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

SmyslovFan wrote: It's good to have strong beliefs, as long as they're grounded in evidence. Belief before evidence is faith. I prefer to analyse all the evidence to the best of my ability and then come to conclusions. I've already studied those Candidates matches. They were lightly and lazily annotated by a certain JVR. The most memorable game for me was the one in which Fischer put Taimanov on zugzwang. I think it's called B vs N ending. And then Fischer sac his B to eliminate Taimanov's base pawn. Perhaps I'm wrong and Fischer was smarter than them. But I strongly believe that physical conditioning was a factor on Fischer's favor. If you feel good, you play good, right? He lost game(s) against Petrosian because he was sick and the electricity went out according to the annotator.

I've already studied those Candidates matches. They were lightly and lazily annotated by a certain JVR. The most memorable game for me was the one in which Fischer put Taimanov on zugzwang. I think it's called B vs N ending. And then Fischer sac his B to eliminate Taimanov's base pawn. Perhaps I'm wrong and Fischer was smarter than them. But I strongly believe that physical conditioning was a factor on Fischer's favor. If you feel good, you play good, right? He lost game(s) against Petrosian because he was sick and the electricity went out according to the annotator.

Er... the quoting system here is quite confusing, innit? Pardon me, I'm just new here.

Fischer is the undisputed GOAT.

 

Although in terms of sheer potential Morphy was the greatest IMO.

In GM Seirawan's 2010 book, he gave the #1 position to Kasparov, the #2 to Karpov, and Fischer was #3.

Anand and Carlsen said Fischer was the GOAT with Kasparov rank 2.

"When interviewed in 2008 shortly after Fischer's death, he [Anand] ranked Fischer and Kasparov as the greatest, with Kasparov a little ahead"

"In 2012, Magnus Carlsen said that Kasparov is the greatest player of all time"

"Levon Aronian stated that he considers Garry Kasparov the greatest player of all time"

"The other world champions had something 'missing'. I [Kramnik] can't say the same about Kasparov: he can do everything."

"In his 2008 obituary of Bobby Fischer, Leonard Barden wrote that most experts ranked Kasparov as the greatest ever"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_top_chess_players_throughout_history

 

"Bobby Fischer was the greatest chess player who ever lived. He was a very special person, and I was fortunate to meet him two years ago... He passed away recently, now I consider that I was lucky to meet him". Anand (The telegraph, Calcutta, 2009)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6g77y_4OQs - Carlsen said in terms of peak/dominance and overall rank Fischer > Kasparov. So, clearly in terms of pure ability he is better even without anyone helping him unlike Kasparov.

 

The precision and energy that he played with is just unmatched in the history of chess. So Bobby Fischer from 1970 to 1972." - On his dream rival Carlsen CNN 2015

 

Kasparov wins in longevity that's it. But that would make Lasker the GOAT.

Anand and Carlsen have answered that question many times, and with just as many different answers :-) The funny thing is that no one of these great players ever mention Lasker, to me it is between Kasparov and Lasker, depending on how much one values activity. Lasker played little but scored amazing results 40 years after winning the title when he did play. Kasparov played lots of top events every year for 20 years after winning the title. Both defended the title numerous times, but Lasker could pick his opposition. He did show in tournaments how great he was regardless of that.

Yeah I noticed that too. I saw Aronian mention Alekhine as the GOAT before changing to Kasparov.

Honestly I prefer Fischer because of his sheer dominance. Winning 20 games in a row without draws against GMs. 6-0 against a top 10 GM (twice), winning major event by 100% and winning 4 games in a row against a guy like Petrosian is out of the world. Not to mention, he lost rating points after winning WCC. And he did this alone. I just don't see Kasparov achieving all that by himself.

Though I can understand if someone considers Kasparov the GOAT. He stayed at the top for longer.

Not a huge fan of Lasker.

 

Well in that case they shouldn't be quoted to support either view. 

As far as dominance goes, it's pretty clear.

As far as longevity goes, at least in the modern era, it's again pretty clear.

When it comes to strength, it will have to be decided by computers because humans are biased and have egos the size of cathedrals. Deep inside all these champions might think they're the strongest. At least Fischer was honest enough to admit so.

 

Hands down, it is Vladamir Putin!

https://www.chess.com/article/view/who-was-the-best-world-chess-champion-in-history

 

You have two tries left!

According to several different engines analyses, Fischer was the most accurate player, also the the strongest over a one year period.

He never blundered for more years in a row.

 

and he got even better behind the public eye, his very prime, I think we would have beaten Deep Blue

Until there's a consensus on the definition of "greatest," there can be no answer.

About Fisher unmatched in history of chess. What about Carlsen?  I think Carlsen has harder competition than Fischer had. Caruana, So, Kasparov, Nakamura, Aronian are all fantastic players. I guess that nr 10 today is stronger than number 5 was back in the seventies.

 

it can't be judged in the modern era; everyone is training with computers.  opening prep, memorization...the over the board creativity is lost.  Many of todays top players may not have been as good in decades past, without those tools.