Most Underrated Chess Player of All Time

It is sort of like asking what proper English is down through the centuries...

Or down under.

KasparovJr

Crappablanca?

i just read about Mir Sultan Khan. He's a genious.

Who is Mir Sultan Khan?

Mikhail Tal is the most underrated player in my opinion. He became the greatest attacker of all time by seeing deeper than his oppenents through unimaginable piece sacrifices. He had true grit and he wasn't afraid to take risks. The only guys that some what remind me of Tal are Nakamura and Grischuk.

Top chess players today are mostly the same. For the most part I can guess what they will play, it'll be either be the Grunfeld or Ruy:Berlin defence with a draw at move 20 or so. There are rarely any great piece sacrifices at the top anymore. The most exciting thing from this past WCC was the double blunder and that was terrible.

The person that made this puzzle:

That is an interesting observation...

Tal underrated?  Huh?  One of the most memorable and charismatic chess players of all time, as well as a WC, cannot meet the definition of "underrated."  

A.K.A me

henry bird

Phrostbyte

I think perhaps if we were asking the question, who was the greatest of the WC or Super GM's, perhaps Tal wouldn't get the fanfare that Kasparov, Anand, Carlsen, Fischer, Lasker, Capablanca might get ? So, in this sense I can see him viewed as underrated.

I don't think anyone looked forward to being paired against Tal. That doesn't make someone underrated.

Anand right now.

"Oh, he's past his prime..."

barely even twice my age...

Anand is overrated. He only appears once a year in canidates and beats the young guys with no WCC experience. Then in the actual WCC Carlsen owns him. There should be a rule where you have to take a year off from the the WCC after losing, I think many people would much rather have seen Carauna vs. Carlsen this year. Anand hasn't been great since he beat kasparov in 96'.

As it is relative in that sense sure but, that doesn't cover every way you could look at it...

... I am sure after his play and health were originally considered, he was probably considered in the conversation for who the best champion of all time is. However, after computers have pointed out the many flaws in his play, I think people stopped considering him in the conversation of who was the greatest champion ever. Despite this, someone could decide that simply due to his ability to manipulate his opponents, by complicating things and making the situation more conducive for them to make mistakes, some may think he should still be part of that discussion and think he is underrated.

That is why I think he is overrated right now. Because every time he loses the WCC (this being the second time in a row) he gets a pass. I'm not discrediting him as a former champion, but I think he should at least come back with a stronger game. This year he just went straight to draws with white when he needed to win the most. It makes him seem like a weak competitior. Another example is when Magnus Carlsen trash talked saying "I could have played for a win" with the Grunfeld, but he was happy when Anand gave him the draw. He didn't even put up a fight and lost again.

Grandmaster Rashid Gabiatovich Nezhmetdinov.