I think so. With Karpov a close second
Kasparov Greatest Player of all times?
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I think Kasparov was a very good chess player and is up there with the best. however I think Bobby Fischer is better even though Kasparov in terms of fide ratings is the best player in the world ever! Overall Fischer is better but Kasparov is in a close second.
Bobby Fischer is the best chess player of all time!
Gizmodeus wrote:
Morphy.
/thread
Who?
Sep 2, 2011
0
#4
TomBreakfast wrote:
I think Kasparov was a very good chess player and is up there with the best. however I think Bobby Fischer is better even though Kasparov in terms of fide ratings is the best player in the world ever! Overall Fischer is better but Kasparov is in a close second.
Bobby Fischer is the best chess player of all time!
Fischer had a higher winning % against peers, about 70% .... Kasparov was in the 60's% , but it was close like 70% to 68 % ...I can't remember the exact numbers.
Team Kasparov is probably the best of all time, if you play with adjournments so Kasparov's seconds can get him through the endgame. Kasparov's greatest asset was his memory. It was next to impossible to get him into a middlegame that his battalion of seconds hadn't prepared him for. Kasparov's greatest weakness was his endgame play which became apparent in his match with Kramnik.
It's between Kasparov and Lasker, but Kasparov clinches it for me since he was much more active. Lasker is underestimated though, it's only because he played into the second half of his 60s that he finally lost a game against Alekhine. All wins against Euwe, the last one when the latter was World Champion and Lasker almost 68 years old. And still chess was never Lasker's main interest in life.
I think it is between Kasparov and Capablanca.
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Estragon wrote:
Any argument for anyone to be stronger than Kasparov is based purely on emotion, not facts.
Chessmetric site notes that Lasker spent 24.3 years as #1 on the rating list compared to Kasparov's 21.9 years.
Bobby Fischer reached the highest rating for a single year
The strongest tournament ever according would have been Vienna 1882 with Steinitz and Winawer each scoring +12.
The best individual event performance was Karpov in LInsares in 1994 followed by Fischer.
The idea that there are no facts to back up another opinion is foolishness.
Indeed, unless someone wants to actually define what they mean by "greatest player of all time" any declaration for or against a particular player is always going to be based on personal interpretation of a collection of data that is, generally speaking, filtered by personal experience and prejudice.
I'm a huge Fisher fan....but I really cringe everytime I hear someone say that Fisher is the all time greatest. Seriously, aside from his path to become WCC what other attributes could anyone use to defend that statement. He never defended the WCC against the #1 contender (Anatoly Karpov) or anyone else. How can you be the best at something when after getting the number one spot you refuse to defend that spot for fear of loosing??? Kasparov defended the #1 spot in chess successfully for 15 years. 15 years!!! He battled it out with #1 contender no matter who it was. Aside that, he also participated in numerous chess tournaments while champion winning most of them.
This is how you can call yourself the greatest ever....by not fearing your opponents and giving them opportunities to win the #1 spot from you. Would you call a boxer the best ever if after becoming champion he simply refuses to defend the belt and it has to be removed from him through legal procedures??
Therefore, even though I consider myself the greates Fisher fan there is, I can consider him ONE OF GREATEST, but definitely not the greates player ever.
Sep 29, 2011
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#13
It's really hard to compare chess players. I think Fisher was more better (for lack of a better term) compared to his contemporaries than any other player. Fisher at his peak though might still lose vs Kasparov just because chess has developed as a game since then.
I personally believe Fisher was the most talented chess player ever and that if he hadn't gone insane he could have held the title for many many years.
ivanx00 wrote:Kasparov defended the #1 spot in chess successfully for 13 years. 13 years!!! He battled it out with #1 contender no matter who it was.
I love these fact based debates.
daw55124 wrote:
ivanx00 wrote:Kasparov defended the #1 spot in chess successfully for 13 years. 13 years!!! He battled it out with #1 contender no matter who it was.
I love these fact based debates.
You are right, it was 15 and not 13. Although many folks will argue that since he formed the PCA in 1993 he should only be considered WCC for 8 years. Still, the fact remains, he defended his title and didn't hide from his opponents like Fisher did.
ivanx00 wrote:
daw55124 wrote:
ivanx00 wrote:Kasparov defended the #1 spot in chess successfully for 13 years. 13 years!!! He battled it out with #1 contender no matter who it was.
I love these fact based debates.
You are right, it was 15 and not 13. Although many folks will argue that since he formed the PCA in 1993 he should only be considered WCC for 8 years. Still, the fact remains, he defended his title and didn't hide from his opponents like Fisher did.
He did not play Shirov, who earned the right to play him.
He choose to play Kramnik when Anand was the #2 player in the world.
Tell me again about how he defended his title and didn't hide from his opponents.
Kasparov is the best. Fischer is maximum the 4-th after Kasparov, Karpov, Carlsen.
daw55124 wrote:
ivanx00 wrote:
daw55124 wrote:
ivanx00 wrote:Kasparov defended the #1 spot in chess successfully for 13 years. 13 years!!! He battled it out with #1 contender no matter who it was.
I love these fact based debates.
You are right, it was 15 and not 13. Although many folks will argue that since he formed the PCA in 1993 he should only be considered WCC for 8 years. Still, the fact remains, he defended his title and didn't hide from his opponents like Fisher did.
He did not play Shirov, who earned the right to play him.
He choose to play Kramnik when Anand was the #2 player in the world.
Tell me again about how he defended his title and didn't hide from his opponents.
What are you saying? That Kasparov didn't play Shirov because he feared him? That would be strange considering Shirov has never beaten Kasparov a single time.
And you're ignoring the fact that Kasparov also tried to organize a match with Anand but negotiations broke down and a match with the next best player at the time, Kramnik, was organized.
Drecon wrote:
It's really hard to compare chess players.
Au contraire, nothing could be easier (people do it here all the time). 
Guys, guys - there is only one way to answer this....
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/fun-with-chess/to-answer-the-question