The World Correspondence Chess Championship determines the World Champion in correspondence chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest the title. The official World Correspondence Chess Championship is managed by the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF).

The world championship comprises four stages: Preliminaries, Semi-Finals, Candidates' Tournament, and Final. ICCF tournament rules define which players can access each stage. The first-, second- and third-placed finishers from the previous Final, and the first- and second-placed finishers from the Candidates' Tournaments have access to the World Correspondence Chess Championship Final.

The ICCF also manages the Ladies World Correspondence Chess Championships, that comprises Semi-Finals and Final.

World Champions

Dates given are the period in which the final of the championship took place, as given on the ICCF website.

N°YearsChampionRunner-up
01.1950–1953Australia Cecil PurdySweden Harald Malmgren
02.1956–1959Soviet Union Viacheslav RagozinAustralia Lucius Endzelins
03.1959–1962Belgium Albéric O'Kelly de GalwaySoviet Union Piotr Dubinin
04.1962–1965Soviet Union Vladimir ZagorovskySoviet Union Georgy Borisenko
05.1965–1968United States Hans BerlinerCzechoslovakia Jaroslav Hybl
06.1968–1971Germany Horst RittnerSoviet Union Vladimir Zagorovsky
07.1972–1976Soviet Union Yakov EstrinBelgium Jozef Boey
08.1975–1980Denmark Jørn SlothSoviet Union Vladimir Zagorovsky
09.1977–1983Soviet Union Tõnu ÕimEast Germany Fritz Baumbach
10.1978–1984United States Victor PalciauskasArgentina Juan Morgado
11.1983–1989East Germany Fritz BaumbachSoviet Union Gennadi Nesis
12.1984–1991Soviet Union Grigory SanakoevSlovakia Josef Franzen
13.1989–1998Soviet Union Mikhail UmanskyDenmark Eric Bang
14.1994–2000Estonia Tõnu ÕimDenmark Ove Ekebjaerg
15.1996–2002Netherlands Gert Jan TimmermanNetherlands Joop van Oosterom
16.1999–2004Turkey Tunç HamaratNetherlands Rudolf Maliangkay
17.2002–2007Norway Ivar BernGermany Wolfgang Rohde
18.2003–2005Netherlands Joop van OosteromGermany Hans Elwert
19.2004–2007France Christophe LéotardGermany Frank Gerhardt
20.2004–2011Finland Pertti LehikoinenSweden Stefan Winge
21.2005–2008Netherlands Joop van OosteromCanada Alexander Ugge
22.2007–2010Russia Aleksandr DronovGermany Jürgen Bücker
23.2007–2010Germany Ulrich StephanGermany Thomas Winckelmann
24.2009–2011Slovenia Marjan ŠemrlGermany Hans-Dieter Wunderlich
25.2009–2013Italy Fabio FinocchiaroEngland Richard Hall
26.2010–2014Netherlands Ron LangeveldRomania Florin Serban
27.2011–2014Russia Aleksandr DronovGermany Matthias Kribben
28.2013–2016Croatia Leonardo LjubičićPortugal Horacio Neto
29.2015–2018Russia Aleksandr DronovPoland Jacek Oskulski
30.2017–2019Russia Andrey KochemasovRussia Enver Efendiyev Germany Detlef Buse Germany Fred Kunzelmann
31.2019–2022Netherlands Ron Langeveld Austria Christian Muck Poland Fabian StanachN/A
32.2020–2022United States Jon EdwardsFrance Michel Lecroq Russia Sergey Adolfovich Osipov Portugal Horácio Neto
33.2022–2025Spain Javier Ros Padilla Peru Angel Acevedo Villalba Turkey Tansel Turgut Germany Olaf Hesse Russia Valery Aleksandrov Czech Republic Pavel Sváček Russia Ivan Panitevsky Russia Mikhail Churkin Italy Tiziano Mosconi United States Daniel M. FleetwoodN/A

Ladies World Champions

First World Championship (1968/71)
N°YearsChampionRunner-up
01.1968–1972Soviet Union Olga RubtsovaAustria Gertrude Schoisswohl
02.1972–1977Soviet Union Lora JakovlevaSoviet Union Olga Rubtsova
03.1978–1984Israel Ljuba KristolSoviet Union Merike Rotova
04.1984–1992Soviet Union Liudmila BelavenetsSoviet Union Nina Orlova
05.1993–1998Israel Ljuba KristolLatvia Ingrida Priedite
06.2000–2005Italy Alessandra RieglerCroatia Maja Zelcic
07.2002–2006Russia Olga SukharevaEngland Mary Jones
08.2007–2010Russia Olga SukharevaCzech Republic Marie Bazantová
09.2011–2014Russia Irina PerevertkinaRussia Maria Lisitcina
10.2014–2017Russia Irina PerevertkinaUkraine Tetiana Moyseenko
11.2017–2020Russia Irina PerevertkinaLithuania Vilma Dambrauskaitè Ukraine Tetiana Moyseenko
11.2020–2023Russia Irina PerevertkinaEngland Dawn L. Williamson Ukraine Tetiana Yurchuk Germany Victoria Schweer Italy Luz Marina Tinjacá Ramirez

ICCF World Cup

Nr.YearsChampion
01.1973–1977Germany Karl Maeder
02.1977–1983Soviet Union Gennadi Nesis
03.1981–1986Soviet Union Nikolai Rabinovich
04.1984–1989Soviet Union Albert Popov
5A.1987–1994Ukraine Alexandr Frolov
5B.1987–1994Netherlands Gert Timmerman
06.1994–1999Latvia Olita Rause
07.1994–2001Ukraine Alexei Lepikhov
08.1998–2002Germany Horst Staudler
09.1998–2001Germany Edgar Prang
10.2001–2005Germany Frank Schroder
11.2008–2011Germany Reinhardt Moll
12E2005–2007Germany Reinhardt Moll
12P2009–2013Germany Matthias Gleichmann
13.2009–2012Germany Reinhardt Moll
14.2009–2012Germany Reinhardt Moll
15.2012–2015Slovenia Klemen Sivic
16.2013–2016Germany Uwe Nogga
17.2014–2017Germany Matthias Gleichmann
18.2015–2019Germany Reinhard Moll Germany Stefan Ulbig
19.2014–2016Germany Thomas Herfurth
20.2017–2020Russia Sergey Kishkin
21.2019–2021Germany Matthias Gleichmann
22.2021–2023Germany Matthias Gleichmann Russia Dmitry Viktorovich Morozov

ICCF Chess 960 World Cup

Nr.YearsChampion
01.2014–2015Poland Fabian Stanach
02.2015–2016Slovenia Darko Babič
03.2016–2018France Jean Banet
04.2018–2019Russia Ivan Panitevsky
05.2019–2021Russia Aleksey Voll
06.2020–2022Russia Aleksey Voll
07.2020–2021Russia Evgeny Tsygankov
08.2021–2023United States Paul Muljadi Romania Tudor Ristea
09.2022–2023Russia Viktor Aleksandrovich Pavlov Switzerland Daniel A. Weber-Widmer Russia Vladimir Dobroselskiy Ukraine Igor Korovnik Spain Antonio Sánchez Ródenas Russia Aleksey Voll Russia Dmitry Viktorovich Morozov Germany Norbert Lukas
10.2023–2024Spain Alberto Pérez López Denmark Hans-Christian Lykke

See also