Who Is The Greatest Chess Player That Has Ever Lived ???

Fischer was first among equals from about September 1966 to 1971, then he had his miracle year, the like of which we’ve never seen before or since. But that was it. 

I join many people who consider his abbreviated career too short to qualify as greatest ever when Karpov, Kasparov and Carlsen have all proved their dominance for more than a decade.

Beth harmon 

Hikaru Nakamura.

Beth Harmon has never lived lol

Bobby stockfischer 

Hikaru

lol

1) Hikaru 

2) Hikaru Bot

3) Maximum Bot

Not anymore. They didn't further develop alpha zero's chess abilities after the stockfish match. Unlike Stockfish and Leela

Thanks a lot for the recent posts.

   ---   Someone on the internet with a good sense of humor, quite rare that  lol.

The five greatest according to Karpov from an interview made in March:

”Capablanca, Alekhine, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov. Arranged not by rank, but in chronological order”

Karpov used to claim he had won 160 tournaments but has now increased it to 185 won events, in his adult years :-) He must be using some rather creative way of counting including team events etc even if that still wouldn’t reach anywhere close to his claimed number equalling more than 6 won tournaments every year for 30 years. 

”I have 185 victories. This is from the moment I became a master of sports, excluding children's and youth tournaments. In general, I own almost all of the chess records”

https://ruchess.ru/news/all/anatoliy_karpov_v_obshchey_slozhnosti_ya_vystupal_na_vysokom_urovne_25_let/?version=desktop

It depends what do you mean by the greatest. What makes someone the greatest? If you're talking about who is the most talented, then I would have to agree with Carlsen and So, who said Capablanca. Hikaru has got many people interested in chess and that's why chess community has grown very much in recent years. If you're talking about whose games are most interesting to watch, then I have to go with Tal. Of course, we can't leave out Kasparov, who has become sort of cult of personality in chess. Definitely one of the strongest players ever. But what about Fischer and Carlsen? Fischer was definitely the strongest player in his era, but after becoming the world champion he quit playing, so his career was rather short. If he had beaten Karpov and later Kasparov, his legacy would have been much greater. Carlsen is the strongest player right now, but I think it is too early to give an opinion. It is difficult to compare him to Capablanca, Fischer and Kasparov, because he has the access to computers.

@fabelhaft, now that internet chess is becoming acceptable, and also considering he still plays in an occasional tournament, I'm not surprised. I've seen the 185 count in several places, so I think he's right. 

I think he is wrong :-) In his best year in the 1970s he won four, but usually much less. Over the ten year period 1981-90 his usual result was two won tournaments per year. Linares 1994 was a great result but also the only tournament he won that year. I think he stopped winning tournaments in 1996, but maybe has a couple of minor victories since then. But to get to 180 he would have need to win six every year for more than 30 years, and he was never close to anything like that.

I think I read somewhere that Karpov counts every team event, board prize, online event and blitz minimatch as a tournament victory, and that way he could maybe reach 180. But then I guess Nakamura would have 250 :-)

Daniel ?

Rezso Charousek

Leonid Stein

Rashid Nezhmetdinov

hikaru he won 2nd

carlsen won 10th thou