Best chess player ever

Emanuel Lasker - longevity, tournament and match results, incredible fighting spirit, brilliant philosopher and psychologist

Kasparov

Mikhail Botvinnik

Capa, Kas, Karpov,

Larsen and Taimanov might be thought to not be very strong because of Fischer's six game whitewashes of them. On the contrary, Larsen was for an extended period the most successful tournament player in the world. Taimanov's strength is indicated by the fact that he won games against 6 world champions, including Karpov (I am not sure that anyone has exceeded that). Outside of chess, a vastly more rounded and likable character than Fischer (see 2002 interview). Two things can explain the whitewashes - one of the best players ever had his hottest streak of form aiming for the world championship (his purpose in life) and psychologically, the matches must have been effectively over after the first few games. Taimanov explains how Fischer's resilient defense led to him playing worse than he could have - for example turning one winning position into a loss - and Fischer agreed with this.

But I suppose the answer now must be Houdini!

When Lasker won ahead of Capa in S:t Petersburg 1914 he had already been World Champion for close to 20 years, and he had great results already in the 1890s. He won well ahead of Capa in New York 1924, and finished ahead of him also in Moscow 1934. I think Lasker was close to 70 the first time Capa was ahead of him in a tournament, and to me Lasker is Kasparov's only reasonable competition for the first spot.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Magnus Carlsen has been the highest rated player in the world several times and is now only 20 years old. Especially because of all the technolagy now a days, I think he may become the strongest chess player who ever lived.

Paul Morhy has a playing style which I really enjoy looking. His games were very exciting. Relative to his era he was a real genuis.

Bobby Fischer also had an extremely eccentric playing. Also he broke the Soviet Union's time when they dominated chess which must have been an extremely difficult feet to accomplish. He was actually the first chess player I ever heard, which would naturally also make me more interested in him.

Capa didn't play many top events in those eight years though, three tournaments of which one was strong and the other two weren't. Then he did win easily against Kostic and Lasker, even if I'm willing to excuse Lasker for that only bad event in 50 years. He had resigned the title and didn't prepare at all, but needed the money, and later came to need more money and had to start playing again. Maybe not the best excuse on Lasker's behalf and Capa of course won the match fair and square and is an all time great even though he never defended the title successfully.

Capa was known as The Chess Machine.

Mikhail Tal

You asked for the BEST chess player ever, not the sanest, most polite.  That's why the answer is Fischer.

Favourite would be something totally different :-) Then it would probably be someone like Tal instead of Kasparov as far as I'm concerned.

For those who refuse to acknowledge (and we all know why) that Bobby Fischer was by far and away the greatest chess master of all time, here are a few revealing bits of data...

He never lost a match. Ever. A game maybe, a tournament not finished first, yes, but a match? Never.

He destroyed the field at a run of tournaments the likes we've never seen. Every US Open Championship he ever entered. Dozens of International events with the strongest fields ever assembled. Blowouts by the dozen.

He beat (unheard of) an incredible twenty straight opponents in top level World Championship Qualifying play running up to his Title Match with Spassky. 7 Straight Wins to cap off the phenomenal blowout of the Interzonal, followed up by WHITEWASH 6-0's against Taimanov and Larsen (geniuses at chess both), then a positional defensive hammering of Petrosian while Tigran attacked in a game like never before. Count 'em. TWENTY straight. He finished off Petrosian easily in the balance of the match.

When he took Boris Spassky (a phenomenally effective defensive player, basically the best for over a decade) to the cleaners in 1972, he completed his run of 39 wins in a 64 (!) game stretch against the top players in the world. By standards of any era, it was unsurpassed. (15 wins plus 8 draws in the Interzonal, 6-0 Taimanov, 6-0 Larsen, 5 wins a loss & 3 draws Petrosian, 7 wins 2 losses & 11 draws Spassky). That's 39 wins, 3 losses, and 22 draws. In other words, look at a chess board and imagine... every black square on the board, plus 7 white squares were wins... and the only losses were three white pawn squares in white.

By modern standards, it is unthinkable that anyone would be so far ahead, as to dare win 30% of their matches against the world's best.

Fischer's 1970-72 cycle? 61% wins, 34% draws, less than 5% losses.

Unheard of. Unparalleled. Unthinkable. Unbelievable. Ungodly.

Anyone else?

And why is that now again, because we're Communists? :-)