What is the greatest winning streak of all time in chess and why?

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calculationcentral

Okay so I'll start, I personally think that Fabiano Caruana's seven-game winning streak in the 2014 Sinquefield Cup is the greatest.

First of all, the tournament is by rating the strongest tournament in the history of chess, as measured by the six participants' average Elo rating of 2802. All were in the top ten of FIDE's Elo rating list: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9 in the world. Secondly, the format is a classical double round-robin, and Fabiano was able to play all players in the tournament. Third, Fabiano, rated 2801, was able to defeat two people with a higher rating than him, namely, Levon Aronian (2804) and none other than Magnus Carlsen (2870). Fourth, Fabiano played with a 3600 performance rating, the highest in history.

Now, when we compare Fabi's streak to Magnus's 9/9 in the 2025 Grenke Freestyle Chess Open, the format of the Grenke is a 9-round Swiss, so Magnus hasn't played everybody for his streak to be called the greatest, and Magnus's opponents all had a lower rating than him. Meanwhile, in Bobby Fischer's 11/11 in the 1964 US Chess Championship, although the tournament is a single-round robin, and he was able to play all players in the tournament, all of his opponents were still lower-rated than Bobby. Fabi was able to beat two people with a higher rating than him, and among his opponents were Magnus.

In conclusion, Fabiano's seven-game winning streak in the 2014 Sinquefield was, in my opinion, was the greatest of all time. How about you? Share your opinions below.

Sensei-T

100% agree. In my opinion, round robin winning streaks are better than Swiss winning streaks, mainly because they get rid of any what-ifs. Also, these were some of, if not the best players of the modern era, IN THEIR PEAKS. He made it look so easy.