Who is the Best Chess Player Ever

As in any sport, people constantly argue over who is the best of all time. Often, your age determines who you think is the best. In the NBA, an older basketball fan might be convinced Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time, while a younger fan might find it hard to believe it isn’t LeBron James. For chess players, that argument often centers on Garry Kasparov for older fans and Magnus Carlsen for younger ones. So, who is the best? How do you measure greatness in chess?

Measuring Greatness: Peak Elo

In chess, players' ratings are measured through a ranking system called Elo. If you have played any online chess, then you are familiar with Elo. When you win a game against an opponent, you gain rating points, and when you lose, you lose rating points. Online rating doesn't hold too much meaning, but if you are trying to be a professional chess player, or even just trying to improve your OTB rating, your over-the-board Elo can matter a lot to you. It certainly matters as we try to determine who the greatest chess players are, but what exactly is Elo?

The Creator of Elo: Arpad Elo

The rating system used in chess is named after its creator, Arpad Elo. The Hungarian-American chess master developed a system in which players gain or lose rating points based on their opponents after each game. FIDE adopted it in 1970. If you play chess online, you may already know a similar system that tracks your rating. When you win or lose, your rating rises or falls depending on the result and your opponent's rating. Win games, and your rating goes up!  This can make chess stressful for some beginners, but it also makes tracking your progress easy. It also makes tracking the careers of great players fairly easy, because they're already rated! However, chess ratings can inflate and deflate over time. But, the grandmaster title has been an important measure for some time.

Chess Titles

For serious, professional chess players, your rating can affect whether or not you qualify for certain chess titles. Chess titles are awarded to players who reach certain rating thresholds and meet other requirements. Many players pursue these titles throughout their careers. Most of these titles use FIDE ratings. FIDE is the International Chess Federation, and its rating is what most serious chess players focus on improving outside their national rating, such as the USCF.

Grandmaster

To become a chess grandmaster, you need a FIDE rating of at least 2500 and three GM norms from officially recognized international tournaments. Most grandmasters have been devoted to chess since childhood. Becoming a grandmaster is much like becoming a professional athlete in a major sport. Being a grandmaster is an incredible accomplishment, but other chess titles are still difficult to reach.

Candidate Master (CM)

FIDE awards the CM title to players who attain a classical rating of 2200. It’s an impressive achievement, though still 300 rating points below the GM threshold, and 500+ points away from the best chess players ever. Keeping this in mind puts into perspective just how good the top players are.

FIDE Master (FM)

FM is similar to CM, but requires a FIDE rating of at least 2300. This is a highly impressive achievement and a significant step beyond the national master level, since international ratings are more difficult to attain. A 2300 player is an incredible achievement.

International Master (IM)

An International Master must reach a FIDE rating of at least 2400, 100 points below the GM threshold. They must also earn IM norms, making the title harder to achieve than FM or CM. To qualify, players need three IM norms and must meet additional requirements, including playing a minimum number of games, competing against players from different federations, and facing other titled players.

Super GM

Although it is not an official ranking, another title in the chess world is known as “Super GM.” Generally, the title is unofficial and given to elite chess grandmasters with a FIDE rating of 2700 or higher. To use basketball as an example again, if grandmasters are NBA players, then Super GMs are the players in the All-Star Game. These are the best of the best. Chess is unique because once you have the title of grandmaster, you don’t lose it. So some grandmasters have ratings below 2500.

Current Top Players

Currently, thirty-three players fit in the “Super GM category.” But only one is currently above 2800. That player is Magnus Carlsen. Next is Hikaru Nakamura, currently rated 2792. Then third is Fabiano Caruana at 2783. All three are historically significant and hugely popular. But one stands above the rest.

Magnus Carlsen

Magnus is the LeBron James of chess. To some, he is inarguably the greatest of all time, and even those who disagree can’t argue too much about it. Magnus Carlsen was born in Tønsberg, Norway, on November 30, 1990. He captured the world number-one ranking in 2011, and in 2013 he became the second-youngest world chess champion at age 22, then successfully defended it four times (2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021). Carlsen has held the championship titles for speed chess, rapid, and classical. Carlsen's greatness is undeniable.

Garry Kasparov

In 1985, at age 22, Kasparov defeated reigning champion Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest undisputed world champion—a record he held until 2024. He defended his title against Karpov three times, in 1986, 1987, and 1990. Many older chess players consider Kasparov the greatest to ever play the game. For his time, Kasparov was absolutely the greatest. During and after his career, Kasparov never hesitated to take a stand against those in power, whether it was the government or FIDE itself.

Bobby Fischer

Another contender for the title of greatest chess player of all time is Bobby Fischer, the first and only American to become world chess champion. The argument against Fischer being the greatest falls mostly on the longevity of his career. His peak was very high, and he achieved a lot in that time, but he didn’t have nearly as sustained a career as Kasparov or Carlsen. On top of that, Fischer’s career is marred by his personal life. He famously became incredibly anti-Semitic and generally awful. Carlsen and Kasparov, by contrast, have been well liked for most of their careers. But Fischer’s success in the 1960s and 70s remains one of the greatest individual performances in chess history.

Other Great Players

Plenty of other amazing chess players exist, even if they aren’t the best ever. Throughout chess history, key individuals have dominated the game. 

Paul Morphy

Paul Morphy, an American chess master born in 1837, was widely regarded as the greatest player of his time and as an unofficial world champion. His chess career lasted only two years, but he cemented his place as one of the most clever players of all time. He famously played many games with piece odds, and highlighted the importance of piece development and tempo. Look up the Opera Game if you haven’t seen it before!

Jose Raul Capablanca

Capablanca, a Cuban chess player, was the third world chess champion and was known for his speed and effortless endgame mastery. One of my favorite chess books is Capablanca's Best Chess Endings. He had an amazing control of the final parts of a chess game even for his time.

Mikhail Tal

Tal was a Soviet Latvian chess grandmaster and the eighth World Chess Champion. His play was known for its attacking, combinatorial style, with incredible sacrifices and stunning moves. Unlike Morphy, Tal had a long career and passed away in 1992. If you want to learn sacrifices and see some fun games, study Tal.

Learning From the Greats

One of the best ways to improve at chess is to study master games. Look up any of these players' top games, and you can learn just by studying them. Try looking up a game, and then play it out on a physical board. Think through why they chose those moves, and you can travel back in time through the chessboard. Just as a young basketball player can learn by watching games by Jordan or LeBron, study the moves of the chess greats if you want to improve.

What Does it Mean to Be the Best

People can argue for hours about who the greatest chess player of all time is. If you are a new chess player, don’t worry about who is best; focus on what you can learn from each of them. Every famous player is different. The way Magnus dismantles opponents in the endgame differs from how Paul Morphy sacrificed in the opening. You can learn different things from each of the greats, the same way you could learn one move from LeBron and another from Jordan.