Rank chess players post 1980s according to greatness?
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Kasparov and Carlsen seems reasonable as the top two. I'd probably put Karpov at three (maybe even ahead of Carlsen). Even after 1980 he was World champion for another five years and probably second to Kasparov until at least 1990. I don't think Kramnik and Anand were ever part of a dominant top two in the way the two Kasparov and Karpov were. This is all completely subjective though, of course... you might interpret what I've said as meaning that everyone else just got stronger after the 80's.
The title of the thread is self-explanatory. Often chess discussions go into the abstract when historical chess names get involved. How is one to possibly put a ranking on Morphy or Capablanca etc. They were great players of course, but then you have to take so many factors into account. To put a long story short chess in those days was a lot different from post 1980s.
So not saying that pre-1980 chess players were not great. Of course they were. However how would you rank the players post 1980.
I would say -
Kasparov
Carlsen
Vishy
Kramnik
Karpov
Topalov
Chucky
That is the top 7. I feel #1 is unquestionable. I know there will be those questioning Karpov at 6 so I am open to discussions on that. I fee Carlsen is second only to Kasparov, however I would love to hear what you guys feel. Vishy I feel was the next greatest but somehow not quite in the same league as Kasparov and Carlsen.
Kramnik was a tough one. I was actually considering whether he belonged on the list ahead of Vishy, as after all it was Kramnik who took down Kasparov finally. But I felt that losing a World Championship match against Vishy meant that Vishy went higher than Kramnik.
As I said I would love to hear your views.