When was the last time an American was an official challenger to the world chess champion?

In Madrid, Spain, the 2022 Candidates Tournament is taking place, from which the player who will be able to challenge Magnus Carlsen to be the new world champion will emerge. Two American players participate in it: Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, with which they could be the Norwegian’s challengers. But when was the last time a chess player was an official challenger? Here we tell you.

The last time an American was world chess champion was in 1972, after Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in “The Match of the Century”. Before him, only two Americans had challenged the world champion (although it should be noted that Paul Morphy is considered by FIDE as an unofficial champion).

One of them was Wilhelm Steinitz, who was originally Austrian, but when he tried to recover the world title from Lasker (twice: 1894 and 1896), he already had American nationality. The other was Frank Marshall, who in 1907 also unsuccessfully tried to beat Lasker. After Fischer, only two more Americans were official challengers, one of them being Gata Kamsky (of Soviet origin) in 1996, one of the last.

The last American official challenger

The last official challenger born in the United States is one of two currently playing the Candidates Tournament. He was the winner of this tournament in 2018, and was the official challenger for Magnus Carlsen, against whom he played a very tough match. It is nothing less than Fabiano Caruana, who this year seeks to have a new opportunity against the Norwegian.