00 | best out of 10 if equal Referee decides outcome | ||
| 1910 | Lasker | Janowski | 8-0-3 | 72.72 | first to win 8 games | ||
| 1921 | Lasker | Capablanca | 0-4-7 | 36.36 | first to win 8 or best out of 24. Lasker quit due to exhaustion | ||
| 1927 | Capablanca | Alekhine | 6-3-25 | 26.47 | first to win 6 | ||
| 1929 | Alekhine | Bogoljubov | 11-5-9 | 64.00 | fist to reach 15.5 points with 6 wins max 30 games | ||
| 1934 | Aleckhine | Bogoljubov | 8-3-15 | 42.30 | |||
| 1935 | Alekhine | Euwe | 8-9-13 | 56.66 | |||
| 1937 | Euwe | Alekhine | 4-10-11 | 56.00 | |||
| 1951 | Botvinnik | Bronstein | 5-5-14 | 41.66 | best out of 24 champion has draw odds. champ has rematch | ||
| 1954 | Botvinnik | Smyslov | 7-7-10 | 58.33 | |||
| 1957 | Botvinnik | Smyslov | 3-6-13 | 40.90 | |||
| 1958 | Smyslov | Botvinnik | 5-7-11 | 52.17 | |||
| 1960 | Botvinnik | Tal | 2-6-13 | 38.09 | |||
| 1961 | Tal | Botvinnik | 5-10-6 | 71.42 | |||
| 1963 | Botvinnik | Petrosian | 2-5-15 | 31.81 | |||
| 1966 | Petrosian | Spassky | 4-3-17 | 29.16 | |||
| 1969 | Petrosian | Spassky | 4-6-13 | 43.47 | |||
| 1972 | Spassky | Fischer | 3-7-11 | 47.61 | |||
| 1978 | Karpov | Kortchnoi | 6-5-21 | 34.37 | first to win 6 games champion has rematch | ||
| 1981 | Karpov | Kortchnoi | 6-2-10 | 44.44 | |||
| 1984 | Karpov | Kasparov | 5-3-40 | 16.66 | |||
| 1985 | Karpov | Kasparoov | 3-5-15 | 34.78 | best of 24. champion has draw odds and rematch | ||
| 1986 | Kasparov | Karpov | 5-4-15 | 37.50 | |||
| 1987 | Kasparoov | Karpov | 4-4-16 | 33.33 | Kasparov had draw odds | ||
| 1990 | Kasparov | Karpov | 4-3-17 | 29.16 | |||
| 1992 | Fischer | Spassky | 10-5-15 | 50.00 | first to win 10- games | ||
| 1993 | Kasparov | Short | 6-1-13 | 40.90 | best of 24.. champion draw odds | ||
| 1995 | Kasparoov | Anand | 4-1-13 | 27.77 | best of 20 champion draw odds | ||
| 2000 | Kasparov | Kramnik | 0-2-13 | 13.33 | best of 16. champion draw odds | ||
| 2004 | Kramnik | Leko | 2-2-10 | 28.57 | Best of 14. retained title due to draw odds. | ||
| 2006 | Kramnik | Topalov | 3-3-6 | 50.00 | best of 12, tie breaker 4 game rapid match | ||
| 2008 | Kramnik | Anand | 1-3-7 | 36.36 | best of 12, tie breaker rapid-blitz-Armageddon | ||
| 2010 | Anand | Topalov | 3-2-7 | 41.66 | |||
| 2012 | Anand | Gelfand | 1-1-10 | 16.66 | best of 12. Anand won tie breaker 2-0-2 | ||
| 2013 | Anand | Carlsen | 0-3-7 | 30.00 | |||
| 2014 | Carlsen | Anand | 3-1-7 | 36.36 | |||
| 2016 | Carlsen | Karjakin | 1-1-10 | 16.66 | best of 12. Carlsen won tie breaker 2-0-2 | ||
| 2018 | Carlsen | Caruana | 0-0-10 | 0.00 | Still in progress | ||