The following tables show page statistics gathered from searches on Google (www.google.com). The searches were on the word chess plus the name of the champion. Anyone familiar with Google (and who isn't these days?) knows that these counts are approximate, but consistent across searches.

The column on the right shows page counts taken in November 2001, while two other columns show more recent counts for the same search. The columns headed '+/-' show the increase (or decrease) in the number of pages from one count to the next.

For example, Google counted 'about' 4050 chess pages mentioning Steinitz in 2001, and 4920 pages in October 2002, an increase of 21.5% pages. The latest count of 5,600 pages is an increase of 13.8% over a few months ago.

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The first table lists the 13 official, undisputed World Champions. What do these numbers tell us, if anything?

Champion

Jan
2003

+/-

Oct
2002

+/-

Nov
2001

Steinitz

5,600

13.8%

4,920

21.5%

4,050

Lasker

19,200

139.7%

8,010

31.1%

6,110

Capablanca

19,300

139.8%

8,050

44.5%

5,570

Alekhine

24,100

178.0%

8,670

46.2%

5,930

Euwe

5,890

23.5%

4,770

14.4%

4,170

Botvinnik

17,700

154.7%

6,950

44.2%

4,820

Smyslov

5,180

39.6%

3,710

15.2%

3,220

Tal

22,100

24.9%

17,700

53.9%

11,500

Petrosian

4,810

29.0%

3,730

40.2%

2,660

Spassky

8,980

31.3%

6,840

43.7%

4,760

Fischer

53,000

60.6%

33,000

56.4%

21,100

Karpov

30,300

54.6%

19,600

39.0%

14,100

Kasparov

68,400

32.8%

51,500

25.3%

41,100

Garry Kasparov seems to be the most popular World Champion of all time. He was Champion for 15 years, his reign coincided with the development of the Internet, and he has always been a charismatic, entertaining promoter of the game. He has consistently maintained his world number 1 ranking since 1983, and his recent performance in the Bled Olympiad confirmed his enormous talent.

Bobby Fischer is number two on the list. Thirty years after he won the title and ten years after his last public game, he remains a controversial, enigmatic figure.

Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Tal also rank high. Karpov was an active player until recently. He still plays from time to time, although his best days are behind him. The games of Tal, the Magician of Riga, have always fascinated the chess public with their surprising sacrifices and impenetrably complicated play.

The next group -- Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, & Botvinnik -- shows an inexplicable increase in pages from October to now, with Alekhine even overtaking Tal on the list. All four players figure on most lists of the 10 Best Players Ever, but why the sudden increase in pages : has Google uncovered a previously unknown collection of pages -or- has a chess archivist released a new database of games now being included in the counts? We'll come back to this mystery in a future article if we ever solve it.

The last group -- Steinitz, Euwe, Smyslov, Petrosian, & Spassky -- are usually named in Newsgroup discussions as candidates for the weakest World Champion of all time, not that there ever was such a thing as a weak World Champion! Steinitz, the first great theoretician, deserves more respect. His scientific approach laid the foundation for the spectacular 20th century advances in the theory of the game. Spassky, a much-feared attacking player in his heyday, suffers from the unwarranted stigma of being 'the Russian fellow that lost to Fischer in 1972'.

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The following table shows players often considered as the unofficial champions before Steinitz.

Champion

Jan
2003

+/-

Oct
2002

+/-

Nov
2001

Philidor

3,450

6.8%

3,230

59.9%

2,020

Bourdonnais

504

14.5%

440

Labourdonnais

399

3.9%

384

Staunton

11,600

17.9%

9,840

65.4%

5,950

Anderssen

5,110

112.9%

2,400

49.1%

1,610

Morphy

14,700

171.7%

5,410

30.4%

4,150

It's no surprise that Paul Morphy tops the list. Like Fischer, he quit the game while at his peak and his real strength remains a mystery. His January page count shows the same spectacular increase as for several official champions.

Howard Staunton is undoubtedly aided by many pages that mention the Staunton pattern for chess sets. How many Staunton pages are for the man, and how many for the set design, is anybody's guess.

Louis-Charles de La Bourdonnais is inconspicuous. It doesn't matter whether you search his name by its correct spelling or by the common Labourdonnais, there aren't many Web pages about him.

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Jumping to more recent times, the following table shows a list of modern World Champions. For various reasons, each of these great players is also considered an 'unofficial' champion by approximately half of the chess world.

Champion

Jan
2003

+/-

Oct
2002

+/-

Nov
2001

Khalifman

8,570

10.4%

7,760

39.8%

5,550

Kramnik

30,300

71.2%

17,700

11.3%

15,900

Anand

27,900

0.0%

27,900

49.2%

18,700

Ponomariov

10,400

-2.8%

10,700

Vladimir Kramnik leads the list, although just three months ago he was lagging far behind Anand. Alexander Khalifman, who won his title in the 1999 FIDE Knockout at Las Vegas, probably owes his small but steady rise in popularity more to his tournament play than to his reign as champion.

Ruslan Ponomariov is the only player to show a decline in the number of pages over the past three months. He won his title in January 2002, and the news accounts of his exploit must be slowly disappearing from the Web. These will eventually be replaced by details of his future successes.

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