Most Championship appearances (4 tournaments minimum)
contributed by Giuseppe Gabelli
# = Number of championships played.
Numbers in (parens) equal number of 1st place finishes
| # | Players |
|---|---|
| 23 | Mark Taimanov (2), Yefim Geller (2) |
| 21 | Mikhail Tal (6) * |
| 20 | Lev Polugaevsky (3), David Bronstein (2) |
| 19 | Vassily Smyslov (2) |
| 16 | Tigran Petrosian (4), Viktor Korchnoi (4), Ratmir Kholmov (1), Yuri Balashov |
| 15 | Yuri Averbach (2) |
| 14 | Alexander Beliavsky (4), Semyon Furman, Vladimir Tukmakov |
| 13 | Paul Keres (3) |
| 12 | Grigory Levenfish (2), Viacheslav Ragozin, Rafael Vaganian (1) |
| 11 | Mikhail Botvinnik (6), Boris Spassky (4), Vladimir Savon (1), Isaac Boleslavsky |
| 10 | Evgeni Vasjukov, Georgy Lisitsin, Alexander Tolush, Vladimir Mikenas, Ilia Kan, Vitaly Cseshkovsky (2), Vladimir Bagirov, Gennadi Kuzmin |
| 8 | Piotr Romanovsky (2), Vladimir Alatortsev, Ilya Rabinovich (1), Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky, Igor Bondarevsky (1), Alexander Kotov (1), Leonid Stein (3), Evgeni Sveshnikov, Bukhuti Gurgenidze, Oleg Romanishin |
| 8 | Boris Gulko (1), Andre Lilienthal (1), Lev Aronin, Salo Flohr, Vladimir Simagin, Eduard Gufeld, Nukhim Rashkovsky, Viktor Kuprejchik, Nikolai Krogius, Vereslav Eingorn |
| 7 | Anatoly Bannik, Anatoly Lutikov, Yuri Razuvaev, Anatol Lein, Konstantin Lerner, Vladimir Makogonov |
| 6 | Anatoly Karpov (3), Fedor Bohatirchuk (1), S. Freiman, Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Vasily Panov, Karen Grigorian, Mikhail Yudovich, Lev Psakhis (2), Aivar Gipslis, Viacheslav Osnos, Smbat Lputjan, Igor Zaitsev, Vladimir Malaniuk, Sergei Dolmatov, Artur Yusupov, Josef Dorfman (1) |
| 5 | Vladimir Antoshin, Vitaly Chekhover, Vasil Panov, Yuri Sakharov, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Vladimir Liberzon, Abram Khasin, Lev Alburt, Konstantin Aseev, Leonid Yudasin (1), Viktor Gavrikov (1) |
| 4 | Georgy Ilivitsky, Nenarokov, Genrikh Kasparian, Peter Dubinin, Oleg Moiseev, Ivo Nei, Alexey Sokolsky, Garri Kasparov (2), Janis Klovans, Konstantin Aseev, Vladimir Doroshkievich, Dvoyris, Mikhail Gurevich (1), Alexander Zaitsev (1), Alexander Khalifman, Sergey Makarichev, Mikhalchisin, Andrei Sokolov (1) |
(*) Including Moscow 1983, where Tal played five games then withdrew for illness (these games are not reported in crosstable).