Most "Important" players in chess history?

Bro means important in terms of their impact on chess. Otherwise Einstein would win.

Haha

Perhaps Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (also known as Lenin), who was a keen player as a young man but gave up the game as it took too much time away from his political work. He originated the system that made chess easily accessible to the entire population of the Soviet Union, publicized the game, and gave hundreds of good players a way to make a living off of chess. The "Soviet school" of chess dominated the world for decades and Soviet players have made innumerable contributions to theory and practice.

Mpaetz makes a very good point. Without the Soviet system there would have been no Tal, no Botvinnik, and no Fischer. Whatever one thinks about Soviet economics and the Soviet political system, the Soviet Union was very good for the development of chess.

Stockfish and AlphaZero.

Not human players, obviously, but they both impacted chess in significant ways ... Some might say they "revolutionized" chess.

Yeah Lenin is arguably the best chess impacter

Purdy was definitely one of the greatest Aussie players of all time but compared to the contributions of people Astro mentioned in his blog, Purdy wouldn't even come close to being the "most important player" in history