The greatest World Chess Championship games, move by move.

Every strip on this page is a real Chess strip from the Huezle app, drawn by the app’s own code. More about Chess.

How to read the strips

Each strip is one game, from the first move on the left to the last on the right. Each band is one move by one player, so a 40-move game has about 80 bands. Gold means White is ahead, ink-dark means Black is ahead, and warm grey means level; a band reaches full colour when one side is five pawns up, which at this level means the game is decided.

The evaluations were computed for this project with Stockfish at depth 12, far weaker than the engines top players prepare with, so read the shape of a strip rather than any one band. Only decisive games are included, 417 of them from 1886 to 2024. Draws would be grey strips with nothing to read, which is why the 2018 match, twelve drawn classical games, has none.

The squeeze: Carlsen–Nepomniachtchi, 2021

Game 6 in Dubai ran to 136 moves, 271 bands, the longest decisive game in the data by 34 moves. The engine briefly has Nepomniachtchi more than a pawn better around move 36. From there to move 120 neither side is ever a full pawn ahead, and Carlsen’s advantage only passes a pawn for good at move 130.

First moveLast move

• Black ahead
• Level
• White ahead

At the other end, Anand beat Gelfand in 17 moves, 33 bands, in 2012. Most decisive championship games sit between the two: the median is about 42 moves, and it barely changes from the 1880s to the 2020s.

First moveLast move

• Black ahead
• Level
• White ahead

The steady climb: Fischer–Spassky, 1972

Game 6 in Reykjavík, which Fischer won with White, is the steadiest climb of the match: level for the first fifteen moves, then gold that deepens almost every move until Spassky resigns at move 41.

First moveLast move

• Black ahead
• Level
• White ahead

The turn: Karpov–Kasparov, 1985

Kasparov took the title by winning the final game of the 1985 match with Black. For most of it Karpov is slightly better, never by a full pawn; then the strip turns dark in the last dozen moves.

First moveLast move

• Black ahead
• Level
• White ahead

The blunders

Some strips are one colour almost to the end and then flip. The most dramatic is from 1892. Chigorin was two to three pawns up for much of the second half of game 23, then on his 32nd move allowed a mate, and the last two bands jump from gold to the darkest ink on the scale.

First moveLast move

• Black ahead
• Level
• White ahead

The modern version is the last game of 2024. For 54 moves Ding Liren and Gukesh were never more than about three-quarters of a pawn apart. On Ding’s 55th move the evaluation swung by four pawns in one band, and Gukesh won three moves later to become world champion.

First moveLast move

• Black ahead
• Level
• White ahead

The other 411 games are puzzles in the Chess category, split into four eras. For other contests drawn the same way, see the biggest NBA playoff comebacks and the greatest Premier League title races.

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