After a possible Karjakin and Anand match who do you think would be the best living chess player in the world? Or more interesting who do you think the world would view as the best chess player living. Carlsen of course (maybe Caruna he he keeps his current form over time) if you are honest (I am not a big Carlsen fan by the way). The World Championship Match is outdated, has been for years. It really doesn't matter who wins a 12 game match between Anand and anybody ...... Right now Rory McIIroy is the best player in golf and nobody doubts that - why would he play a match? $$$$ maybe. What matters is who wins the big tournaments. FIDE couldn't even find a sponsor or location for the WC match. Its time for a change and it will not matter who plays in November or even if there is a match.
World chess champion Magnus Carlsen could be stripped of title
Wow. The best living chess player? That's really a tough call. Carlsen appears to be struggling mentally. True Caruana is playing really well however his last 2 games in St. Louis were not at all dominate. Also, these guys are so young! Will they be able to maintain this level of play for years or is it now so difficult now to dominate that the great players will have to be young to have the mental agility to play all the lines that todays GM's play? Is mental burnout at this level inevitable? Fischer was 15 but now we have several 13 year olds. New faces are popping up out of nowhere. Before computers, great players could master a handful of lines and dominate based on their superior understanding of such lines and then play them in creative new ways that were difficult for others to discover. Today it seems the great players can play them all perfectly. But they can because the engines can discover every possible outcome. I am not saying they are better than the great players of the past just that the tools today have created a sort of nuclear era or arms race of sorts that demands perfection in so many lines. Your right that its definitely time for a change but I wonder if number one players will come and go like sparks in a fire. Computers have either solved or nearly solved chess. In some ways I'm sad about this because a certain romantic mystery has been reduced to a great number crunch. It's a bit of a loss of innocence but non the less chess is probably more accessable and more exciting in many ways also. The old ways give in to the new. FIDE is the old guard. Kind of like the Vatican but without as much $$. They still operate as if the old ways never changed. Like all institutions of man it's hard to avoid becoming entrenched in beauracracy and paralyzed by politics as the old guard hangs on to its power by any means.
"The best living chess player? That's really a tough call. Carlsen appears to be struggling mentally"
He just finished sole second in the highest rated tournament ever and now has four firsts and two second places this year. So I'd say he still is the best player in the world.
The best living chess player? It's me! No joke, I'm serious.
I would have to say Kasparov is the greatest living because of his brilliance and longevity. He has accomplished so much in his life and I feel he has challenged FIDE to become a better organization. He has the aquired a long list of accomplishments. The Kasparov-Karpov rivalry was an exciting time for the chess world. He has trained Magnus Carlsen and Anand with good results. He's got my vote FWIW.
I would have to say Kasparov is the greatest living because of his brilliance and longevity. He has accomplished so much in his life and I feel he has challenged FIDE to become a better organization. He has the aquired a long list of accomplishments. The Kasparov-Karpov rivalry was an exciting time for the chess world. He has trained Magnus Carlsen and Anand with good results. He's got my vote FWIW.
Kasparov didn't train Anand.
I would have to say Kasparov is the greatest living because of his brilliance and longevity. He has accomplished so much in his life and I feel he has challenged FIDE to become a better organization. He has the aquired a long list of accomplishments. The Kasparov-Karpov rivalry was an exciting time for the chess world. He has trained Magnus Carlsen and Anand with good results. He's got my vote FWIW.
Kasparov didn't train Anand.
Yes he did.
In May 2010 it was revealed that Kasparov had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov. Anand won the match 6½–5½ to retain the title.[41]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov
I would have to say Kasparov is the greatest living because of his brilliance and longevity. He has accomplished so much in his life and I feel he has challenged FIDE to become a better organization. He has the aquired a long list of accomplishments. The Kasparov-Karpov rivalry was an exciting time for the chess world. He has trained Magnus Carlsen and Anand with good results. He's got my vote FWIW.
Kasparov didn't train Anand.
Yes he did.
In May 2010 it was revealed that Kasparov had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov. Anand won the match 6½–5½ to retain the title.[41]
Being a second does not make one a trainer.
Kasparov may be the greatest living chess player, but he is hardly the best player today, ten years into his retirement.
Synaphai that's a good point. I was reading about Anand's training regime. His training team is huge. His training must be busier than a nascar pit area. 
I agree fabelhaft...he does not compete today. I merely meant he's got this huge lifetime of achievment that the younger guys haven't had. It almost unbelievable to read about his accomplishments. I am just saying I admire all he's done. I would be proud to have any one of these as my lifes high point. I also like how he stands up to power and authority when it's wrong. I'm sure some of it is his own ego but none the less, you could make a movie of his life that would be very exciting to watch. Maybe one day one of these 20 something super stars will also accomplish similar feats in the decades to come. The question asked was who's the greatest living player. I guess you could take that to be either who's the greatest player in the world at the moment or who that's currently living / breathing has the highest high.
Kasparov is the greatest living player. His record insures that.
Whether he would be motivated enough to come out of retirement and to try to win back the title is a very interesting question.
In cycling, Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador and Chris Froome are the best cyclists in the world. But the greatest living cyclist is Eddy Merckx.
Merckx can't beat any of these guys NOW. But none of these guys records come even close to Merckx record. And so the same applies to Kasparov now, perhaps.
FIDE has extended the deadline for Carlsen to sign for his world champion title match. Should Carlsen forfeit the match, Anand will take on Russia's Serget Karjakin, the runner up of the Candidates tournement, for the world title. Does it matter?
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/aug/29/world-chess-champion-magnus-carlsen-title-threat