Who’s better? Magnus Carlsen or Hikaru?

Magnus and Hikaru

Definitely Magnus Carlsen…

How about Messi or Ronaldo? Oh and don't forget chess.com or lichess

The hidden option Levy Rozman🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥

Who is better?... a five-time World Chess Champion, or some guy who has been playing in international chess tournaments for 29 years and has never won the World Chess Championship, nor even gained a match to dispute the title?

Let me think...

blueemu strikes again with iron clad logic. Magnus is better, he's a champion who wins frequently & he's great @ 960 too.

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Not only is The Magster better at classical chess he's also better in ALL speed chess time controls too. That's in online AND over the board. In EVERY time control. Magnus is also world champion in freestyle just to throw that in there.

Sure Hikaru is #2 CURRENTLY in the classical ratings but he hasn't been there forever. Magnus has been #1 and never lost it since dinosaurs were roaming around. And get this, Magnus is #1 in every ranking AT THE SAME TIME. Let that sink in. There's no comparison.

Here are the tier levels for chess players:

Amateurs -> Masters -> GMs -> Super GMs-> Magnus Carlsen -> Engines

The OP did not specify the criterion (the authors of threads like this often dont), it could be about making cookies etc

Anyway, the achievement is received...

I think Magnus and Hikaru agree that Hikaru is better at no increment bullet. I think that's all hikaru may be better at. Carlsen is probably the GOAT. I just am reluctant to give him that because he's a World Champion dropout.

I'd argue that none of today's top players could defeat Magnus in a Classical match. So him dropping out seemed to be a lack of motivation ... from a lack of worthy challengers.

Doubtful that Nepo would have come out on top in a rematch. Alireza and Hikaru tend to fizzle out against Magnus. Ding or Gukesh - they both seem like they would get steadily picked apart. Caruana's the only player who I'd give a "maybe" to ...

I believe, once Nepo won the Candidates again, Carlsen sighed and walked away.

Other people have listed alot of reasons Magnus is better. But one I think that might be left out is earnings. After the dropout quit winning so many world championships, he STILL drastically outearns everyone else in tournament play. It's not even close.

Which one?