World Chess Champions as footballers - 1

MAGNUS CARLSEN - PELE:

#1 of the game.

He is almost always considered the best ever. What more should I say about him? After proving himself in every possible category he could participate in and winning multiple world championships, he retired from World Championship participation, the reason being lack of further motivation.

He was equally best and natural at virtually every part of the game. During his playing career, he was quite good at marketing themselves. He crushed his opposition brutally and his contemporaries and colleagues admired him, stating he indeed is the best ever. Since the beginning of his career, he has been signalling that he is the next biggest thing and as expected, lived up to the expectations. The downside was that lack of motivation prevented him exhibiting what more is left in him. His last world championship participation was something else, rarely seen yet he turned down the chance to participate in the next championship.

WISHY ANAND - GEORGE BEST

A guy emerged from a country that previously did not have culture for the game, but what a rise that was: He was too quick, indeed, he is likened to lightning. The speed with which he demolished the opposition was considered unique: never seen before. Though overshadowed by previous and later generation for most of his career, he did have his moments, he did occupy the zenith of the game but his spell was shorter than his predecessors or successors.

Tactically, he is considered unstoppable and rarely matched. He reached the top in his later phases of his career and it was not long enough.

VLADIMIR KRAMNIK - PEP GUARDIOLA

He was a very solid player and the mark he left is not his performance in playing but rather, the mark he left was his influence on the theory of the game: his adversaries explicitly stated that his influence is the most influential in modern game. He revived a long forgotten approaches in to the game and the things he revived shaped the way the game is played today. He was a disciple of a master (Mikhail Botwinnik, Johan Cruyff) that created arguably the most influential school of the game. He appeared on the world scene at a very young age and pulled victory after victory at a young age and an unexpected circumstances. Though some of their moments are considered controversial (Kasparov's rematch attempts, toiletgate scandal against Topalov - Guardiola's victory against Chelsea in 2009, UCL semi-final victory against Real Madrid, chequebook manager assertions), but at finals, even their adversaries acknowlegded that they were beaten fairly (Kasparov acknowledging the Berlin defense, Sir Alex asserting Barcha 2011 was the greatest team he has seen). On his heyday, his innovation and performance is simply undisputed and hailed even by his adversaries. Nowadays, his adversaries DO acknowledge that they base their approach to the game on the innovations he brought into the game.

Honorable comparison: Luka Modric.

GARRY KASPAROV - LIONEL MESSI

What more could be said about him? Widely asserted to be the best player ever to play the game, he has been quite dominating and collected the awards like Super Mario does: demolish the obstacles and seize the prize. He and his main rival had a tandem in world prizes: it was either him or his main rival. He and his main rival usually dominated the prizes, it was a two horse race for a long time. On his and his main adversary's heyday, 3rd best player in the world spot was usually occupied by several different players and those 3rd place claimants sometimes won awards in front of this tandem, but the two stayed on top for a long time and both of them are now almost always in the discussion for the best ever.

Though usually contrasted to his main rival, those who understand the game deeply DO acknowledge that he is obviously better than his main rival but on social media and mainstream media, it is still debated if he is really better than his main rival. Though no matter where you look at, he is quite clear over his main rival: in number of trophies won, in statistics and in consensus. Hell, when he and his main rival met on a duel, he usually defeated his main rival though I DO have to acknowledge that his rival also had his days and it was a very close fights, that could have gone other way as well. Also, he is a bit younger for the sport than his adversary. Also, his main rival leads in the number of main objectives achieved (Ronaldo leading in goals, Karpov leading in tournaments won).

ANATOLY KARPOV - CRISTIANO RONALDO:

When you look at the objectives achieved, he is on leading all time stats. In his country, he is so much respected even though his country DID have such giants before him: he is just considered something else. Almost everyone DO agree that had his main rival not been born in the era that overlapped his career, he would have reigned the world unopposed for two decades. Also, almost everyone DO agree that had his main rival not stolen glory from him beating him in his heydays, he would have won so many awards that it would have been silly to assert that someone else is comparable, the number of awards he would have won would have been simply unimaginable: he could have collected almost each and every award had his main rival not existed.

Besides the game, he was quite influential in outside world as well: in politics, in charity, in social events. It was just his main rival beating him more than he beats his main rival. Other than that, he is quite good at everything but many others criticized him for his personal behaviours. Both he and his main rival had a very good longevity. At the time he was on top of the world, a 21 years old challenged him and was a serious threat, the next year that 21 years old rival became 22 years old and his reign started. He was able to revive his claim to the top 5 years later and was seemingly in a comeback but his main rival also did his comeback and widened his triumph.

BOBBY FISCHER - DEIGO MARADONA

The run to the zenith of the world he had is considered nirvana of the game: demolishing everything that dared to stand in his way, trying to stop him. His opposition tried a collective approach just to stop him from reaching his goal, but even that collective achievement was insufficient to stop him. It seemed that the world was just destined to witness that run. That tournament of his life is considered the nirvana performance. In his heyday, his skills was so good that you can see such things very rarely.

Compared to others, His heyday was very short but the heyday he had makes him compared to the #1 of the game and the number of that do assert he is best ever are not few. The opponents of the claim allege that his run to the top of the game involved external factors, without which he could not have achieved the zenith of the world. Who knows if it really is the case? The fact is, his run to the top of the world was so spectacular and unmatched that the proponents do not even need to engage in a disputation about those allegations: they just show what actually happened and end the discussion.

He was born in a nation that is considered the second best in this game. Before his birth (and since his days on top of the world), his nation had not seen a world champion yet now there are some from his nation that can possibly bring the glory back to the nation and approach the #1 nation (Russia, Brazil). He also had health problems, which might have contributed to his sudden disappeareance from top of the game.

BORIS SPASSKY - RONALDINHO

A real artist of the game and loved by everyone, including his adversaries but was so unprofessional. Those who were close to him narrate that he was too busy for the game, he did even not take his profession seriously, used to spend money extravagantly. He was so talented that even being that unprofessional, he could compete and defeat every professional of his day. He had the shortest possible reign but when he was climbing the top of the mountain, he was unstoppable. Number 23 is associated with his fame, as if some kind of superstition. It was this number that brought him into world's attention (Ronaldinho scoring 23 goals in a football match - Spassky at the age of 23 defeating Bronstein spectacularly within 23 moves, the game that ended up being featured in a movie named "With Love From Russia".)

Though he himself had his glory in a way unique to himself, people nowadays associate his fame into his successor (Spassky to Fischer, Ronaldinho to Messi). Too pity that people neglect what kind of an artist of the game and how great he was. Those who are familiar with his career DO acknowledge that had he taken the game seriously, he could have been as good as or even better than the #1 of the game: he had all the skills required to surpass his successors and his predecessors, but he did not take the game seriously. Loss of the game. Also, 2 of the world's best from the next generations were so obsessed with and successful at winning trophies that he was simply forgotten in a very short time. That two prolific serial winners (Karpov - Kasparov, Ronaldo - Messi) made him seem smaller than he actually was.

Part 1 ends here. Stay tuned for further comparisons.