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

Fischer's talent had nothing to do with cramming, it was more like reading poetry to him.

I guess this isn't just between Morphy, Capablanca, Fischer and Kasparov any more.  Now you have to throw Magnus Carlson into the mix.   Since they are all from different eras, it's hard to compare them.  Carlson definitely had more aid from computers than his predecessors.   I haven't studied enough games from each player to make this call.  Even if I had, I wouldn't understand half of their moves.  My gut says Kasparov though.   Fischer was lacking in so many other aspects of his life, had no social skills, was a whiny little baby and a racist and totally lost my respect.   Carlson may end up being #1 of all-time, at some point though, if he's not already.   He's still pretty young.  

You may also have to add this kid to the list, in a few years.   Yi Wei, of China, is only 17 years old and is already ranked #35 in the world, with a rating of 2717 FIDE.   

I have found new interesting video about top 5 greatest chess players of all time by some new youtuber.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BDQljWuKag

Morphy Fisher Tal Kasparov Alekhine 

I believe morphy played in era without any other good players so, he is no way near top 5. Tal played very beautiful and great chess, but what about botvinik who got his crown back 3 times and beat Tal to dust.  I agree with Alekhine.

1. Fischer (at his 1970-72 peak)   1. Kasparov (best overall during his entire career)   3. Carlsen   4. Morphy   5. Capablanca  

I would say that any hero of mine would have a sound mind and achieve somethings for the good away from the board, which to my knowledge Fischer did not. 

Well it really depends on the way he/she achieves these somethings.

1. Kasparov 2. Carlsen. If Carlsen beats Karjakin in the WC match he climbs to number one.

I agree completely and Fischer is definitely not my hero.  However, this is only about chess ability, not overall best person or the best representative for chess in general.   

I will say this, NOBODY put chess on the map like Fischer did! Put it this way, Michael Jordan was the Bobby Fischer of basketball!

He put chess on the map in the United States, yes.  Chess was already on the map in the USSR/Russia though.   Anand put chess on the map in India and Carlsen put chess on the map in Norway.   So, is that really a significant factor in determining who was the greatest player of all-time?   

Fischer definitely deserves credit for making chess a truly professional enterprise. 

He was the best player of his generation. He fully deserves much of the mythos that has built up around his name. 

BUT, today's players are now standing on the shoulders of giants. Robert Byrne, who played both Fischer and Kasparov, said that Kasparov was better than Fischer. Carlsen is probably slightly better than Kasparov at his best. 

Ratings really do reflect playing strength. Fischer remains one of the 20 best players ever. But there's a group of players who are active today who are collectively raising the bar. Kasparov and Carlsen have consistently outperformed Fischer's best, as measured by ratings and by average error rate.

What about ratings inflation?  Experts are saying that the ratings are about 100 points higher, on average, than they were back in 1972.  So, if you add 100 points to Fischer's all-time best rating and 50 to Kasparov's, I think Fischer comes out on top of both Kasparov and Carlsen.   Regardless, you can't dismiss the fact that Fischer won 20 straight games (from 1970-71) against the best GM's in the world, at that time.  No losses, no draws.  That's simply unbelievable and has never been matched.  

Ever notice that the people who talk about rating inflation ALWAYS have the inflation just high enough to make Fischer #1?