Top Ten Greatest Chess Players of All Time

Huh, it's almost like he had some kind of physical ailment which impaired his play! Give the guy a break, he only holds the TOP 2 world records for games without losses. And let's talk about dominance, can you name a better a player who is better at being a calculator, tactician, better at piece placement, timing, seizing the initiative or using fantasy? And don't say Garry Kasparov, Gary Kasparov is great at all those things, but he isn't psychic like Tal.

Of all time?

What about Kasparov and Lasker? :-)

PLz do not be rediculious, the greatest chess player EvER was undoubably Mikhail TAL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TaL Lived on PLanet EARTH for ONLY five reasons, but let us STRETCH those REASons out to 9 or ten reasons . . .

do your own " due - diligence " and you will CONFiRM the following ...

reason one, CHESS ! ! ! ! !

reason 2 , chasing women who were NoT his WiFe ( allegedLy )

reason 3, CHESS !!!!

reason 4, BOOZE,

reason 5, Chess ! ! !

reason 6, ciggy's = cigars or cigarettes ,

Reason SEVEN = CheSS ! !

Reason 8, partying,

Reason nine to ninety - NiNe = chess . . .

...

there iS a famous story surrounding TAL , actually there are many famous stories about TaL . . .

here are two documented stories ...

two eastern european ( i think ) mega grand masters HATED each other and refused to ever speak to each other, NO MATTER WHAT...

many CHeSS tournaments are held in cheap isolated locations decades ago and those locations had three primary functions ( Allegedly ) BEsides being CHEAP ...

1) CheSS,

2) BooZe, 

3) FREE easy SEEX !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

. . .

anyways maybe allegedly you can see how a personality liKe TaL , " might " ' FiT ' " in " ; alledgedly . . . :)

...

so TaL having demolished almost ALL chess opponents, proceeds to as was his ( allegedly REGULAR HaBiT ) to get blind rotten paraletic drunk and falls down and promptly passes out in front of these two mega grand masters who alledgedly HATED each others EGO's so much they NeVeR spoke a word to each other . . .

Both RESPECTED TaL's passion and obsession and dedication to chess, when they found TaL " unconscious " finally after YEARS, one of these two said to the other ...

alledgedly to the effect of " you grab his legs ", and they promptly picked up a former WorLd champion and careful deposited this priceless Chess " artifact " in his bed alledgely to ' hopefully ' sleep of his drunken state without choking on his own vomit ;) [ alledgely ] :)

. . .

TaL had ANOTHER second MaJoR issue, he LoVed CHESS :)

his LEGENDARY escapes from hosptial beds where he was CONFINED due to advanced SEVERE kidney disease had a [ allegedly ] STRONG correlation to major internation LeVeL CHESS tournatments :) i beleive ..

if there was ANY serious CHESS game going around TaL, he had NO time for mandatory life saving medical care :)

. . .

Yes there are strong contenders for the top ten spots of chess Players, BuT there was ONLY one TaL !!!

...

so now that the chess world has lost TaL and anyone who truly loves chess is saddened by his passing decades ago, like i am . . .

 . . .

whom is the GREATEST LiVing Chess Player of ALL time ???

ThaT is EASY ...

( drug roll PLz )

Judit PolgaR , you do your research ; you will find the greatest LiVing chess player ever in recorded history is a LaDy who retired from professional chess ( i think ) [ allegedly ] at under the ripe YOUNG age of 35 years old...

you check out judit polgar's bio and tRy and TeLL me i am WRoNG = no way and NeVeR gonna happen, i will make a friendly wager of ONE Bitcoin on it ! ! !

Bill Gates on youtube will tell you bitcoin is unstoppable, bitcoi is LeGaL internet cash money, i bought december 2016 @ US$ 750 about September 2017 ( nine months OVER FIVE THOUSaND US$ = USD ) . . .

buy ten dollars worth on coinbase.com once you check out google and youtube and then i WiLL Happily take your valuable cash money BTC ...

AWAY & OFF YoU !!!

today i am my own bank, in fct i have even started legal proceedings against this individual ! ! !

this is alledgely an article or series of statements by this individual . . .

https://www.coindesk.com/jamie-dimon-bitcoin-fraud/

we WiLL see what some independent people think of such alledged statements ...

 . . .

meanwhile TaL and Judit PolGaR ...

i am saddened by the LoSS of TaL to the Chess WoRLd and also saddened by Lady PoLgaR's ' retirement ', if indeed she is still officially " retired ",

...

i LiVe in HoPe that JuDiT will be forced out of retirement by sme personal circumstance like the actor nicholas cage and FoRceD back into " working " . . .

sadly i truly believe that JudiT PoLgar is NoT going to make to many money mistakes :(

i bear judit polgar no animosity and deeply respect her, but i DO WANT her back dazzling the public chess world !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/ Hugz ;)

 . . . [ message ends ].

I think the lists and comparisons are of no relevance at all, because simply you can’t compare between chess players from different eras since gained knowledge is a necessary part of the game. For example, if you hold a several games match in this era between the current kasparov and the 1800s Paul Morphy, the second will most probably lose all the games without exception since the difference in knowledge is the same as a fight between someone holding a knife vs another person holding a machine gun. Meanwhile it’s impossible to predict how would Kasparov have played if he existed in the era of Morphy and the same goes for Morphy if he played in Kasparov’s era. So I think it’s more relevant to arrange the champs according to their contribution in chess history. 

”you can’t compare between chess players from different eras”

”if you hold a several games match in this era between the current kasparov and the 1800s Paul Morphy, the second will most probably lose all the games”

Yes, but you don’t have to equal greatness and objective playing strength. Giri plays stronger moves than Steinitz, but Steinitz was greater since he was the best player in the world for decades and won four title matches.

Fischer, Carlsen, Kasparov, Kramnik, Aronian, Anand, Ivanchuk, Karpov, Ivanchuk, MVL 

Did Steinitz face a chess world comparable to that faced by Giri?

It's obviously much tougher competition nowadays, but it's still a greater achievement to win every match for 32 years, four title matches, score +7-0=0 in a match against then #2 Blackburne (Chessmetrics), than to be ranked around #10 in the world today. "This little man taught us all to play chess", was said about Steinitz. I don't think Giri belongs in the same group of players as Steinitz.

Seems to me that the state of the chess world is a factor.

Can’t compare eras. Impossible really to do

for many reasons. List is harder but more accurate with just five. If you could pluck a player from whenever they are and all other variables remain the same including competition, then you just compare in a vacuum. Below is my list with flaws.

1.Morphy- Fischer was in my opinion the best of all time. He had the golden age of chess fear him. The entirety of the Soviet Union feared his play, save for maybe Tal. His talent is undeniable. Elegant beautiful mating moves and superior mid game play. He Even said that he himself was at that time the best. Yet even still, he said in a set match Morphy would beat anyone, including himself.

Paul Morphy challenged the world by offering them pawn and move, and it still didn’t matter.

2. Fischer. -see above. I think it’s a good quote by Tal that is short and to the point, “it’s tough playing against Einstein’s theory”

3. Capablanca.-The very definition of chess brain. He literally thought steps ahead of everyone. He created chess theory which governs chess and has done so for more than 75 years. His middle game play was so strong that the game was already over and his opponents hadn’t seen it yet. 

4.Kasparov- To be that good for that Long, astounding.  The amount permutations he is able to calculate was insanely impressive that many people truly believed he would be computers consistently. 

5. This is a toss up for me. I’d love to put a Tal botvinnik, Steinitz, keres,Karpov or a Lillienthal here but it would be for me Alekhine. Similar to Casablanca as far as the theory goes, but he was the total package. Attacking, great endgame play. Just the real deal. 

My number six would most likely be Lasker

1.magnus carlsen or Bobby Fisher , Kasparov

The enduring debate! Old time players my list Capablanca, Morphy, Lasker, Alekhine Steintz, Next period I would list Fischer, Botvinnik, Tal, Spassky Bronstein. Lastly; Kasparov, Carlsen, Karpov Anand, Krammik. Carlsen can have the number one spot when he has been champion for 20 years! Never been one to rate Fischer as all time number 1. I don't agree he was so dominant in his era, his score against Spassky before1972 was P5 L3 D2. Spassky was over the hill when they met for the WC. I know he posted some amazing results in the Candidates and he was a truly amazing player but he bottled it when Karpov beat Spassky for the right to face him. Fischer knew his time was up.  Kasparov on the other hand held his nerve when down 5-0 against Karpov and proved over time to be the better player. 

1. Bobby Fischer

2. Garry Karposov 

Fischer went against the whole Russian chess team and won. And that's back before computers were around to help him. At the height of Fischer powers he was the best chess player this world has ever seen. 

Fischer knew his time was up? lmao, he had mental health problems the prevented him from reaching his true potential . The only reason why he stopped being World Champion was because of his       (

schizophrenia ).

Fischer knew his time was up? lmao, he had mental health problems the prevented him from reaching his true potential . The only reason why he stopped being World Champion was because of his       (

schizophrenia ).

Greatest player of all time was fischer and/or carslen

I don't think lasker is better than Tal,