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

I think Tal was the best. His style revolutionized chess, moving it singlehandedly away from the boring solid Russian school of thought. Also, he was world champion, losing to Botvinnik (Tal didn't prep, while Botvinnik studied Tal and his games deeply). Tal has a tied record with Fischer, but came first and was old when he lost games to Fischer. Oh, wait, being old is no excuse for Tal, he was dying, snuck out of the hospital, and beat the likes of (and including) Kasparov to win the Moscow blitz tournament. Throughout his life, Tal had extremely bad health. He still was the best player ever. Those are my thoughts after just reading the forum title, any disagreement?

Tal is either second or third for me.

Since all time is infinite, at least as long as time exists, we have no way of knowing who the best player of all time is.  Sorry.

True, but we can determine the best player in history, since history is a written record of the past.

Paul Morphy,... yeapp,... He is and was the greatest..

Tal was a world champ, an engaging writer, and a fighting player who likely outclassed Alekhine and Kasparov as a tactical genius, no matter how many of his sacrifices have been proven unsound by engines.  He was a warrior.

He also has two of the longest unbeaten streaks of all time, far after his brief time as champ.  And he did all of these things with a claw for a hand, lifelong kidney issues and other health problems we don't fully understand as outsiders.  And he drank and smoked his way through life, telling jokes all the while and sneaking out of hospitals to play top-notch chess!

These are the reasons he is my favorite player.  Best ever?  Probably not. That can't be decided here or anywhere without the aid of time machines.  

Without pairing up players from mutually-exclusive generations with the aid of time machines, this is all conjecture, and everyone here who sides with one player or another as "best ever" is simply providing their opinion.  Opinions are not facts.  Concepts that are "not facts" cannot be right.  

So, you're all wrong!

But Tal is still my favorite player.  I like Bronstein, too.

i completely agree with everything you said, except about Bronstein.

I've had a few Belgian ales and a heap of taco meat squeezed into tortillas with sharp cheddar, so I'll grant that my Bronstein comment may have been off-topic and ill-placed.

People can have favorite players. However, as to the greatest player meaning the best, there can be only one answer. By any objective measures, Gary kasparov is head and shoulders above any player in history

Wrong!  See above.  ;-)

I agree that Kasparov was the strongest ever, except perhaps for Carlsen. Once Carlsen wins the World Championship in a match,  he will have a pretty strong case for being the strongest chess player ever. But he will have to prove it in a match. 

I disagree that greatness only means playing strength though. "Greatness" is indeed subjective. You gotta take into account all of the player's accomplishments in addition to their playing strength.

I'm a bit surprised nobody has come to the defense of Wilhelm Steinitz as the first official world champion. I'm more of a fan of Lasker's play, but still. Steinitz was definitely great in his own way. I would have thought he'd have a few fans.

Fischer and Kasparov, hmmm, tough choice. I would say Fischer. He beat his opponents by a distance. And chess is never be the same after his. It is like Beatles with his song.

To be fair, Tal, Alekhine, etc also gave a new way of playing chess. The publicities that Fischer received maybe made some diffrence.

I am not familiar with a Gary kasparov. Perhaps he is related to Garry Kasparov, former World Chess Champion?

Careful about using the term "Greatest". 

There's so much criteria to cover here ranging from consistency, influence, performance etc.

Carlsen. He's going to whoop Anand in the world chess championship in my opinion.

This is why I don't conisider Fischer in the running at all. If it were best chess player, I would, but not greatest.

Kasparov. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_top_chess_players_throughout_history

Many were great but Kasparov was the best - at his prime he could probably beat any other chess player in history - maybe because he had better access towards technology

oh, in that case I'd have to say Houdini is the best... Houdini has access to really good technology too!

Lasker-Capablanca springs to mind.

But Kasparov defended his title against Karpov, Anand and Short. The list of world champions who successfully defended their title against three different contenders is extremely short.

On the other hand, your comment could be seen as an endorsement for Kramnik being considered the greatest player of all time!