Who is the world chess champion?

The world champion

Gukesh Dommaraju won the title in Singapore in December 2024, 7½–6½ against Ding Liren. He was 18, the youngest undisputed world champion in the open section yet. The last game was decided in an endgame that looked like a draw.

You can replay the whole game here on the site.

The match in Geneva

Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan won the 2026 Candidates Tournament and is the challenger. This is what FIDE's regulations for the match say.

This page will be updated when the match has been played.

The women's world champion

Ju Wenjun of China has been women's world champion since 2018 and has won the title five times, most recently in April 2025 against Tan Zhongyi. Her next challenger is Vaishali Rameshbabu of India, who won the Women's Candidates in April 2026. FIDE has not yet announced when and where the match will be played.

Two titles, and more world champions

The open section is open to everyone, and whoever wins its title is simply called world champion. Only women play in the women's world championship, which has been held since 1927.

Gukesh is the eighteenth world champion in the unbroken line since 1886, and Ju Wenjun the seventeenth women's champion. All of them have pages among the great chess players, where you can also read about the years from 1993 to 2006, when there were two world champions at once.

There are also world championships in rapid and blitz chess. Here we mean the title in classical games. The difference is explained under How long does a chess game take?