This questions is tough to answer because the game has changed in many ways. I'm into old school players. Bobby Fischer always gets votes but he left the game too early to really determine whether he would have held his own for say a decade or two. Are you talking about an all around great player? I love Paul Morphy but he would never hold his own if playing a contemporary player. Tal was a positional genius. Boris Spassky was a great all around player. Unfortunately, he underestimated Fischer in 1972 (according to Karpov) so he never got his due.
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I think it's Garry Kasparov
I think it would be Morphy. If he were alive today and studied modern chess theory, he would gve today's masters a run for their money! He didn't even fully develop when he was alive since he lived in a time when being a professional chess player was equivalent to being a professional gambler.
Houdini 2c
In your opinion who do you think deserves to get the title "best chess player"