The idea behind the Unofficial World Championship is simple: beat the current title-holder and you become it. I started the lineage at the first actual world championship after the last missing tournament, namely Worlds 2000. There have been over 2450 title bouts since then. Only wins will cause the belt to change hands — the current title holder retains the belt if there's a draw or ID. (This explains some spots where there's a gap in the round numbers.) The right table has records in matches where the title was on the line, whether as titleholder or as challenger.

If I ever get my hands on some earlier data I'll start the chain further back. The system is rapidly convergent, so starting at a different place long ago almost definitely will have no effect on which matches were for the title ten or fifteen years down the line. I think it's highly likely that Finkel vs. Maher at Worlds 2000 was actually a title bout anyway.

Fast facts: There have only been three tournaments in which the title has left the tournament in the hands of someone other than the champion of the event: PT San Diego 2002, GP Charlotte 2016, and GP Porto Alegre 2017. The longest single run with the title was 11 matches by Patrick Sullivan at GP Charlotte 2013. Two times has the belt been held by ten people after ten consecutive decisions: GP Columbus 2010 rounds 8-S and GP Las Vegas 2015 (2) rounds 7-S.