Who is the greatest chess player of all time ?? Bobby Fischer ??

The greatest chessplayer of all time? What a silly question. There's no one answer. All masters are great and the rockstars of chess are all super great. Having to pick one greatest chessplayer of all time is like asking an astronomer what the best Disney cartoon character is.

According to chess db, the player who had the highest computer match up of all time was Viacheslav Ikkonikov. Computer match up rates have their uses, but are also limited in that once you get to a certain level players can use "correctness" against you. This was something that Capa didn't understand, but the Dynamic School led by the great Soviet players of the 1950s and 1969s did.

Imagine a match between Capa and Tal. I think it would be one of the great matches of all time, and I think Tal would win. Tal had lower engine match up rates than Capa, but he understood the importance of dynamism. Today's elite players incorporate the lessons of Capa and of Tal into their games.

if the basis for who's the best in your mind is engine match up rates then you have to eliminate every one before the 60s , Paul Morphy etc, because chess theory wasn't as evolved back then.

Yup.

I also eliminate the best track athletes from before 1960 as the fastest of all time because their times are slower than those of athletes today.

Emil Zatopec, Jesse Owens and Roger Bannister are among my all-time favorite athletes, but their best times can't compete with the best athletes today.

Btw, it's Ikonnikov. Sorry about the typo above. His first name may have been transliterated differently than I spelled it, there are several English spellings for Viacheslav the Wise.

kasaprov best chess player for all time !!

A lot of modern GMs (especially Magnus) are sidestepping the mainlines (which the computers probably prefers) to lead the game away from wellknown theory.  I dont think the computercomparations tells that Fisher is better or worse than them.

I'm a big fan of Kasparov's chess, but he finished third in a four player field. That wasn't "unbelievable". Sure, he played some great games, but he also played some howlers. And he was rusty too. I'd love to see him get back into the mix and knock some rust off.

Kasparov showed that he's capable of being in the top ten in the world, but he isn't the best in the world anymore. I just hope he decides to play more blitz and rapid tournaments. 

Kasparov at his best would have been a good match for Carlsen right now. I honestly don't know who's better, but I'm leaning towards Carlsen in part because he still has time to grow even stronger.

We have to also keep in mind he was playing BLITZ. In standard chess I think he would currently be in the top 3.

who is bobby Fischer, giri is the best ever

Last year, Kasparov himself stated that he no longer has the stamina to compete at the highest levels. He himself thought he could break the top ten, but not much higher. He's never been known as one to underestimate himself.

Capablanca had probably easier opposition than Carlsen and Kasparov, and the same goes in a much smaller extent for Fisher.  

The better opposition you have, the more errors you will do.

"I'm a big fan of Kasparov's chess, but he finished third in a four player field. That wasn't "unbelievable"

He beat Nakamura twice and easily reached winning positions against So a few times only to blunder. He destroyed Caruana a few times with black, I think that qualifies as great, considering he's not active anymore. Unbelievable? Well that's subjective.

At 53 to do that it shows you how strong he is/ was. At his best it would be very close against Carlsen.

I asked Nigel Short if he think the best of Garry could beat today's Carlsen, he said 'Yes"....

I hold Kasparaov as the all time greatest, and I think Carlsen has what it takes to take his place ca ten years from now, but it is not a walk in the park. There are coming up superkids that can challenge him . Both Anish Giri, Richard Rapport and Wei Yi can become superstrong monsters (Magnusclass) in ca five years.

Already, there's only one person who maintained an active +2800 rating longer than Carlsen. Carlsen's been +2800 since he was 18. Just as with Kasparov before him, it's big news when Carlsen doesn't win a tournament.  

Yes! I would have loved to see a match between Kasparov at ~35 years old vs Carlsen now. I have a feeling that Carlsen still has another gear to explore, but we'll only see it if he has someone to challenge him regularly in the next ten years.