Who is the greatest chess player of all time ?? Bobby Fischer ??

I thought it was Samuel Reshevsky who gave Fischer his spot in the Interzonals.   Maybe it was Pal Benko though.  Not sure.

If Benko were to play Spassky in 1972, what result do you think we would had?

Ok, it was Pal Benko that gave up his spot (I just looked it up).   However, Benko was never in the world's top 10, so he wouldn't have had a chance against Spassky.   Korchnoi might have had a slim shot at beating Spassky in '72 though.   Other than that, it was all Fischer.  He was 150 ratings points ahead of everyone else in the world in '72.  NOBODY would have beaten Fischer in '72.  Not even Kasparov, Morphy or Lasker at their peaks.   Certainly not Karpov.   lol

Benko was never going to play Spassky.

Benko gave up his seat in the qualifier to the playoffs for the World Championship.

Fischer, after winning the World Chaampionship realized he could not play super prepared Karpov and win. Fischer's mental condition was going down hill. He was smart to retire.

You just are repeating recent posts and don't understand Fischer (or Karpov) a bit. Fischer didn't want to retire, but FIDE conditions were unacceptable for him.

Disagree. Agree the FIDE conditions were unacceptable to him but disagree that he wanted to play Karpov.

There was already a strong belief that Fischer was not going to defend his title at time.  Note that the Karpov -Korchnoi Candidates Final was 24 games, the same as a championship match.  That was to give the winner legitimacy as the new world champion if Fischer declined to defend his title.

You're right about Benko, but totally wrong about Fischer.   Benko gave up his seat to the Interzonals.  He was not a top 10 player, so he likely would have gotten crushed by the Russians.   So, no, he never would have made it to the WC to play Spassky.   It probably would have been Larsen or Petrosian, in that case.   In 1975, Fischer wanted to play Karpov.  He was prepared and was negotiating his demands for the WC with FIDE.   They agree to all but one of his demands (the draw rule, as I previously mentioned).   Therefore, Fischer refused to play.   Same as what almost happened in 1972.   Fischer was crazy, selfish, paranoid and stubborn, but he was not scared of Karpov, Spassky or anyone else on the chessboard.  

You're right, LastRank. Fischer's behavior may have been erratic, but it was predictable in the sense that he had shown a proclivity for walking away from tough matches.

He had a history of finding excuses not to play. He stopped his match against Reshevsky with the score tied, in 1961. He withdrew from other tournaments. Fischer basically retired from chess, complaining of unfair playing conditions, in 1968-1970.  

After 1975, Karpov worked hard to set up a match with Fischer, but Fischer always found excuses. It was clear to Karpov and Campomanes that Fischer had no intention of playing Karpov, in 1975 or later.

Fischer didn't retire in 1975. He retired in 1972. He didn't play a competitive game after Rejkjavik until 1992. Fischer played fewer than 1000 competitive games in his entire career. Magnus Carlsen has already played about as many rated/championship games as Fischer did in his life!

Maybe in the back of his mind, Fischer knew that he could never match his 1971-72 performance again, so he decided to retire as a legend, rather than risk his legendary status on another match.   All chess players suffer an inevitable decline in strength, as they get older.   Another possibility is that he knew he was the greatest player who ever lived and truly felt that he was entitled to all of his demands, no matter how selfish or petty they were.   In a sense, he was a big cry baby who took his ball and went home.   I believe that he would have slaughtered Karpov, if they had played in 1975 though.  Probably something like +13/-1/=10.   It would have been a total blowout.   He really should have been WC from 1966-1985, as he was the best in the world during that entire timeframe.   Kasparov would have taken over in 1985 and Karpov would have always been second best, for his entire career.   Just my opinion, of course, as we'll never know for sure.  

The great thing about retiring early without facing the first challenger is that people can believe whatever they want, regardless of the evidence. 

Karpov beat Spassky more comprehensively than Fischer did.* That's a scary proposition. Then, Karpov was leading his match against Korchnoi 3-0 before tiring to finish the match 3-2. Karpov was a serious challenger, the like of which Fischer never faced. 

Fischer was fantastic. He may well have won the match, Karpov didn't lose ten games in a year at that time. There's no way he would have lost 13 in a 24 game match. (Your flag is showing.)

Fischer knew this. He made certain claims about why he wouldn't play in 1975, but he kept changing his stated conditions in later meetings, until both Karpov and Campomanes (the FIDE president who organized the secret meetings) acknowledged Fischer didn't want to play.

_________

* After 11 games, Fischer led the 1972 match, 5-3, with 3 draws. Karpov's margin of victory was 4-1 in 11 games. In 43 Candidates games in 1975 cycle, Karpov lost a total of 3 games:  2 to Korchnoi, 1 to Spassky, and 0 to Polugaevsky. Fischer lost 2 games in his famous 1972 cycle, both to Petrosian.

Fischer was rated around 2890 in 1972.   Karpov was only rated 2800 in 1975 and never broke 2850 over his entire career.  He didn't even peak until 1989.   Case closed.   It would have been like Muhammed Ali vs Chuck Wepner.   Karpov would have been Fischer's punching bag in '75.   lol   The only person who could beat Fischer, after 1966, was Fischer himself.

Can we add 100 rating points to whoever our favorite player is?

Oh, wait. You already did. 

Fischer's highest official rating was 2785. His highest live rating was 2789.7 

Maybe his official published FIDE rating, when the quarterly ratings suppliment was released, was only 2789, but he got up to 2890 in December 1971 (according to my sources).  I'm not sure if that rating was ELO, FIDE or USCF though.  However, the fact that he beat Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen 6-0, Petrosian 6.5-2.5 and Spassky 12.5-8.5 (really 12.5-7.5 because he didn't show up for game 2) means that he could have been rated much higher than 2800.  Ratings are just an estimate.   You would need to have matched him up against a 3000-rated player or supercomputer to get an accurate rating on him.  

Please, share your sources!

Look guys, if Bobby Fischer wasn't afraid of Boris Spassky He wasn't afraid of Karpov

... that would have been true if the match with Reshevsky were tougher than the Sousse Interzonal for example, which he withdrew from while comfortably leading. Let's just acknowledge that you don't know as much about Fischer (particularly his personal problems) as you claim. It wasn't fear that prevented Fischer from playing. 

... again, check your sources. It wasn't Fischer who ultimately killed the idea. 

... apart from the fact that Fischer's career lasted only about 20 years (during which he had 2 periods of semi-retirement), big tournaments were less frequent than today. Add to that the fact that the soviet contingent plus the Eastern block were not allowed to travel freely whenever they wished. I assume you already knew that...   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2DHpW79w0Y#t=351.274755

True, and sadly that works both ways, i.e. it gives detractors an excuse to come up with rubbish theories.

If less than one percent difference (2 years later and after the crushing loss of the crown) is "more comprehensive" in your mind, then have it.

since when do half-matches started to count towards anything? 

Or was it the other way around, i.e. Fischer was a challenge the likes of which Karpov had never met? You seem to forget the fact that he defeated Korchnoi (another member of the "generation defeated by Fischer" as Korchnoi himself put it) by the narrowest margin possible. 

All of this has already been extensively covered elsewhere, see the "Why Fischer didn't play Karpov" thread. Honestly I don't know why you keep regurgitating cliches. I begin to suspect it's bad faith, not lack of knowledge, since even when certain facts are pointed out to you you keep ignoring them. 

It's a fact - if you even bother looking at the 1975 WCC chronology - that Fischer send FIDE his list of proposals in late 73, well before Karpov emerged as his challenger.

By this time Karpov was clearly a rising star and the leader of a new generation, but he wasn't quite yet Karpov we know today. By this time Karpov tied for 1st place at the Leningrad interzonal with Korchnoi. He clearly showed he was on par with the upper echelon, but not that he could yet dominate them.

It's a fact that Fischer formally resigned his title before Karpov clearly emerged as the challenger.

Whether you accept this or not, that doesn't change the facts. Or history.

Ha ha!