How 'bout Hugh Hefner? I hear he's quite a player.
The Best Player Never to Become World Champion?
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Magnus Carlsen
rubinstein,keres,korchnoi,reshevsky,bronstein,geller,gligoric,marshall,pillsbury,stein, just to name a few
Carlsen should already be close to be real competition for Korchnoi and Keres, he will soon get the Chess Oscar for best player of the year for the third year in a row. Not many other non-World Champions performed results reminding of Carlsen's over a period of 4-5 years.
Sultan Khan.
Rashid Nezhmetdinov
Viktor Korchnoi
Akiba Rubinstein
Aron Nimzowitch
Siegbert Tarrasch
David Bronstein
Viktor Korchnoi ...I read his auto biography recently here and it is hard not to like the guy.
Paul Keres
Yet or has no chance to?
Ruebin Fine??
Henry Nelson Pilsbury
Keres
Azukikuru wrote:
How 'bout Hugh Hefner? I hear he's quite a player.
Do you say because he can mate the best of them? Isn't that just p*n!$ envy?
Don't you know it's all publicity for his mag...in reality he just Plays mate!
He must take horrible care of his herd or fluffle or their warren making him a terrible Pet owner because all of his Bunnies leave in the end.
nimzovich wrote:
Korchnoi; played for the WC three consecutive times (1981 Merano, 1978 Baguio, and the de facto championship match when Fischer defaulted, 1975 Moscow) all against Karpov. One must include his multiple appearances in candidates matches and tournaments.
Keres; great win in AVRO 1938 tournament, 4 successive 2nd place finishes in candidates tournaments, some in heart-breaking fashion.
Rubinstein; five consecutive first place finishes in major tournaments San Sebastian, Piešťany, Bresleau, Warsaw, Vilnius before WWI prevented him from a scheduled match with Lasker.
A tragic hero is Bronstein, for his epic struggle versus the egocentric Botvinnik and amazing ideas, but his inconsistent results does not match up to the players above.
As much as I admire him and his play, Schlecter does not receive my nod. A difficult man to beat, but one with a modest match record.
Marshall periodically had some flashy tournaments, but was not among the top echelon for match play.
Zukertort was disarmed by Steinitz decisively, similarly as Tal was sadly, by Botvinnik in 1961 WC rematch.
I agree with all of the above but wouldn't even have included Schlecter as an honorable mention because of his record.
I admire Korchnoi the most on this list for his accomplishment even though he continued to fall short.
Reshevsky is a player that should be noted although he was inconsistent.
I do like Larsen as a player though he to seemed inconsistent at times.
I also believe, Magnus Carlsen has the potential to be the Karpov and Kasporov of the future. Not sure what's holding him back from making his move. And he may have a tougher go at it because of the strong younger talent field today.
Btw, just to clarify, this thread is focusing on great players from the past who never actually became WCC. People like Magnus Carlsen don't really count, because they are still active and have a reasonable chance of becoming WCC sometime in the future.
Nimzowitsch, Keres, or Korchnoi. wesj38
Paul Morphy...duh! Or Sam Shankland :)
Rubinstein.
pillsbury and mir sultan khan