Percentage of their games that ended with this player launching into a mating attack (including games where the opponent resigned before mate was delivered) [edited for clarity]
1.Paul Morphy 22.27%
2.Adolf Anderssen 8.66%
3.William Steinitz 7.67%
4.Harry Nelson Pillsbury 6.78%
5.Amos Burn 6.53%
6.Henry Blackburne 5.90%
7.Emanuel Lasker 5.60%
8.Garry Kasparov 4.99%
9.Rashid Nezhmetdinov 4.97%
10.Henry Bird 4.86%
11.Siegbert Tarrasch 4.50%
12.Bobby Fischer 4.30%
13.Mikhail Chigorin 4.29%
14.Alexander Alekhine 4.23%
15.Jose Raul Capablanca 4.07%
The games of Frank Marshall, Paul Keres, Alexei Shirov, Mikhail Tal, Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Shabalov, Judit Polgar, Rudolf Spielmann, Alvis Vitolinsh, Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Spassky, David Bronstein, Efim Geller and Tigran V. Petrosian ended in mate less often. Tigran V. Petrosian in particular was a very conservative player.
Disclaimer: I posted this table stimulate discussion. It is not intended to be an answer to the question "who is the greatest attacker?" [added for clarity]
Yeah, using a table just for mate attacks doesn't count. For instance, was playing until checkmate more common in Morphy's time? Now days, how many more games are won by resigning then by an actually checkmate? It seems like the masters resign when they realize they're going to lose material, or when the other player will gain some!
The statistics are interesting, though. I think Morphy took a lot of his opponents by surprise and that's why his percentage is so high. He also played a lot of lower "rated" players who probably couldn't see as far as the GM's of the day.
Tal!
His opponents Resigned some in the Middle Game. Not just any opponents "Best of the Beast"!