Is kasparov the best player ever?

Originally posted by ram123
I think Vishwanathan anand is the best rapid chess player ever !!!

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1338709

Nah, Fischer was better.

Originally posted by hipercandombe
Fischer is a phantom....he´s now playing random.....he´s a joke he couldnt stand for the world Championship.....
Kasparov is the best player nowadays...he has been for 30 years.....

Fischer of '72 wasn't the Fischer of today. Give the old fellow a break! We'll always remember '72! He'll always be our hero! FISCHER!!! KING OF THE CHESS BOARD! The Subway series never will compare to Fischer in '72!

Originally posted by Gambitzoid
actually, kasparov and fischer played similar styles of chess. kasparov's favorite openings were based a lot on fischer's openings, especially on the black side, and kasparov enjoyed complicated sharp openings like fischer. if you wanna look at different ways of playing chess then look at karpov versus kasparov or fischer versus petrosian. but in fact the ...[text shortened]... mitating fischer is kasparov, although kasparov obviously played a more modern style of chess.

I concede to the obviously more informed of the two of us. I took your suggestion of looking at soem of petrosian's games and I see your point entirely.

Originally posted by Gambitzoid
i think when it is said that fischer is the greatest talent means that he was the best chess player independent of theory. that is to say that kasparov obviously played better chess, but a lot of the reason for that is because of advances that fischer made. Fischer single handedly is responsible for the najdorf becoming the main reply to 1.e4. kasparov al ...[text shortened]... ever and had he been born at the same time as kasparov he would have been much better than him.

I completely agree.