[Cyropaedia]

No other champion was as far ahead of his time.

[newgeezer]

You have heard of the Chat forum, right? :-)

[Sax]

Oh boy! I can smell some pics of that old kooky bastard, Bobby Fischer, coming this way!!

[Michael Goldsberry]

Gambit ping.

[Mr. Mojo]

I'll put in a vote for Lasker.

[Walkingfeather]

I kicked his @ss in 7th grade in checkers.....buried him in tiddly winks... amateur all the way.

[Republicus2001]

Big Blue?

[GreatOne]

Some guy no one has ever heard of. Guaranteed.

[YouPosting2Me]

Riker - 3D Chess

[Beowulf]

y personal vote goes to the nineteenth century's Paul Morphy. No other champion dominated his contemporaries the way Morphy dominated his peers.

We are in agreement and for the same reason.

[mcar]

ping

[ChessExpert]

"Who Was the Greatest Chess Player Ever...???"

That is a hard question. I haven't personally played through a game from each of the "greats." Even if I had, it's a challenge to to really appreciate some of these games. And then also, it's hard to place them in the context of their time.

Kasparov has recently coauthored a series of books on his predecessors. I glanced through one book and it's not bad.

I've played through some of Capablanca's games against Marshall. I was impressed by what he called "little combinations." Just when Marshall, the attacker, seemed on the verge of a breakthrough, you'd realize Marshall had nothing because of some little trick. I imagine Marshall was left shaking his head.

Alekhine beat Capablanca, but ducked return matches.

Botvinnik had a good run, but he had the benefit of being the pick of the communist party.

Keres was always second, but might have been suicided if he had been first ahead of Botvinnik.

Fischer took on the Russian machine and won. That was just phenomenal. As white, he seemed unstoppable. It must have felt like putting your arms out to stop a bulldozer. When Fischer was young, Tal would bamboozle him. In Fischer's prime, no one (of the time) could match him. But once Fischer won the World Championship, he took his marbles and went home.

Korchnoi never got a fair shake. The Soviets were afraid he would escape if given the chance. That's what eventually happened, but he was past his prime. He still managed to play world championship matches, but always fell a little bit short of a young Karpov and team USSR.

I am very impressed by Kasparov. He has always played an exciting game that entertained and impressed players of all levels. As World Champion, he has played tournaments and matches for many years. He risked his reputation by taking on all comers. This included every young hot shot who grew up playing Kasparov games and who wanted nothing more than to defeat "The Man." With Kasparov at the top for so long, I think many players became blase about the latest brilliant game by Kasparov.

Considering Kasparov's awesome talent, his consistently high ratings, tournament and match victories, and competitive spirit, I vote Gary Kasparov to be the Greatest Chess Player Ever. Fischer is second because of his demonstrated strength, run-up to the world championship, and victory in the world championship. He could probably have remained World Champion for many years, but we will never know for sure.

[A CA Guy]

Who Was the Greatest Chess Player Ever...???

It was a tie between the Pope, Thatcher and Reagan against communism.

They were by far the greatest chess players of the last few decades.

[Nova]

A vote for one of the greatest players who was also the best chess author and instructor of all time, Ludek Pachman.