Is Capablanca the greatest player ?

Originally posted by powershaker
Morphy's game with the Count is a beautiful gem - timeless - proving him to be the Beethoven of chess! I especially like his games where he gives rook odds. I thought those games to be extremely delightful also. Just from studying Paul's games, you learn chess in its purest form. The incredible thing about Morphy's games? Well, try understanding ...[text shortened]... + 11. Kd1 Kd8 12. Re1 Qc5 13. Bxg8 d5 14. Re8+
Kxe8 15. Qxc8+ Ke7 16. Nxd5+ Kd6 17. Qc7# 1-0 🙂

[Event "14"]
[Site "Paris"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Frank J Marshall"]
[Black "Amos Burn"]
[Result "1-0"]

1.d4d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.h4 g6 11.h5 Re8 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.Qc2 Bg7 14.Bxg6 fxg6 15.Qxg6 Nd7 16.Ng5 Qf6 17.Rh8+ Kxh8 18.Qh7# 1-0

known as the pipe game

Capa's certainly not the greatest player ever, but if I had to stake my life on an endgame, he'd be my player of choice. There, he was unsurpassed.

I would consider Mikhail Tal the greatest player because of his brilliancies on the chessboard. No one could challenge Fischer as well as Tal could (a source once said that he was 1 of 2 with a winning pro record against Fischer); here a great site to see Tal masterpieces:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1000783

Here's an example:
Szukszta v. Tal (1956) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6
5.f3 O-O 6.Be3 e5 7.Nge2 c6 8.Qb3 exd4
9.Nxd4 d5 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.exd5 Nc6 12.dxc6 Re8
13.Kf2 Rxe3 14.Rd1 Ng4+ 15.fxg4 Bxd4 16.Rxd4 Qxd4
17.Qd5 Re2+ 18.Kxe2 Bxg4+ 19.Ke1 Re8+ 20.Be2 Rxe2+ 0-1

Originally posted by Yuga
I would consider Mikhail Tal the greatest player because of his brilliancies on the chessboard. No one could challenge Fischer as well as Tal could (a source once said that he was 1 of 2 with a winning pro record against Fischer); here a great site to see Tal masterpieces:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1000783

Here's an example:
S ...[text shortened]... 3 14.Rd1 Ng4+ 15.fxg4 Bxd4 16.Rxd4 Qxd4
17.Qd5 Re2+ 18.Kxe2 Bxg4+ 19.Ke1 Re8+ 20.Be2 Rxe2+ 0-1

Originally posted by buffalobill
Tal, after being asked about his successes against Fischer replied..."When Tal beat Fischer, Tal was Tal but Fischer was not yet Fischer!"