The Greatest Defenders in Chess History

Hello!

About a year or so ago, I made a thread about the best attackers in chess history. Some names I mentioned were Kasparov, Tal, and Alekhine, and everyone contributed other names like Leonid Stein, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, and Emory Tate, as well as examples of so-called defensive or positional players playing rich tactical masterpieces. Now I ask a different question. Who are the greatest defenders in chess history. To add to it, what constitutes a defender? Is it one who thrives at holding inferior positons, or is it one who snuffs out all opportunities for the opponent to bring danger to one's position? In the former sense, it's hard to deny that Emanuel Lasker had defensive prowess. In the latter sense, Tigran Petrosian is well known for his ability. I've also heard from Robert Byrne that "no one is harder to defeat in an inferior positon," when discussing Bobby Fischer's chess acumen. Therefore, I ask you: Who are the greatest defenders in chess history and what specifically makes them great defenders? I made a thread about defenders in the modern era, but no one really seemed to have much to say regarding that 

I hope to spark a most interesting discussion.

chessman

On another note, could you all also post games where so-called attackers produce a defensive masterpiece?

Lazy post:

Carlsen, Karpov, Petrosian, Kramnik.  

Karpov is the No.1 greatest defender IMO. He defends excellently against the greatest attackers of the modern era lead by Kasparov.

That's interesting. I have heard Karpov's name tossed in the mix, especially with his active prophylaxis.

Morphy. Just kidding.

Heh 

Carlsen is definitely a great defender, though his latest come from behind victory was more due to Nakamura's errors in critical moments. Karpov was certainly great, playing in a style that was a bit like Petrosian and Capablanca mixed in one. Petrosian was certainly top-notch while Kramnik is also fantastic, especially for shutting out Kasparov in their match.

While Morphy is not generally considered one of the best, he certainly should not be underestimated with regards to defense. Capablanca called him, "... a clever defender in difficult positions," and Anderssen said, "He who plays Morphy must abandon all hope of catching him in a trap, no matter how cunningly laid, but must assume that it is so clear to Morphy that there can be no question of a false step."

Yes, but undoubtably not the best defender of all time. I count Kasparov out after seeing his stunned face while he was versing Anand and missed a variation. 

??? I'm sorry, but sometimes I'm a bit humor impaired with regards to whether or not that last comment was a joke. I saw a video with Kasparov facing Anand and grimacing at a tactic he missed, but that is hardly enough to count him out, given that it was a blitz game. Of course, if it's a joke, then... heh 

Dunno what happened to my happy face on the last one! Computer must be faulty. It was a joke lol. That move was funny nonetheless 

On another note, here is a fine defensive effort by Kasparov, in which he defends against Beliavsky's home preparation.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070317

It was hilarious 

Here is a fine defensive effort from Mikhail Tal.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044001

Lasker

Amos Burn and Frank Marshall, would be in the list.

If you talk about defensive players, these are defenitly petrosian the "iron tiger" and botvinnik.

If you talk about the general ability to defend against opponet's attacks, i'll add magnus carlsen to the list, because he really is the man for long and difficult calculations which are needed, and he also don't get frightened by the attacks.

Borris Gelfand is a good defender too, but according to his preformence in the last tournaments i will keep him in a question mark.

Frank Marshall is definitely and interesting choice. Care to share any games that highlight this ability?

The old masters I would put Capablanca number one (46 lose only), second; Lasker, he can defend very difficult position and even lost ones, Schlechter, every solid positional player and great defender and the last is Nimzowitsch and his prophylaxis concepts.

 The modern masters would be Petrosian, Karpov and Carlsen. I say Karpov in the modern era is number one and follow Carlsen present time.

It is very difficult to give an exact answer to this. The first names coming to my mind are Lasker and Carlsen. I'm sure that Karpov should be there too but probably we all remember him for losing his nerve in the first match with Kasparov where I think that he mentally was blown away. So in a match context, Kasparov was in a way a good defender as well. Having fantastic endgame skills is probably one of the most important aspects in being a good defender; here Rubinstein was one of the greatest I think. On the other hand, the way Carlsen survived Anand's attack in the Nimzo-Indian in their match was amazing. Then you can say that Carlsen shouldn't have lost to Ivanchuk in the Candidates' tournament in London last year... Prophylaxis has already been mentioned but the theoretical master of this, Nimzowitsch, wasn't a fantastic defender as I see it. Petrosian must also be a candidate but he seemed to get so tired when trying to defend against Spassky. Capablanca is also a candidate and he too exhibited the most amazing endgame skills; however, the way he lost to Aljechin wasn't that convincing. I don't know if Botvinnik was a good defender but he was at least good at winning matches every time he lost the title. If we isolate matters and just look at single chess games without tiring matches or the like, my subjective top-3 is:

1. Lasker

2. Petrosian

3. Carlsen

Carlsen is definitely a great defender, but I don't think his defending is a signature of his style, and I don't think that's something he seems to enjoy or feel comfortable doing.

I think the standard candidates for "best defender" to consider would be Lasker, Capablanca, Nimzowitsch, Petrosian, Karpov, Kramnik. Among those, I'd probably say Karpov is the best defender. Or maybe I'd say that Karpov is the best active defender, and Petrosian is the best passive defender.