Best black player of all time?

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KeyLinePie

I was thinking about how Judit Polgar is easily the strongest female player of all time, and was wondering... who is the greatest black player of all time? Is there someone who stands above the rest in the way that Polgar does for women?

I'm fairly new to chess and don't know much apart from the obvious big names (Fischer Carlsen Kasparov etc). I hope this isn't too sensitive a subject, I'm just curious. Through casual watching I've picked up there are many great players from for example India or China, but I can't think of any names of black players.

(And by black I mean black as in of African heritage, not playing with the black pieces!)

quietheathen1st

might be that guy who works with/for chess.com, forget his name. he was the first black GM iirc

phelliphell

We must know to Play with both

HollerAtcherBoi
Maurice. He’s that dude.
Toldsted

Another bid is Pontus Carlsson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontus_Carlsson

BlackKaweah
Emory Tate!
quietheathen1st
HollerAtcherBoi wrote:
Maurice. He’s that dude.

thank u

Grimm_Stone
FunkOfFortyThousandYears wrote:

I was thinking about how Judit Polgar is easily the strongest female player of all time, and was wondering... who is the greatest black player of all time? Is there someone who stands above the rest in the way that Polgar does for women?

 

I'm fairly new to chess and don't know much apart from the obvious big names (Fischer Carlsen Kasparov etc). I hope this isn't too sensitive a subject, I'm just curious. Through casual watching I've picked up there are many great players from for example India or China, but I can't think of any names of black players.

 

(And by black I mean black as in of African heritage, not playing with the black pieces!)

I thought you said there was someone named Fischer Carlsen Kasparov lol

Quasimorphy

No votes for Morphy?  

 

I know, I know. Kidding.

brianchesscake
Quasimorphy wrote:

No votes for Morphy?  

You have a point. Paul Morphy could have been part black but "white passing" as his background was from New Orleans and Creole, which is an ethnic group of a large range of mixes including French, Spanish, and African American.

rehcsif026

Maurice Ashley. Age 55. Excellent career. Something like 2440 fide rating.Born in Wellcome tooo jamaica maaan ( he's in the US now)

konstantcheckov
rehcsif026 wrote:

Maurice Ashley. Age 55. Excellent career. Something like 2440 fide rating.Born in Wellcome tooo jamaica maaan ( he's in the US now)

Spot on, he's a great commentator too! happy.png

Dishal2010

what about Bronstein?

 

Toldsted

Pontus Carlsson had a peak rating (until now) at 2531 https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1705814/chart. I think that is higher than Maurice Ashley.

Arokatan

Neuris Delgado Ramirez
https://ratings.fide.com/profile/3503631

He is currently the number 71 of FIDE rapid ranking, with a rating of 2667.
https://ratings.fide.com/top_lists.phtml

Arokatan

We could also consider Isan Ortiz, whose peak standard rating was 2625 and had a rating performance of 2766 in the 2014 Chess Olympiad:

Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suárez
https://ratings.fide.com/profile/3507165
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isan_Reynaldo_Ortiz_Su%C3%A1rez

 

Also take a look at the biographies of Rogelio Ortega and GM Ramon Hernández Onna. Almost certainly, an Afro-Cuban deserves the title of "best black player of all time".

BlackKaweah
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1314071
mohamadtahaghorbani
hi
KevinOSh

Maybe not yet, but one day everyone will agree that Tani is the greatest.

fabelhaft

Bogoljubov, when he was black