The best chess player in the world

My best chess player in the world list for 2015:

1. Carlsen - no motivation needed apart from looking at the results of Gashimov Memorial, Wijk aan Zee, Baden-Baden, London, Qatar and World Rapid Championship.

2. Nakamura - Especially Zurich was a good win, but also Khanty, Gibraltar, US Championships and Millionaire Chess makes it easy to place him second on a list like this.

3. Giri - didn't win anything else than the Dutch Championship, but his repeated top results, especially going an undefeated +5 in the Grand Chess Tour, make him top three on my list.

4. Aronian won Sinquefield Cup a full point ahead of Carlsen and seems well on the way to his best form again. Maybe should be a bit further down going by some bad results, but the very impressive Sinquefield performance is enough for me to place him 4th.

5. Anand. Best score in Zurich classical half, and good results as 2nd in Gashimov Memorial and Norway. Also some weaker results, but the first half of the year makes him an obvious top 5 candidate here.

6. MVL won Biel and came an inch from winning the whole Grand Chess Tour. He should be placed quite high here after being 0.5 from first in Wijk aan Zee and reaching that tiebreak in London.

7. Topalov won Norway and reached his highest rating ever. The rest of the year was so-so, but few players have won as strong tournaments as Norway.

8. Kramnik gained rating and won some nice games in team events. Especially the European Club Cup was great. Otherwise a year to forget for Kramnik.

9. Karjakin won the World Cup and played well on occasion, especially in the Russia-China match.

10. Wei Yi had some great games and passed 2700. Together with his winning the Chinese Championships and Wijk aan Zee B he could be included here for his age.

Given that all the "best" discussions are about opinions there are of course no rights or wrongs, but the motivations are often interesting. If you aren't particularly fond of a player you can go to some lengths with your arguments.

The Association of Chess Professional's president Sutovsky doesn't rank Nakamura as one of the ten best players of 2015. The given reason is that he didn't win any strong classical only tournaments. In this he forgets FIDE Grand Prix in Khanty, and while Zurich was half rapid Nakamura did well also in the classical half. He also won strong opens ahead of players like Caruana and Topalov, and the US Championships ahead of So.

Svidler had a bad year without winning anything, but is still 7th on Sutovsky's list. Karjakin is even ranked 2nd thanks to winning the World Cup. There Sutovsky has no problem with Karjakin's neither winning final, semi final, quarter final or the round before that in classical chess. All these minimatches (and more) were won in rapid/blitz.

Nakamura scored five substantial victories but is far behind for example Kramnik in these polls and lists. Kramnik is a good comparison, being top half on Sutovsky's list where Nakamura is absent, and with many times more votes at Chessbase, where one of five even rank him ahead of Carlsen for 2015. Kramnik's results in his five top events:

At Gashimov Memorial he had a minus score when Carlsen won on +5 (after beating Kramnik). At Dortmund he had an even score when Caruana won on +4. In the World Cup he was eliminated very early in his last chance to qualify for the Candidates. In Zurich he finished third behind Nakamura and Anand. In Qatar he shared third behind Carlsen and Yu Yangyi. 

Still Kramnik is considered to have been much better than Nakamura, and by many even better than Carlsen. He did have a good team event and gained rating, and maybe people feel more sympathy for older players.

Many have been reluctant to rank Carlsen as the best player. In 2013 he won Candidates, title match, Wijk aan Zee (+7-0=6) and Sinquefield Cup (+3-0=3). He was 70 points ahead of #2. Still, the German chess journalists that went public with their assessments ranked Kramnik as the best player in the world in 2013.

In 2014 Carlsen won another title match, a bunch of strong tournaments, including rapid and blitz World Championships, and was clear #1 on all rating lists. When Sutovsky asked for votes on the best player of the year many answered, and Caruana won. Carlsen got around a third of the votes, but about as many didn't consider him top two.

For 2015 the Chessbase poll had his percentage in the 40s throughout the vote. The Chess Oscar jury member that made his pick public doesn't rank Carlsen first, and others complained that the poll is a popularity contest that gives Carlsen more votes than he deserves (Chessbase meant it is an understatement to call Carlsen's year a flop).

Many will probably continue to see it as if Carlsen never has been best. If 50% see him as the best player 2015, and a third in 2014, more were prone to do it in 2013, even if the German journalists ranked Kramnik first. Let's say 2/3 picking Carlsen. 10% may then consider Carlsen the best player all the years 2013-15, but just as many see it as if he never was the best player any of the years. 

Before 2013 the Chess Oscar result was often seen as controversial when Carlsen won it while not being World Champion, and the last "uncontroversial" best player of the year was Anand in 2008. He lost much Elo, but won the title match (as #5). Carlsen was then ahead of Anand after gaining 72 points in a year, winning Wijk as well as Baku and Aerosvit. He was 0.5 behind Anand in Linares, but finished ahead of him in the other events both played, for example Bilbao where he was 2nd and Anand last.

I picked Anand in 2008 myself, but find it surprising that it was considered an obvious choice (no one discussing the subject ranked anyone else first) compared to Carlsen lately, when many disagree about him being best.

Remember that many of the "Carlsen had a terrible 2015" club, say it because he lost rating. So, I guess that they say Kramink was the best because he won rating (and the same for Nakamura).

 "I guess that they say Kramink was the best because he won rating"

Maybe, Sutovsky's full list of the ten best players of 2015 look like this, by the way:

1. Carlsen

2. Karjakin 

3. Giri

4. Aronian

5. Kramnik

6. MVL

7. Svidler

8. Eljanov

9. Ding Liren

10. Wei Yi

"This is the time of the year when chess journalists are invited by the 64 magazine to vote for the Chess Oscar by casting a list of the ten best players of the preceeding year"

Chess Oscar jury member Stefan Löffler giving his list:

1. Wei Yi

2. Carlsen

3. Aronian

4. Giri

5. Nakamura

6. MVL

7. Svidler

8. Eljanov

9. Kramnik

10. Pelletier

http://chess-news.ru/en/node/20737

Another chess journalist list, by Thomas Richter:

1. Carlsen 

2. MVL

3. Giri

4. Anand

5. Aronian

6. Kramnik

7. Karjakin

8. Svidler

9. Eljanov

10. Not given

Carlsen as #1 on that list unlike in 2013, but not without some criticism ("to me he is just primus inter pares"). Otherwise, just like with Sutovsky's list, it is only Nakamura's absense that surprises a bit.

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/2015-in-chess-carlsen-still-the-best

Another list for 2015, by Shipov. The surprise being that he doesn't rank MVL as top ten during the year:

1. Carlsen 
2. Nakamura 
3. Giri 
4. Karjakin 
5. Kramnik
6. Topalov
7. Caruana
8. Tomashevsky
9. Aronian
10. Anand

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/sergey-shipov-s-review-of-2015

Tomashevsky at #8? What exactly did he do over the past year?

Also, I'm surprised no one has Giri at #2.

MVL won Biel, shared second in Tata 0.5 behind Carlsen, shared second again in Sinquefield Cup, and was a blitz tiebreak from winning both London and the whole Grand Chess Tour. In the World Blitz Championship he had a big lead up until the end when Grischuk passed him with 0.5 and he had to settle for second. Especially the second half of the year was impressive, when he gained more than 60 Elo. Harsh by Shipov to not even have him top ten, I thought I was unfair to him by having him as far down as 6th...

"I'm surprised no one has Giri at #2"

It's probably because he only won the Dutch Championship during the year. Even if he had many very good results, I think many value one tournament win higher than a couple of second places.

Well... it's not just that he had many very good results. Basically he had a good result in every tournament in which he particpated. Personally I'd definitely rank him in front of Nakamura.

Speaking of Nakamura, it's funny how, with the exception of Loffler's list, he's either #2 or not in the top 10.

And yes, MVL should be a lock for top 10.

How come Caruana, ranked 5th in the world ATM, doesn't make the top 10 list?

Didn't do particularly well in 2015.

Indeed, Caruana has fallen from 2850+ in October 2014 to 2787 after a very bad year.

"Basically he had a good result in every tournament in which he particpated. Personally I'd definitely rank him in front of Nakamura"

I think it's difficult to separate the two, but Giri did have also some average results in 2015. He was shared last (7-10th) in Gashimov Memorial, 4-7th in Tbilisi, 6-9th in Khanty, 8th in Qatar and 4th in Norway. Especially the latter two were far from bad results, but not extremely good either. Then he of course also had a bunch of very good results, definitive top three on my list at least.

hikaru is the best chess player in the world dude,   who is this cartson  anyway?