WHO IS THE GREATEST CHESS PLAYER OF ALL TIME? Defend your answer...

I was not.

I would say Kasparov. Kasparov was...

1. World champion for 15 years.

2. The first to break the 2800 barrier.

3. The youngest classical world champion ever.

4. Won 10 super-GM tournaments in a row(!)

5. Didn't lose an event from December 1981 to February 1991.

6. Had the world number 1 rating for 255 months, by far the longest of all time.

7. Did all of this with an aggressive slightly risky style, giving his games a satisfying artistic effect (well, for me anyway :]).

8. Was more than capable of producing positional masterpieces of the highest order (see:http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067175)

9. Was a deep analyst and researcher of the game; many opening lines bare his name, in particular.

10. Had perhaps the most interesting perspective on the world champions before him (well, he may share this distinction with Vladimir Kramnik :)).

Those are my ten reasons supporting Kasparov :)

chessman1504 wrote:

I would say Kasparov. Kasparov was...

1. World champion for 15 years.

2. The first to break the 2800 barrier.

3. The youngest classical world champion ever.

4. Won 10 super-GM tournaments in a row(!)

5. Didn't lose an event from December 1981 to February 1991.

6. Had the world number 1 rating for 255 months, by far the longest of all time.

7. Did all of this with an aggressive slightly risky style, giving his games a satisfying artistic effect (well ..WHAT A FASTASTIC LIST MAN WELL PUT! THIS CLEARLY SHOWS KASPAROV TAKES IT :)))))

Lists are like anything else particularly when your shopping for groceries nothing else but misleading

Okay, the phone lines have now been closed (we're not taking any more calls).

I agree with him.  He's even written a book. 

andy your a jerk and always will be

I'd like a second opinion.

As impressive as Kasparov credentials maybe, I believe that the greatness of a player is measured in the fact of how far ahead he was from the other players of his time and by that measure, Paul Morphy takes the trophy home hands down!

True that Kasparov was a great researcher of the game and a LOT or most of his impressive wins were the result of prepared lines with super computers; super computers that eventually got better than him and kicked his rear end.

Thank you!  I try my best. 

Even assuming I agree with that, it's possibly more a demonstration of how undeveloped chess was at the time than a towering tribute to Morphy's genius.

@Andyclif i flip my MIDDLE finger !!!!! And my INDEX finger follows! ama shove ur head up ur candy mucus axx !!!!!! AND THATS THE BOTTOM LINE COZ STONE COLD SAID SO !!!!!!!! HEHEHEHEHEKIKIKIKIKI SUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are appallingly funky and I hereby salute your dazzling semi-literate self!

Loved it when hes back!

There is a man I can follow. 

Andy Clifton this link is for you and others like you with a sense for factual information as well as tongue of the cheek humour interwoven.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/fun-with-chess/who-is-the-true-king-of-chess-of-the-modern-era

Richard Reti a great chess pioneer, the father of hyper-modernism in chess, without whom todays top Grandmasters would not have the wealth of flank opening theory. Has anyone before or since been so brave as to move away from established chess maxims to create such fascinating styles of play? Maybe Aron Nimzowich? 

That guy's nephew Adam on the other thread...

lolololololol. Too funny.

Really, the list in post #15 shows why the discussion of who was the greatest of all time really isn't close.

Magnus Carlsen may become the greatest of all time, but he hasn't even qualified for a world championship yet.

Bobby Fischer had  one of the greatest 2 year spans of any chess player, but he didn't back it up. If he had successfully defended the title even once against Karpov, his credentials would be much more respectible. But when you compare his accomplisments to Kasparov's, there just is not much to compare.

Emanuel Lasker was World Champion for a longer period than Kasparov, but he ducked out of even more matches than Kasparov did, and never faced his toughest opponents until he was ready to give up the title. Lasker's tournament results are extremely impressive, but he didn't play in very many. Kasparov risked his reputation far more frequently than Lasker did.

Regarding Kasparov's artistry, this is purely subjective. Chronologically,  I would put Capablanca, Alekhin, Tal, Fischer, and Kasparov on the list of most attractive chess styles of champions. Adolf Anderssen, Smyslov, Karpov, Kramnik and Anand also deserves prominent mention.

There are many good reasons that players such as Robert Byrne, who played both Fischer and Kasparov, believed that Kasparov was clearly the greatest player.