However no one has dominated his era as did Fischer.
This is said very often but I always wonder what era it refers to. In 1970 Spassky was World Champion and kept winning against Fischer. In 1972 the World Champion took a 2-0 lead in the match and had 3-0 against Fischer before that, so up until then the latter certainly hadn't been dominating like no one else. After that he dominated the match very clearly and definitely proved that he was the best player in the world by eventually beating Spassky 12.5-8.5, but then he stopped playing. So the era he dominated like no one else must have been very short. And Steinitz going 7-0 against #2 in the world, winning 25 games in a row and numerous title matches many years later is somehow not comparable with Fischer's going 12.5-8.5 against #2 and quitting. Still, Fischer was obviously one of the greatest players ever, I just think one has to be quite selective with the facts to make him #1, and avoid using the same criteria for other players when deciding how to measure.
Fischer is generally considered to be the "best chess player of all time" by some of the same guys presently vying for the World Championship. And yes, "it's just their opinion."
That's what I hear from my @2400 USCF friend, and his Armenian countryman from the last Quarter Finals for the World Championship.
But "Best Player of All Time" has to be relative to his peers.
Fischer never did come out of retirement, except to play a couple late-in-life exhibition matches, which were roundly criticized by current GMs as not being of "World Class" playing level.
So who knows whether after a long lay off he might have beaten Karpov, or even Kasparov? Probably not.
Gennady Nesis, former World Correspondent Champion, in his book "Tactical Chess Exchanges" describes the awe in which the Soviet Chess establishment viewed Fischer, before he become World Champion.
Perhaps that says something about how much Fischer "impressed his peers," to say nothing of his amazing winning streak in the run-up to the World Championship Match.
Too bad Fischer ended up much like Steinitz, and Morphy to a lesser extent.
Everyones' loss.