Originally posted by japy104 And last but not least, Kortchnoy, even if he has not been world champion. No one mentioned him, but he is a wonderful player, never defeated, fantastic ...
He would have been WC if not for a deal he struck with the KGB to get his wife out of the USSR
1. Alekhine Drinking, drinking during championship matches, womanizing, etc. And still managing to play some of the most brilliant games ever. Took 'creative liberties' with some of his scoresheets. 😉
2. Nimzovich Got his kicks by taunting Nazi officers. Gotta love someone who yells out "Why must I lose to this idiot!" right after a game. Every chess player has felt that; he just was brazen enough to say it out loud.
3. Fischer Brilliant and bat-shyte crazy. Watch as people are irresistably drawn into the same discussions about him over and over again - certainly one of the most fascinating characters ever.
4. TalDamn the Torpedoes! attacking style, and a helluva a sense of humor - "I drink, I go with women, but [correspondence chess] is one vice I don't have."
I don't feel like adding any filler names so this will be just a Top-4.
Originally posted by greenpawn34 [b]Blackburne for drinking even heavier than Alekhine and for throwing
Steinitz through a pair of French Windows. (not a bad player as well).[/b]
"During the Paris Tournament in 1867, he blew up over a trivial remark made by
his British opponent, Joseph Blackburne. In a rage, Steinitz spat in his face.
Blackburne, who was no white knight himself, promptly picked up the short, squat
megalomaniac and threw him right out the window.’
Blackburne apparently was not in Paris at the time. However the tale is
well documented and it was possibly French windows.
Everyone agress it happend but where and what type of windows is still
under debate.
1)Fischer- Light years ahead of everyone in his era. There's no one else who has ever lived who could have done what he did. He beat an entire country...by himself... and not just any country but a superpower that had devoted enourmous resources to winning at chess and had dominated for half a century. The perfect combination of natural talent and hard work.
2) Morphy- Probably 50 years ahead of his time. Lasker would have been the first player that could have challenged him. His tactical accuracy was unmatched, his positional play was over a century ahead of his time and his endgame play was surprisingly strong for his era even when he was a child. And oh yeah...He was probably the greatest attacking player that ever lived. I always laugh when I'm flipping through MCO and see one of his games. 150 years have passed and no one has been able to improve on his play even though Morphy himself probably only thought about 90 seconds on the line.
3)Capablanca- His record speaks for itself. Not on Fischer's/Morphy's level because he lacked the same drive and competitiveness.
4)Alekhine- Spent too much time trying to convince everyone how great he was and too little time actually being great.
5)Kasparov- see above
6) Tal- Had the talent but not the desire.
I'll stop there for now.
Some who are NOT in the top 10:
Karpov- The product of Soviet propaganda and opening prep/analysis. Would be a pretty mediocre player if he had to do everything by himself. Never legitimately won a WC match so its hard to put him in the same class as guys like Euwe or Steinitz let alone the top players.
Lasker- Stayed world champion by not ever playing anyone who was even remotely near one of the top players in the world. When he finally did he got crushed.
Kramnik- I cant honestly say I know of a time when he was the best player in the world during his own era let alone all-time.
Who's your top 10 chess players ever?
19 Feb '10 18:30
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