Has Wesley So been the Best Chessplayer in the world for the past 18 months or so?

I remember reading an interview of Magnus, and they asked him why he thought he did not have a rival...as in, we dont have a "Kasparov/Karpov"-esque rivalry. He said probably the biggest thing missing was consistency. Many of the players are talented but he didnt think that any one player was demonstrating enough consistency to be considered a rival.

Now however, he may begin to consider Wesley So a contender. He has demonstrated the most consistency by far for the last year.

No

"World Champion" is simply a title, and a lagging indicator of skill. For example, god forbid, magnus was in a traffic accident rendering him comatose...is he still capable of playing the best chess in the world?

Obviously this is an extreme example, but you can even look at it this way....in a tournament when Magnus misses a Mate in three and does not go unbeaten, you can not say he is playing the best chess in that span of time.

Extend it out further and examine what So has accomplished compared to Magnus in the last few months, and its atleast debatable as to who is playing better chess...

Magnus Carlsen destroyed So in Leuven.

Magnus is still the best. He just defended his title.

Magnus is also world #1. You don't normally get there by being anything other than #1.

No chance . Carlsen is the best now and before fischer was the greatest

Who did Magnus play when he missed the mate in 3, and where woud i find the game?

 Is there perhaps a kind person who can post the position? 

Let's see, Carlsen's results since the end of 2015:

1st London

1st Qatar

1st Tata

1st Norway

1st Bilbao

Won title match

But since he only is in second place at the moment in Tata and it isn't certain he will win this time he can hardly have been the best player the last 18 months :-)

https://www.chess.com/news/view/carlsen-misses-mate-in-three-vs-giri-4218

And this is the chess.com article for that day of Tata Steel - each day they write a new article for this and other events

Sorry but that is one of the most ignorant comments I've read on here (which should say a lot). That statement might be true if we're assuming the world champion is constantly tested by the entire field and faces the toughest competitors. But that's not anywhere near the truth. Like Urk initially stated, we're talking about the last 18 months (although I'm not sure I would range it that far). Just because Karjakin won the Candidates doesn't make him the second best player in the world, does it? He's the only one who had a chance to dethrone Carlsen and he wasn't equipped to do so. Likewise, even if he had beaten Carlsen, that doesn't make him the best player in the world. That just makes him better than Carlsen (in that situation, in that point in time).

But if you take away the context, and only look at the past year or so, Wesley So would have the best rating, most wins, etc. No one can touch him. I think it's ridiculous that so many people hold Carlsen's championship status in such high regard considering how arbitrary and utterly ridiculous the candidate's system is. I'll give you rating, but that's been built up for a period longer than we're talking about. Just over the last 18 months, looking at the games themselves (as well as their outcomes), Wesley So has simply played better chess than anyone.

"Just over the last 18 months, looking at the games themselves (as well as their outcomes), Wesley So has simply played better chess than anyone"

So finished behind Carlsen in every event they played these 18 months, finished far behind him in Qatar at the end of 2015, in Tata 2016, in Bilbao 2016, when Carlsen won these events. He also finished behind Carlsen in all speed chess events both played. He also lost a match against Ding Liren while Carlsen won one against Karjakin. But since he for once actually is ahead of Carlsen in one event before it even is over and Carlsen is in second, So is supposed to have been much better than Carlsen the last 18 months :-)

Maybe if the OP limited the scope to the last 6 months or so, it would be closer to the reality

"Magnus is still the best" isn't a fact. That's your opinion and easily debatable.

Agreed.