Top 5 Chess Players of ALL TIME (opinion/debate/controversial?)

Well it's about time I did one of these as everyone seems to at one point! My ranking isn't necessarily based on raw talent, it takes into account era and dominance... nevertheless:

1) Gary Kasparov (obvious pick #1) - 15 years of being World Champion, with such an aggressive style of play. For me, he still ranks above Magnus (for now), and one can only imagine how powerful he would've been if he had access to the same engines as top players do today...

2) Magnus Carlsen (obvious pick #2) - Magnus is an obvious pick. He's easily the strongest player in the world right now (sorry Ding), and regularly crushes other GMs for fun in otherwise terrible openings. While I find his very positional, endgame-centric approach to chess a little less interesting than flashy attacks, it is nevertheless demonstrably effective.

3) Paul Morphy (controversial pick?) - Whenever I need chess inspiration this is the first place I go. Paul Morphy's style is so unique, and he was so dominant at his time of playing, that for me he always deserves a spot on this list.

4) Bobby Fischer (controversial for non-US players perhaps) - Any American or Western-focussed chess player knows why Bobby makes this list. Dominant player in a timeline where that might not have been expected in the US...

5) Jose Capablanca (fight me) - Endgame play was truly incredible for pre-engine era. The fact that his books are still highly relevant today is mind-boggling. He was also an insanely dominant force over the board, and would be comfortably able to compete today, I'm sure.

There's my picks! Let me know yours, as always, and tell me why I'm wrong!

(Short form)

1) Kasparov

2) Carlsen

3) Morphy

4) Fischer

5) Capablanca

Mr. DoYouLikeCurry ; I would have to agree with your pics... Fischer's placement is the only questionable difference in my opinion.

Would you out him higher or lower?

Valid list! I don’t disagree. This is mine

1. Karry Gasparov ( Great attacker 🔥)

2. Cagnus Marlsen ( #1 player in the world 😎)

3. Fobby Bischer ( Dominating! 👑)

4. Bikhail Motvinnik ( Solid and Methodical 🪨)

5. Tikahil Mal ( Magician from Riga 🪄)

1 Gary Kasparov

2 Magnus Carlson

3 Capablanca

4 Mikhail Tal

5 Judit Polgar

Feel free to fight me on these, a good debate is always interesting!

Sure! I would say that Bobby Fischer should probably be on the list, why did you leave him out?

For me:

1) Kasparov - Decades of top-level dominance. A dynamic attacker who loved imbalanced positions. Humanity's first representative in the chess battle between humans and machines.

2) Carlsen - Probably the strongest player of all time. Relentless in his precision. Comfortable playing in nearly any style or position. But the duration of his reign has unfortunately fallen short of Kasparov's.

3) Karpov - Positional genius, who squeezed beauty and opportunities out of seemingly dry or worse positions. He had staying power, too - competing at the top level for decades.

4) Fischer - A relatively short-lived career, like Morphy, but comparably impressive and dominating. A precise, ferocious attacker, who sometimes revived old or dubious lines to show that they still had venom in them.

5) Morphy - The original grandmaster, who appeared briefly before leaving chess forever. Tactical vision and developmental intuition that put him lightyears ahead of his peers. For his era, he played with a level of chess understanding that's almost unfathomable.

Interesting adding Karpov! Definitely unlucky to exist in the same period as Kasparov's reign bless him...

Karpov is definitely one of the top 10 players of all time, a positional genius! 🧠

for sure - he was a hell of a talent. not rlly my fav style of chess but pure genius

I am a US player and even I don't have him in the top 5!

I agree with your top 2, but then it changes from there.

1. Kasparov

2. Carlsen

3. Karpov

4. Anand

5. Botvinnik

Worst 5 World Champions

1 - Topalov - Sure, better than us weaklings, but a noob comparatively speaking to the other world championship.

2 - Tal - Too erratic, lucky in 1960. Only held for 1 year because his game was again too erratic. His games may be fun to observe, but objectively weaker than the others.

3 - Fischer - An American Fake - incapable of playing under "normal" tournament conditions. Basically claimed unsoundness in the winawer because he could not survive (See Fischer - Uhlmann, Buenos Aires 1960).

4 - Capablanca - While he may have won a lot, if you go through his games with a fine tooth comb, he missed a LOT of strong moves and just teetered at like, +0.2 for most of his games when he had opportunities to be +1 or better.

5. Liren - Uhm, just look at the last match, especially round 7.

I know you're pretty high rated, lad, but Ding is defo at least top 5 in the world right now. Let's not criticise him too much haha

1) Easy Garry Kasparov, my 1st chess idol. I really love the dude, and he could still beat Magnus to this day (I think).
2) Magnus Carlsen, hes the current top 1.
3) Ian Nepomniachtchi, my true chess idol. I think he might go to become the highest rating, but he still has work to do ig.
4) Bobby Fischer, a legend. Not much to be said.
5) Karpov, was an absolute beast in chess. I 1st heard of him when I was looking up Kasparov, and I really think the guy had potential. If only they both had the modern training systems...