Most "Important" players in chess history?

The debate of most "important" players in chess history is way different from the greatest players in chess history. The inclusion of a player in the most important players depends upon several factors - their contributions to the game, their impact on chess theory, analysis and culture, their contributions to chess literature and their overall successes in tournaments, and many other ways in which they shaped the game.

So, who do you think are the most important players in chess history? Do let me know, and please be serious with your answers🙂

Thanks,

Astro

Me thinking this was a blog

got excited because i thought a new astro blog was out

Ruy Lopez.

The most important player is the guy who invented chess.

Didn't you read that I told you all to be serious with your answers😭

Magnus Carlsen duhhhhh, I mean ok I dont know the guy so much but like come on, obviously its him: )

I'm serious, if it wasn't for the Indian dude who invented chaturanga centuries ago, we wouldn't even have a game called chess. Doesn't that make him the most important player?

If the question was which player popularised chess the most, it would have to be Gotham, Magnus Carlsen, Bobby Fischer, Mikhail Botvinnik or Viswanathan Anand. I believe Botvinnik or Anand was the most important in history as both of them inspired a lot of young players from their respective countries to become top players

It wasn't only about players who popularized chess the most contributing to chess culture, but also a player's contribution to chess in form of chess theory and analysis

It's who was the most important, and I think that was Ruy Lopez because of the theory he crafted that's now seen in other games. Outside of that, I would say Levy, Magnus, Vishy, Fischer, Kasparov, Caro and Kahnn, and the nonexistent Beth Harmon.

Also their contributions to chess literature (books and all) that has left an unerasable mark

Alekhine was a great opening theoretician and Capablanca was a great endgame theoretician but it's hard to say that a single person is the most "important" player of all time because all the great players contributed in different ways.

@1cbb other people who come in my mind are Nimzowitsch, steinitz, Lasker, Max euwe

Yeah exactly, if we take a characteristic such as an important player in the field of opening study or an important player in making chess famous, it would be way easier to get an answer.

Top thinkers as their system are named out..Ruy lopez Rubinstein etc.. the others no matter how good they are they just follow others

Haha.

Tarrasch, Louis Paulsen, Staunton, Steinitz, Tal, Botvinnick, probably Karpov rather than Kasparov or Carlsen.

Vastly over-simplified but:

Steinitz - showed the effectiveness and popularized positional play

Tarrasch - one of the most read chess writers in the early 20th century

Lasker - took big steps in helping to make chess a profession (at least for those at the highest level)

Alekhine - His Best Games is one of the most highly regarded chess books

Nimzowitsch - Pushed hypermodern ideas more than anyone else

Botvinnik - Established the modern approach to preparing for competitive chess

Fischer - Created huge spike in interest in chess

Folks who've made major contributions to computer chess and development of the internet - for obvious reasons