Who are the great chess players? How to identify them and by what criteria to select? The question is very difficult, because there are really many "greats". The most relevant and fair criterion is a comparison of current modern players, because historical chess players such as Paul Morphy, Emanuel Lasker and others cannot compete with the grandmasters of our time, such as Carlsen, Nakamura, Karjakin, Anand, Kramnik.
Why modern chess players are better than historical
Current athletes have access to tons of books and databases, can exchange experiences on forums and use ready-made computerized algorithms. The age of information technology has significantly transformed the level of the game of chess. The current rating of chess players significantly exceeds the performance of historical grandmasters. However, the chess players of past years laid the foundation for this game. Aron Nimtsovich, Bobby Fisher, David Bronstein and many others are people who were champions at the time and, in addition, are the authors of famous chess textbooks. Without the past, there would be no present!
Undisputed world chess leaders of all time
Some chess critics single out the top ten grandmasters who have been or remain undisputed world champions for many years. A strong preponderance and epoch-making dominance over others is noticed by the following chess players of all time: Emanuel Lasker, Jose Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Robert Fisher, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen.
The great chess players of the world are foreigners
Magnus Carlsen is a chess player from Norway who does not need a special introduction. He is the world champion (from 2013 to the present), the man who was the first to achieve a chess rating of 2872 points. This is the best result of all times and peoples, so Magnus Carlsen is undoubtedly on the list of great chess players on the planet. The current champion has an incredible mindset that has a pathological function of high-class to build tactical lines behind a chessboard.
K. Magnus is the strongest chess player, it is a fact! Experts and critics believe that the Norwegian could beat any ever existing chess player in the world.
Viswanathan Anand is the strongest player from India who became the first grandmaster in his country. Anand is a phenomenal chess player with an analytical mindset. Viswanathan became FIDE World Champion (International Chess Federation) in 2000 and maintained his superiority until 2002. During his championship in India, an incredible interest in chess was raised, which captured the whole of Asia.
Viswanathan Anand never profiled as a “blitz”, but he managed to become the world champion in blitz in 2003, thereby confirming his status as the strongest chess player. Further more! The Indian grandmaster was the absolute world champion from 2007 to 2013. During this period, Vladimir Kramnik was the main rival of Anand, but the Indian was always stronger. The achievements of Viswanathan deserve to be rightfully considered the strongest chess player on the planet.
Kasparov - Karpov - the best chess players of the USSR
Garry Kasparov is definitely the best player of the 20th century! Many chess connoisseurs can argue with this, saying that Garry Kasparov is on a par with Anatoly Karpov. However, statistics and facts speak for themselves.
For what Kasparov can be considered the best:
- He became the youngest world champion in 22 years.
- He was an unrivaled world champion for 15 years.
- From 1984 until his retirement in 2005, he had the highest rating according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE).
- Holds a record for the number of consecutive professional victories in tournaments - 15 tournaments over 9 years (1981-1999). The white line was interrupted by Vasily Ivanchuk in Linares (1991), where Kasparov took second place, half a point behind the leader.
- Become the best player of the year a record number of times (11 Chess Oscars).
Anatoly Karpov is another chess king of the 20th century. In 1975, Anatoly Karpov managed to win the Candidates Tournament. This allowed him to enter the match for the world title against Robert Fisher, but the current champion refused to defend his title.
According to the chess regulations, the title of world chess champion was awarded to Karpov. Realizing that the title went, roughly speaking, “idle”, Anatoly Karpov took drastic measures - he took part in every world chess championship of different categories. Karpov sought to fulfill the mission - to prove to everyone that his title “world champion” is well-deserved. And here is what came of it:
- World Champion 1975-1985.
- Nine-time Chess Oscar winner.
- Six-time winner of the chess Olympiad.
- Considering the fact that there was a sharp rivalry between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, Kasparov often spoke about Karpov as the strongest player. The chess players played 144 games among themselves, and all were within the world championships , Kasparov won 21 times, and Karpov - 19. All other games were tied. These two are the great chess players of the world, whose rivalry has always aroused maximum interest among fans of the old game.
FIDE rating
FIDE chess players rating, top 10:
- Carlsen Magnus, born in 1990, Norway, 2872 points.
- Caruano Fabiano, born in 1992, USA, 2827 points.
- Wesley So, born in 1993, USA, 2822 points.
- Kramnik Vladimir, born in 1975, Russia, 2811 points.
- Vachier-Lagrave Maxim, born 1990, France, 2796 points.
- Anand Viswanathan, born 1969, India, 2786 points.
- Aronian Levon, b. 1982, Armenia, 2785 points.
- Nakamura Hikaru, b. 1987, USA, 2785 points.
- Karjakin Sergey, born 1990, Russia, 2783 points.
- Giri Anish, born 1994, the Netherlands, 2769 points.
Great chess players of Russia
Vladimir Kramnik is a player who managed to step over the rating level of 2800+ points. Kramnik has the best level of performance among all the strongest chess leaders. In 2000, he became the world champion, beating Garry Kasparov himself. Vladimir Kramnik is the best chess methodologist, whose potential is endowed with computer accuracy and stress resistance.
Sergey Karjakin is the only chess player who has not yet become the world champion in classical chess. He is the youngest grandmaster on the planet, Sergey received this title at the age of 12 and 7 months. In addition, in 2002, twelve-year-old Sergey Karjakin was an official tactics coach with Grandmaster Ruslan Ponomorev (FIDE world champion 2002-2004). There has never been anything like it in the world!
In 2016, he became the winner of the Candidates Tournament and became an opponent of Magnus Carlsen, however, he could not win. Sergey Karjakin still remains the main rival of the current champion. In 2012 and 2016, he became the world champion in blitz. Karjakin is the best chess dominant, strategist and “blitz”.
Experts believe that the rivalry between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin will surpass the famous pair of Kasparov - Karpov.