Who is the greatest chess player?
Magnus Carlsen? Bobby Fisher? Garry Kasparov?
We bet everyone has a different name in their mind as it’s personal… But, who are we to judge?
So, today we will learn about the 5 best chess players ever born (in no order)
There are many great chess players who came and go but at the same time, there are players who totally dominated the world of chess in their era with their legendary gameplays!
Many have become chess masters, no one has become a master of chess.
5 Best Chess Players Ever Seen
Bobby Fischer (1943-2008)
Peak Rating – 2785
Bobby Fischer, also known as Robert James Fischer was an American chess grandmaster and the 11th world chess champion.
He is one of the best chess players, the world has ever seen…
He became the youngest grandmaster up to that time in 1958 at the age of just 15 and became the youngest candidate for the world chess championship.
He was ranked no. 1 in July 1971 and according to the FIDE rating list in July 1972 Bobby Fischer had a peak rating of 2785.
In 1963-64, Fischer won US Championship at the age of 20 with 11 wins in 11 games.
The book “My 60 Memorable Games” written by Fischer was published in 1969.
He defeated world chess champion Boris Spassky in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland and became the world chess champion in 1972.
Garry Kasparov (1963)
Peak Rating – 2851
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former world chess champion, writer and political activist.
In 1985, at the age of 22, by defeating Anatoly Karpov, Kasparov became the youngest undisputed world chess champion of all time.
He lost a match in 1997 against IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue and became the first world champion who lost a chess game against a computer.
In 2000, Kasparov lost his classical world chess champion title in a match against Vladimir Kramnik.
During the time of his retirement from professional chess in 2005, Garry Kasparov was the world’s highest-rated player in the world until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013.
Magnus Carlsen (1990)
Peak Rating – 2882
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and world chess champion.
In 2013, after defeating Viswanathan Anand, Carlsen became the world chess champion.
He won both the world blitz championship and world rapid championship against Anand in 2014.
There is a film The Prince Of Chess, about Carlsen’s life story which was released in 2005.
Currently, he is the world chess champion, world rapid chess champion and world blitz chess champion.
Mikhail Tal (1936-92)
Peak Rating – 2705
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet Latvian chess player and grandmaster.
From 1960 to 1961, he became the world chess champion. While his time-period was very short but his gameplays were so legendary that his unpredictable moves were definitely mind-blowing.
Mikhail Tal was also known as “The Magician from Riga”
The books “The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games” and “Modern Chess Brilliancies” have more games by Tal than any other chess player.
Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900)
Peak Rating – No rating standards were established at that time.
First World Chess Champion
Wilhelm Steinitz, an Austrian and later American chess master, and the first chess champion of the world.
Steinitz debuted his international career in 1862 when he was sent to London Chess Tournament to represent Austria, where he got sixth place. But he won a match against Augustus Mongredien was awarded the tournament’s brilliancy prize.
In 1886, the first world official chess championship was held in the United States where Wilhelm Steinitz won the title of the world’s first undisputed chess champion.
Emanuel Lasker defeated Steinitz and win the world chess champion title in 1894.
That’s it!
There it was, the 5 best chess players ever!
Who is the best chess player according to you? Share with us in the comments below.
Slightly biased as I met Anatoly while he was playing Kasparov in 1986, but “agreed.”
Before the era of modern opening theory, Capablanca should be considered the best. In the era of opening theory improvement, Fischer was the best. In the era of super computers, Magnus is the best.
Anatoly Karpov, of course!
Indeed. Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov, was one of the greatest chess players ever born!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Hope you enjoyed the article 🙂