Who is the G.O.A.T. of Chess?
In sports, especially in the sport of basketball, debates rage on about one question:
“Who is the GOAT?”
GOAT is an acronym that stands for the greatest of all time. If you are a fan of professional sports like I am, you hear arguments all of the time of Lebron James vs Michael Jordan. Who is better? Why? Do championships or individual statistics matter?
Now, today I’ll look into who the greatest chess player of all time really is. Obviously, these views are completely subjective; there is no true answer to the GOAT of chess. No statistic or claim can prove the greatest chess player of all time.
There are many amazing chess players out there with amazing careers, so obviously there are more candidates than the three that I will focus on in this article. That being said, I have narrowed the candidates down to Bobby Fischer, Magnus Carlsen, and Garry Kasparov.
An argument could be made for all three players. All of them were outstanding world champions that dominated opponents around the world and have understandings of the opening, middlegame, and endgame that are unmatched. In this article I will make an argument as to why one would choose one over the other, and then I will let you all vote in the comments on who is the best. As always, I will respond to every comment and positivity is much appreciated.
Bobby Fischer
As an American, I will always be inspired by Fischer. Well regarded as the most famous player of all time, Fischer is most famous for the “Match of the Century” played in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1972 against Boris Spassky, as Fischer triumphantly spearheaded the win against the chess powerhouse that was the Soviet Union. Add this to the list of a World Blitz Championship, Grandmaster at age 15, and an utter 11-0 domination of the US Chess Championship, Fischer put together an outstanding chess resume. Unfortunately, his legacy may be tarnished by the fact that he quit chess after his World Championship, refused to defend his title against Karpov in 1975, and had a huge downfall until passing away in 2008.
Garry Kasparov
Although I was not alive for Kasparov’s long prime, he has definitely made his mark on chess and made his case for the greatest chess player of all time. Growing up in the Soviet Union, Kasparov realized after winning the Sokolsky Invitational that he would like to pursue chess as a career. He claimed that world #1 FIDE ranking at age 20, and didn’t give it up for 21 years, holding the world championship for 15 years. As far as individual statistics go, Kasparov is the front-runner in this debate: I’ve included a game against Karpov, whom he beat for the World Championship 4 times.
Garry retired from chess in the mid-2000s and now lives in New York City, and is now a politician and political analyst.
Magnus Carlsen
Magnus, the most recent man on this list, is a certified champion. Carlsen, who just turned 30 years old just a few days ago, has held the world number one ranking for more than a decade, and has been the World Champion since 2013. Magnus after dominating the 2010s, Magnus is looking to continue in the 2020s, as he continues to beat one quality opponent after another, most recently winning the Norway Chess Tournament in October, where his historic streak of 125 straight games without being beaten was finally broken. I first started playing chess around the time of Magnus’s championship in 2018 against Fabiano Caruana, where he showed his prowess, steamrolling Caruana in the tiebreak games.
All three of these players have arguments for the GOAT title, with many supporters for each argument. Personally, I would choose Garry Kasparov, but, as I said, this is completely subjective. Let me know who you think is the greatest in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
JC
