who is the best chess player of all time?

It was a miracle (perhaps even literally, given that Lasker was a devout Orthodox Jew and given that he was born poor had fewer resources to devote to chess) that he even became good enough to face world champions due to his focuses elsewhere.  He was also a mathematician and philosopher.  

Forget about any of these guys ever opening a book about chess, or studying the game in depth. If your talking just raw natural talent..Paul Morphy I think was the greatest natural talent ever. Then capablanca after him.

My Top 5 at the moment:

5. Bobby Fischer

4. Mikhail Botvinnik

3. Mikhail Tal

2. Rashid Nezhmetdinov

1. Paul Morphy (he doesnt need to look to the chessboard :P)

everyone does stand on the shoulder of this giant

Although he was never world champion, Razuvaev is quite the chess luminary.  He is legendary for being able to draw on demand.  

Karpov and Kasparov were quite close though, they did wind up having that marathon match.  Kasparov should play Karpov for all those free lessons he gave!  

If everyone is standing on the shoulders of that giant (and they are), doesn't that make them better? Kasparov and Carlsen are clearly in a class by themselves. 

By the way, I definitely admire Lasker. I've studied many of his best games and have a couple books about him. He was not as good as Capa, let alone the post-war world champions. But, he certainly deserves his place in the pantheon of great champions.

This thread isn't about the great achievements of the various players, it's about who was the best player ever.

Lasker aint that.

Before !921 Lasker had  +1=2 against Capa and all three games were played in 1914 which means Capa was 26 and He has high positive record against other younger opponents Alekhine,Reti,Euwe and others against those most of games were played  when he was 50+.Against Alekhine,Euwe and Reti Lasker's record is better than Capa's.

Smyslovfan,I  am afraid you are stuck in the concept of absolute strength and thus erroneously consider today's top ten players as the best ever.You also seem to have a true hatred for the real Greats like Fischer,Lasker,Capablanca.Of course, you hasten to add how much you admire them but frankly,you are not very convincing.I have no idea what causes you to stubborny cling on to such a distorted view ,suffice it to say that for most people,Fischer,Lasker,Capablanca and Kasparov represent the pinnacle of chess.Now if you like to believe that Topalov and Nakamura are the greatest ever,be my guest..

morphy,tal they are the only strong players. carlsen kasparov etc.... suck!

Carlsen is very likely the greatest of all time considering the quality of his competition.  Imagine competing against 5 Bobby Fischers and a few Karpovs, that's what Carlsen is doing.  In fact Nakamura exceeded Fischer's peak Elo.  

Why did you forget the greatest American player of all time on that list: Nakamura?  

Fischer

For me Best player ever is decided by How one dominated his contemporaries.one way could be plot the time(month or avg rating of year) on one axis and diffrance from 10th or 20th rated player of that particular time on the other and calculate the area.Include the negative area also when player is in 25-50 years of age.

For me, the greatest champions of all time are: 

Kasparov World champion for 15 years in one of the most competitive eras in chess history. He did everything. Some of the things, such as breaking away from FIDE, he shouldn't have done. But Kasparov dominated in a way that few thought possible in this day and age.

Philidor Speaking of getting no respect! He was clearly the best in the world far longer than anyone else in history, and he revolutionized how the game was played!

Lasker 27 years is still 27 years. I hold his match against Schlechter against him. It's not absolutely clear whether there was a 2 game margin clause in that match, but in the last game Lasker played for a draw and Schlechter played for a win. That says quite a bit about the two players' understanding of the match conditions. Also, he cherry picked his opponents. I doubt Lasker-Rubinstein would have happened even if WWI hadn't happened. Still, Lasker played some great chess, both as WC, and after.

Karpov The most active champion of all time, and one of the most successful too.

Steinitz Huge credit for having the chutzpah to create a world championship and call himself that. Then, to allow others to challenge him in match play. He demonstrated his superiority, if not his dominance over his contemporaries until Lasker came along.

Botvinnik Many Americans seem to have never played through his game collections. Botvinnik is known as the Patriarch for a very good reason. At his best, he was more than the "first among equals", he was the papa bear who rose to every challenge from 1938 to 1963. I think Botvinnik could have beaten Alekhine in a match as early as 1938!

Capablanca Even though he didn't successfully defend his title, he played some truly memorable games. His games are still used by almost every serious chess coach on the planet!

Morphy Morphy was clearly the best player in the world. His European tour is rightly the stuff of legends. He would be much higher on the list if he hadn't retired so young. He's rightly known as the Pride and Sorrow of Chess.

Alekhine Alekhine's victory over Capa wasn't a fluke. In fact, if you covered up the names of the players, you might have thought the players were reversed! He punched Capa in the mouth in game 1 and Capa didn't play 1.e4 again in that match. Alekhine's technique was actually better than the legend's! Alekhine's matches against Bogo are mostly forgettable, and Euwe's upset victory was at least partly caused by Alekhine not preparing as well as he should (the legends of his drunkenness have been overstated, at least during the first match). Euwe does deserve credit for his excellent play. Euwe's the only player ever to win two WC match games in a row, white and black, in the same opening variation! Incredible preparation!

Carlsen I fully expect to see him rise in this list. 

Anand Anand did get thoroughly demolished by Kasparov and then by Carlsen. But he beat Kramnik 3-1, and then held the title against Topalov and Gelfand. Very few champions ever successfully defended the title against two different challengers, especially in the post-war era.

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Petrosian doesn't make the list, but he deserves honorable mention. He forced Botvinnik into retirement, then successfully defended his title against a totally different type of player in Spassky. His tactics were incredible, but his positional understanding puts him in a special class. 

Smyslov and Kramnik would be 12 and 13 on this list.

Fischer doesn't make the list because he never bothered to play a single rated game as champion. 

Tal doesn't make the list mostly because he was ill. He lost to Penrose rather badly and was a shadow of himself in his title defense.  I place Euwe slightly ahead of Spassky. Somebody had to finish last, and for me, Spassky was the weakest World Champion of the 20th Century. He completely underestimated Fischer, which doesn't make any sense. His win against Petrosian was impressive, but compared to the others on Olympus he doesn't match up. (Sorry, the FIDE champs from 1993-2005 don't count.) 

But this thread is about the best ever. So yes, guilty as charged. I am talking about the best in absolute terms. That's Carlsen and Kasparov. 

Good list.

Well my list stands for the most talented chessplayer ever, not the strongest  ouhh and i forgot capablanca

edit: Nakamura aswell :D

Magnus Carlsen answers the question about the greatest...🐾

http://youtu.be/Q6g77y_4OQs

Best chess player is STOCKFISH.