Is Magnus Carlsen Greatest Chess Player of all Times?

 The best ? Bobby would probably have an opening edge,carlsen gets middle game and the winner .......? I don't know.

i think Bobby Fischer is the greatest chess player of all time.He won many US chess championships.He is like a surgeon.He picks you apart. 

no......anand is better

When considering who is the 'Greatest of all Time' you need to consider more than 'Well, he would beat him right now if they played.' 

You make some good points, but this is contentious. At best you have shown thzt "the greatest" is a term subject top differetn interpretations. I expect most people would disagree with yours. It is the peak level of performance that counts.  In sports like athletics and swimming this is obvious.  It would hardly matter that someone dominated the world of 100m running for 10 or 15 years with times  (great times!) of 9.8 and 9.9 if someone came along, beat them by several tenths, and demolished the world record, even if that upstart never agsain broke 10s. In chess and similar games, where you compete against an opponent (rather than against some objective measure like time taken, weight lifted, distance jumped etc.) there is no way to measure the absolute, objective standard of performance.

We can talk about this forever, and most knowledgable chess players would probably come up with mostly similar lists of contenders, but in the absence of an objective and accurate measure of chess strength we will never all agree.

Yes! Carlson is the best ever. He has taken the game to a new level.

Carlsen is a grinder. Its like this: Klitscko is clearly better than Haye, but his style is not as exciting.

He's certainly better than that Fischer patzer.

Thats a lie Garry Kasparovs rating is not exactly better than Magnus Carlsen just in case you didn't know Magnus Carlsen once broke Garry Kasparovs elo rating of 2851 in 2013 when he was rated 2861 and his peak rating was 2882. And Bobby Fishers rating at peak was only 2782. So i don't know what your trying to say. Carlsen Has been champion for a few years If Carlsen can just hold his world championship title for at the next 10-20 years like Kasparov did there is no doubt that he will be the greatest player of all time.

My favourite player from top 3 ever is Kasparov. However I think Carlsen will overtake him as number two. And for me nobody comes close to Bobby Fischer. He did not have Fritz, Komodo, Stockfish, supportive familly, etc. He was a true soldier. Sheer power of will. He wasnt just playing chess, he was living it. Greatest of all time. 

if someone was the best player in the world everybody would have followed his/her style only

ya

No one has ever played better than Fisher did in 1978, 1979 no one is even close.

Fisher was like anyone ahead of his time he looks ridiculously brilliant playing against a field of amateurs. But here's a concern his games were so full of holes when analyzed by any chess engine. It gets even worse when you analyze all of the other world champions even Garry. Magnus Carlson is the most consistently accurate player in world history, his play style is more cautious only playing aggressively when the time is right. He just continues to balance every position until his opponent makes a mistake. It's easier to find 'brilliance' on the chess board against inferior, inaccurate moves. It is for this reason there is no doubt in my mind, that Magnus Carlson could easily crush every world champion who has ever played the game. I don't even hesitate to say this - the same type of training and preparation and the availability of chess engines today mean his reign will be short-lived. And there are prodigies coming who were raised from infancy on the most accurate chess ever played. These heroes of tomorrow will be monsters. Particularly so, as the entire field rises to up to meet them. Therefore, we will see a classical ELO of 3k in our lifetime and that guy whomever he is will be the greatest of all time and also able to beat every world champion who has ever played before him.

The strength of field today alone, makes for better world champions. There are 10 players today who would have crushed bobby fisher in his prime.

Absolutely no chance. Only players who could beat prime Bobby are Garry, Magnus, Kramnik and Aronian. No need to say he could beat any of them as well. 

Magnus is the best human player of all time, but he's not yet the greatest.

I wouldnt say even that. For me Kasparov was stronger but it is relative. Magnus seemed on the right path when he was over 2850 and it seemed like he might even broke 3000, but he is stuck around 2830 for years now.

jancicgoran you don't understand how the rating system works

Anyone who watched the Blitz/bullet match today would know that Magnus is in a class by himself at fast time controls. In a fast time control match, he would beat anyone, including Kasparov at his best.

But that doesn't mean he's the greatest. In order to be the greatest, he has to stand the test of time, as Kasparov did. He has to beat players from several different generations in World Championship match conditions. So far, he's beaten Anand and Karjakin. That's great, but he needs to prove himself to the next generation too, as Kasparov did by beating Short and Anand.