Rank the eight heavyweight champions

Jeffries didn't. He gave Johnson a shot at his title in 1910.

 

Anderssen --> Morphy --> 150+ years interregnum.

 

Only in the same sense that George II was "king" of Great Britain in 1745 by virtue of having control of the British Army and near universal recognition by the English nobility.

 

Anderssen was. He won the 1851 tournament, and Morphy beat him. Steinitz came 20 years too late.

 

It actually might have ended with Figg.

 

Maria Theresa wuz robbed.

(Unless you are referring to Joe Louis, and not Louis XV. Analogies are dangerous things, sometimes.)

 

In this thread, I've already rejected Queen Elizabeth's claim to the throne, Joe Louis's championship status despite having beaten literally everybody available, and the legitimacy of Steinitz's title as the first chess champion.

I laugh at your puny Wikipedia article.

 

As an aside, IIRC, Staunton intended the 1851 tournament to decide the world champion. But he lost due to the knockout format that he himself had insisted upon as a tournament organizer, and didn't seem as enthusiastic about the whole "world championship" thing afterwards.

But don't quote me on that. I prefer to rest my case on simple recalcitrance, rather than historical argument.