Candidates Matches

Mikhail Chigorin vs. Isidor Gunsberg, 1890
Emanuel Lasker vs. Wilhelm Steinitz, St. Petersburg, 1895-1896
David Bronstein vs. Laszlo Szabo, Saltsjöbaden, 1948

Mikhail Chigorin vs. Isidor Gunsberg, January-February, 1890

Having finished first and 3rd respectively in the Sixth American Chess Congress (The other winning player declined to challenge Steinitz for the World Championship), Chigorin and Gunsberg faced off against each other for the right to challenge Steinitz. Since the match was drawn, Steinitz accepted challenges from both of them.
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Mikhail Chigorin (Russia)                       Isidor Gunsberg (England)

St. Petersburg, 1895-1896

Final score:  11.5 points for Lasker, 9.5 points for Steinitz, 8 points for Pillsbury, and 7 points for Chigorin.
 ChigorinPillsburySteinitz
Emanuel Lasker (Germany)                  
Wilhelm Steinitz (United States)             
Harry Nelson Pillsbury (United States)       
Mikhail Chigorin (Russia) 

Interzonal Tournament, Saltsjöbaden, 1948

 Erik Lundin
Sweden
David Bronstein (USSR)
Laszlo Szabo (Hungary)
Isaac Boleslavsky (USSR)
Alexander Kotov (USSR)
Andor Lilienthal (Hungary)
Igor Bondarevsky (USSR)
Miguel Najdorf (Argentina)
Gideon Stahlberg (Sweden)
Salo Flohr (USSR)
Petar Trifunovic (Yugoslavia)
Vasja Pirc (Macedonia)
Svetozar Gligoric (Yugoslavia)
Eero Book (Finland)
Vlach Ragozin (USSR)
Daniel Yanofsky (Canada)
Savielly Tartakower (France)
Ludek Pachman (Czechoslovakia)
Goesta Stoltz (Sweden)
Ludek Pachman (USSR)/Lajos Steiner

Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, the Netherlands, 1962

17.5 wins for Petrosian, 17 points for Keres, 17 points for Geller, 14 points for Fischer, 13.5 points for Korchnoi, 12 points for Benko, 7 points for Tal, and 7 points for Filip.  Tal withdrew after the 3rd round.
 Miroslav Filip
Czechoslovakia
Mikhail Tal
USSR
Pal Benko
USA
Viktor Korchnoi
Switzerland
Bobby Fischer
USA
Efim Geller
USSR
Paul Keres
USSR
Tigran Petrosian (USSR)                            
Paul Keres (USSR)                        
Efim Geller (USSR)                    
Bobby Fischer (USA)                
Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland)            
Pal Benko (USA)        
Mikhail Tal (USSR)    

To determine 2nd place, a match was played in Moscow, USSR between Keres and Geller.  The winner would be automatically eligible to participate in the next candidates tournament.

2 wins for Keres, 1 win for Geller, and 5 draws
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Efim Geller (USSR)        Paul Keres (USSR)

Elista, Russia, May 27 - June 14, 2007

Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Svidler, and Alexander Morozevich were seeded directly into the final round of the 2007 World Championship.  The following bracket shows how the others were placed.  A white square indicates a win for the player who advanced, a grey square indicates a draw, and a black square indicates a win for the player who didn't advance.

Round 1Round 2Finalists
Viswanathan Anand (India)Viswanathan AnandViswanathan Anand
bye
Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)Vladimir KramnikVladimir Kramnik
bye
Peter Svidler (Russia)Peter SvidlerPeter Svidler
bye
Alexander Morozevich (Russia)Alexander MorozevichAlexander Morozevich
bye
Levon Aronian (Armenia)Levon AronianLevon Aronian
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
            
Alexei Shirov (Spain)Alexei Shirov
Michael Adams (England)
         
      
Peter Léko (Hungary)Peter LékoPeter Léko
Mikhail Gurevich (Turkey)
    
Evgeny Bareev (Russia)Evgeny Bareev
Judit Polgar (Hungary)
      
     
Alexander Grischuk (Russia)Alexander GrischukAlexander Grischuk
Vladimir Malakhov (Russia)
     
Sergei Rublevsky (Russia)Sergei Rublevsky
Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine)
      
         
Boris Gelfand (Israel)Boris GelfandBoris Gelfand
Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan)
         
Gata Kamsky (USA)Gata Kamsky
Etienne Bacrot (France)