World Chess Championship 1963

World Chess Championship 1963
 
Defending champion
Challenger
 
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Tigran Petrosian
Tigran Petrosian
  Soviet Union Mikhail Botvinnik Soviet Union Tigran Petrosian
 
9½Scores12½
  Born 17 August 1911
51 years old		 Born 17 June 1929
33 years old
  Winner of the 1961 World Chess Championship Winner of the 1962 Candidates Tournament
← 1961
1966 →
A Soviet stamp dedicated to the World Chess Championship 1963
A 2019 stamp of Artsakh featuring the championship match between Botvinnik and Petrosian

At the World Chess Championship 1963, Tigran Petrosian narrowly qualified to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Chess Championship, and then won the match to become the ninth World Chess Champion. The cycle is particularly remembered for the controversy surrounding the Candidates' Tournament at Curaçao in 1962, which resulted in FIDE changing the format of the Candidates Tournament to a series of knockout matches.