Hikaru's Hot Takes on the Ten Best Chess Players of All Time 

Hikaru was in the top 3 best looking chess players of all time, but then he shaved, and has thus been relegated to top 5.

“I don’t want to spoil it.” Shows complete list in the intro 😂

There's no way Vishy isn't top 10 of all time. 5 time world champion, pioneered an entire country's chess culture, and is STILL in top 10-15 in the world at the age of 51.

Fun facts: Morphy was admitted to the bar at 19. Although he never practiced law, it is said he could recite the entire civil code of Louisiana from memory. The man was a genius

I like how someone on twitch chat put "#0 Nakamura"

Morphy is to chess as Newton is to science. Much of what Newton developed is considered "wrong" by today's standards, but.... well you know what I mean.

I’ve never lost to a GM, where am I on the list

Definitely vishy and morphy should be in the top ten..... Morphy was a natural born genius and his flow of play is still relevant.... While Anand has been the undisputed champion 4 times and fide champion for two years but what is overlooked is his blitz and rapid career....he became world rapid champion ahead of Hikaru, Magnus etc at the age of like 47-48 in 2017 and is ranked 4 in blitz at the age of 52 in the live ratings now!!!!

To not put morphy in ur top ten is criminal

Anand won more classical world championship(5 in total compared to 3 for kramnik)titles then kramnik along with rapid (2003& 2017) & blitz championships allso won more super tournaments then kramnik + won three candidates tournaments(95,1998,2014)+ 11 unofficial world rapid titles (frankfurt world rapid championship against players like garry,kramnik,polgar& magnus) + even at age 52 he is still playing top level chess,nothing against kramnik but if kramnik is in top 10 the anand deserves more then him

Vishy Anand is a must in the top ten of all time. Been a top level player for 30 years, 5 time champion and dominated rapid/blitz

There are many chess myths, and people underestimate the opposition that Paul Morphy faced. In fact, he was only about 150 (plenty stronger to be sure, but not 400) points stronger than Loewenthal, Harrwitz, and, Anderssen, who were quite conversant with principles of development and central control, and pawn play such as outlined by Philidor was emulated by players such as Staunton. Where Morphy truly excelled was in depth of analysis at the board, especially in open games where piece coordination is paramount, as well as in accuracy, where he would likewise excel today, especially with the benefit of opening databases and computer analysis. And Lasker was Lasker, who was world champion from age 25 until the age of 52, between 1894 and 1921. His versatility, defensive resourcefulness and endgame prowess set him apart, but especially his accuracy.

11:24 that's the moment kramnick swear revenge to hikaru lol

Vishy should be top 10 based on longevity alone.

According to hikaru: 1. Kasparov 2. Carlsen 3. fischer 4. capablanca 5. karpov 6. anand 7. kramnik 8. botvinnik 9. laskar 10. morphy

Rubbish article. Morphy and Anand not making it to the top 10 list is criminal.

11:43 is why Kramnik hates Hikaru till this day

Tal was the reason that I really loved chess, romantic in chess, at top level, who else? Pure inspiration.... :)

Sora and Shiro: *No one can beat us in chess.* Chess: *You are not in the Top 10 list. Your Opponent is that guy talking. Be careful, he uses Alpha Zero on his Ceiling.*

That's a great point about Morphy , being so far ahead of his contemporaries , good context to think how well he really played

Selecting top ten is almost impossible, because of bias. The selection will always be personal and individual. In my mind Fisher, Anand and Kasparov along with Magnificent Magnus will remain immortal, for a long time.

GMHikaru makes the suggestion. My Mind goes: Makes sense. Makes sense. uh huh, yeah. Makes sense. (responds similar to how Hikaru responds when he sees opponent make a reasonable move)

Morphy in my opinion is the greatest natural talent ever, followed by Capablanca.

Every single one of them wrote "one of the best chess books ever".

This video caught my attention immy at the Paul Morphy part - I think Hikaru nailed the point. All in all, it's a nice assessment of the facts on whom to include / exclude from top10 - and especially why.

Don't you think Vishy is better than Kramnik as he stayed world champion for a longer time than him. Also Vishy defeated him in two consecutive World Championships.

Levy would place 17th century French Master Maxime Le'Dieux above anyone on this list

Nah, that analogy of Magnus needing to be 300 points higher rated than his opponents to be equivalent to Morphy is all kinds of wrong. For one, ELO systems get harder the higher you go. But even beyond that, a 300 point gap at 2200 is nowhere near as impressive as a 100 point gap at 2800, IMO. Especially when you consider all the tools and information out there now, it's absolutely outrageous for Magnus to be so far ahead. While Morphy only had a couple of real contenders, you only have to see how crowded it is behind Magnus to see the difference, the competition is incomparable now. Same reason I'd always say Messi or Ronaldo over Pelé: Pelé was great, but he was playing against literal farmers for 50% of his career, and chain smokers/alcoholics for the other 50%. Messi/Ronaldo are doing it against highly tuned athletes, in teams that train tactics 5 days a week. Same principle with Magnus.

I love Hikaru's discussion of Morphy. I understand that the players in the top 10 are insanely good, but Morphy as an honorable mention is simply wrong I believe.

To relegate Paul Morphy to an honorable mention immediately discredits their argument.

Scrolling slowly, don’t want to ruin the suspense, etc …. After the full list was at the top. 🤣

I can't tell if chat is clapped and genuinely think that the late Petrosian is the one that engaged in recent cheating against Wesley so, or if they're just trolling with the pipi quote. The Armenian Petrosian was named after the world champion.

Honestly surprised xQc isn't on the list. For me he was clear #1

Morphy is like the wilt chamberlains of chess. Dominated at an unreal level but against like plumbers and shit. Despite his competition, no doubt he was still a freak of nature and would be one of the strongest today

Tal had health problems but his tournament record was outstanding and he was dominant from 1958 to 1960 similar to Ficher's two year run from 1970 to 1972. A top ten without Tal is nonsense. I'm glad he was included.

Notice how the article focused more on vishy's defeats than his achievements.

Capablanca is at the level of the best in history, whoever you choose. But he was waiting ten years to be able to beat the world champion (Lasker) and even a few more for the rematch that never came with Alekhine. No other player has terrified world champions as much as he has (when he didn't have the crown in his possession).

If one were to list players based on less general terms my top players would be: End Game: Magnus Pure computational genius: Fischer Overall general best player averaged out through all aspects of the game: Kasparov Best Chess Player who also HAD the best Facial Hair: Hikaru

Wow, Anand and Kramnik have the EXACT same current Elo AND the EXACT same peak Elo. Weird.

I love these type of discussions! Gets my juices going for some chess. Not having Anand in top 10 is criminal. Great takes by Hikaru.

For me Carlsen is the best of all time, he is the complete chess players, dominates in all aspects

Kasparov has had the best career, but Carlsen has almost certainly passed him in raw ability.

Anand not in Top 10 and Kramnik in Top 7 is just wrong.

I got a question , hows Karpov behind Capablanca, when Karpov has been better in almost everything, and a longer career

This list was very very obviously created by a prejudiced person. Just reading the description provided for Anand compared to others makes it painfully obvious. While everyone else's lists almost entirely their accomplishments and if there arent enough of those, their subjective strengths in playstyle, half of anand's is about who he lost to. Kinda disgraceful article to be honest.

Yeah, they did Vishy real dirty here

I would rank Magnus above Kasparov, because the level of competition is much greater these days. So many great GMs around.

Yes, "Hikaru's Hot" takes on the the ten best chess players of all time

To me the top players have the most innate ability. If it's knowledge-based then all of the top 10 would certainly have to be current players. You can't underestimate what chess engines have contributed to the game.

Anand should definitely be on the list and 6th at least. Just thinking about how long his career has been, still going on while competition getting fiercely better overall... It would not be exaggeration to put him on top 5.

“Uh let me check who wrote this, ah ok, I’m gonna say off the bat this is not going well” 😂😂😂😂😂

Tal was a unbreakable force of nature and kind of underrated as many considered him too risky or brute force to even be considered a elite player with his style of play but over time he impressed the competition and definitely earned his spot in being one of the top 10 players alongside fischer

Hoodie guy has so many good and powerful appearances, how is he not on the list?

he shaved his bear I thought this was a older video because of that

I like how he read the line about Kasparov training that GM H.N. like it was a standard bit of news copy.

Good Books to read:- 9:17 - The life and games of Mikhail Tal 15:54 - Karpov's Strategic Wins, 2 Volumes by Tibov Karolyi 17:06 - Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev 19:04 - My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer 22:50 - My Great Predecessors, 5 Volumes by Garry Kasparov

Hikaru, your first metric is the best. Domination over peers in their time period. Duration has nothing to do with it. #1 Morphy #2 Fischer

I’m curious if morphy vs carlsen, or morphy vs casparov or vs fisher in their primes given the same resources would actually go in favor of morphy or not, its hard to know, but oh boy would i pay a lot of groncs to find out.

Lol at the mispronunciation of Alekhine. Makes me chuckle every time.

Based on what is Capablanca 4th and Alekhine not even top 10 bruh?

I need a cigarette.

Fischer actually said that Morphy was the best. Both Fischer and Morphy were miles better than their rivals. Hikaru's list 23:28 Kasparov Carlsen Fischer Capablanca Karpov Anand Kramnik Botvinnik Lasker Morphy

Lasker is underatted like being no 1 for 25 years and noone is noticing you wtf

Indians going crazy in comments lol...the reason why aanand isn't in top 10 bcz he never dominates tournaments like other competitors..he was world no. 1 for just 21 months! And another reason is his career is sandwich between kasparov and carlsen's era!

To have Kraminik on 7 and not have Anand in top 10 is a crime.

Vishy definitely deserves to be in the Top 10 imo.

Hikaru always says Jose Raul Capablanca like an announcer introducing a fighter into the ring. lol

This article reads like something ChatGPT would spit out.

Kasparov Magnus Fischer Top 3,Karpov no. 4 , Anand Lasker Alekhine Capablanca Morphy in some order, and then Botvinnik as No. 10 next one in the list would be Kramnik

Regarding Morphy's estimated difference of 400 ELO points... one also has to take into account that there were far fewer Chess players back then, and many potentially great talents back then never learned the game. It's safe to assume he would still be the best today, but probably not that far ahead

What’s wild about Morphys “Opera Game” was that he wasn’t even paying attention to the board. He was trying to watch the opera.

Where’s Aron Nimzowitsch? Not even an honourable mention. He wrote books on chess theory that inspired many. Wow…

if you tell me the strongest players then 1. kasparov 2. magnus 3. karpov , karpov is massively underrated because firstly because of his style and secondly he lost to kasparov in very tight matches , looking at his win loss record against kasparov I would say he was very close to level of kasparov, that in itself makes him a top 3.

if Botvinnik was the father of modern chess, certainly Fischer was the most dominant given the circumstances, but Kasparov brought new life to chess, Anand had some of the most legendary games, and Magnus is just solid all around

the love and respect he has for anand is so good to see, respect!!

There is a lot to consider here. How strong the player was and how strong he was compared to the field. As time progress it is reasonable to think that it is harder to dominate by the same margin (No human would probably be able to dominate by 300 points today, no matter how talented he is). How much time did the player dominate and much time did he remained world class. You have to take into account contribution he made, there is a lot of intangible.

Nakamura is pronouncing Alekhine incorrectly. The correct pronunciation is “a.luhk.hine”

"Ally yaken?" Alekhine = Alek-hine

1970 Bobby Fischer is the GOAT pure chess player, and if he had grown up with computers and stockfish he would beat Kasparov and Carlsen.

I disagree with Morphy’s position here. I respect Hikaru’s opinion and I can get where he is coming from. However, the gap in ELO between Morphy and all of his competitors for that relative time period is much larger than that of today’s competitors. The world champion today, Magnus, even loses sometimes to people who aren’t even top 3 so considering Morphy literally quit chess because nobody was giving him a big enough challenge makes the answer clear for me. You must consider relative competition for each player’s time period.

Had Fischer kept on playing seriously (and not been such a wackjob) he would have crossed 2800 by 1980 - a greater feat than Kasparov doing it in 1990. Fischer was 2785 in 1972, a rating good enough to be top 5 today. He was way ahead of the field and the most dominant player of all time. His back-to-back wins against top GM's in set matches (Candidates), without even conceding a draw, will never be equaled.

Capablanca, fischer, and carlsen all earned their rankings and definitely were the best players of their era, capa definitely feeling underrated in my opinion but bobby is the #1 player for me while Raul should be in the top 5

Awesome 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 TOP 50 CHESS HEROES OF ALL TIME ??? My suggestion for the Criteria are as follows. - World Champion - World Cup Champion - 2800+ Club - Top 25 Rating List Consistently - Top Innovator - Theoretician. - Consistent Tournament Finalists - Candidates Winner - Top Women Rated player which Top 50 Open (for 2-3 Spots) Here are my Nominees In no particular order: 50. Hou Yifan 49. Judit Polgar 48. N Gaprindashvili 1 G Kasparov 2. M Carlsen 3. RJ Fischer 4. V Anand 5. V Kramnik 6. A Karpov 7. V Topalov 8. M Tal 9. B Spassky 10. T Petrosian 11. M Botvennik 12. M Euwe 13. V Smyslov 14. E Lasker 15. JR Capablanca 16. P Morphy 17. W Steinitz 18. A Alekhine 19. RL Segura 20. A Nimzowitsch 21. J Zukertort 22. M Najdorf 23. P Damiano 24. A Petroff 25. A Philidor 26. H Staunton 27. B Larsen 28. S Winawer 29. A Andersson 30. A Rubinstein 31. S Tarrasch 32. M Chigorin 33. L Aronian 34. F Caruana 35. H Nakamura 36. T Radjabov 37. G Kamsky 38. P Svidler 39. R Ponomariov 40. MV LaGrave 41. S Karjakin 42. A Grischuk 43. W So 44. V Ivanchuk 45. A Shirov 46. B Gelfand 47. V Korchnoi If I would make an all time 10 chess influence, my list would look like in random order : 1. Robert James Fischer 2. Gary Kasparov 3. Magnus Carlsen 4. Vishy Anand 5. Jose Raul Capablanca 6. Paul Morphy 7. Emmanuel Lasker 8. Vladimir Kramnik 9. Mikhail Botvennik 10. Anatoly Karpov 11. Judit Polgar 12. Ruy Lopez Segura

The Best 15 Chess Players Ever: 1. **Magnus Carlsen** (1991 - present, FIDE peak 2882 in 2014) - Holds the highest FIDE rating ever and dominates modern chess. 2. **Garry Kasparov** (1963 - present, FIDE peak 2851 in 1999) - Renowned for his long reign as World Champion and significant contributions to chess theory. 3. **Bobby Fischer** (1943 - 2008, FIDE peak 2785 in 1972) - Remembered for his World Championship win and transformative impact on chess. 4. **Jose Raul Capablanca** (1888 - 1942, peak in 1921) - Celebrated for his innate talent and mastery of the endgame. 5. **Anatoly Karpov** (1951 - present, FIDE peak 2780 in 1980s) - Distinguished for his positional skills and sustained dominance. 6. **Vishwanathan Anand** (1969 - present, FIDE peak 2817 in 2008) - Esteemed for his rapid chess skills and multiple World Championship titles. 7. **Vladimir Kramnik** (1975 - present, FIDE peak 2817 in 2008) - Acclaimed for ending Kasparov’s reign and his profound strategic understanding. 8. **Mikhail Botvinnik** (1911 - 1995, peak in 1963) - The founding figure of the Soviet Chess School and a pivotal figure in chess history. 9. **Emanuel Lasker** (1868 - 1941, peak in 1921) - Held the World Champion title for 27 years, known for his pragmatic approach to chess. 10. **Paul Morphy** (1837 - 1884, peak in 1850s) - A trailblazer of modern chess renowned for his brilliant attacking play. 11. **Alexander Alekhine** (1892 - 1946, peak in 1930s) - Recognized for his aggressive playing style and deep combinational insight. 12. **Mikhail Tal** (1936 - 1992, peak in 1960s) - The ‘Magician from Riga’, revered for his creative and daring attacks. 13. **Boris Spassky** (1937 - present, peak in 1970s) - A versatile player with a World Championship title and a wide range of skills. 14. **Tigran Petrosian** (1929 - 1984, peak in 1960s) - ‘Iron Tigran’, famous for his nearly invincible defensive play. 15. **Max Euwe** (1901 - 1981, peak in 1930s) - The only Dutch World Champion, respected for his scientific approach to chess.

Morphy definitely belongs in the top 10. He was lightyears ahead of his competition.

I always compare Morphy to Newton. My high school physics teacher knew more than Newton but I'd never EVER say he was smarter. He's standing on the shoulder of everything Newton put forth. That's how I see Morphy. Morphy may have been an above average GM today, but that doesn't mean he was a worse player. Without access to any of the games and especially no access to engines. Much like Newton discovering calculus at 26，Morphy retired at age 22. So before he was even near his prime he quit the game... insane how much he could have accomplished. Morphy was truly a titan of the game and always deserves a top 10 spot imo.

My all time greatest list: 1. Kasparov 2. Magnus Carlsen 3. Anatoly Karpov 4. Fischer 5. Anand 6. Capablanca 7. Tal 8. Botvinnik 9. Kramnik 10. Petrosian

Someone should calculate records of Top 10 players against other Top 10 players

With all due respect to super GM Nakamura, I like to mention Karpov's top 5 list (from about 10 years ago when he was asked that in an interview). Karpov went like this: 1. Kasparov. 2. Fischer. 3. Capablanca. 4. Tal and No.5 myself. In respect to Tal I agree with Karpov. Nakamura knowledge of chess history is good but not exquisite. Karpov, unlike Nakamura, managed to look a bit deeper and he took into account Tal's overall imprint on the game, his victory over Botvinnik in the WC match, the number of stunning games against most top players from the late 1950's to late 1980's, 4-2 positive score against Bobby Fischer (only Efim Geller had 5-3) and Tal's 4-time USSR championships (even winning it once was a tremendous achievement as it was strongest chess tournament until the end of the USSR in 1991). Petrosian, Kramnik, Fischer, Kasparov and other super GMs were of the same opinion. Hikaru's statement that some of Tal's games were "weak" is unfounded. Tal played in all kinds of Soviet tournaments under various conditions and his health of notoriously problematic, however, even if this anecdotal evidence has some merit, Tal's brilliancies outnumber his so-called "weak" games. Nakamura should take a deeper look at Tal's games and read more about Tal and his legacy to revise his evaluation.

I agree on Kramnik's point. You don't put Kramnik into top 10 and leave Anand out. Personally for me it's a big question if Kramnik belongs in top 10, while Anand definitely does.

Magnus and Kasparov are both legends, but Magnus is better.

So fun fact about Petrosian. He become qualified for the Candidates by 23 and he qualified for the candidates every cycle until he was 50. He also was in the top 10 until age 50. Also another impressive thing about Petrosian, Karpov wasn't able to beat Petrosian until Petrosian was in his 50's and in serious decline.

I don't understand how someone could love chess and not want Tal in the top ten. Sure, maybe some of his games weren't engine-precise but the man made magic on the board. That said, nice video. Cool to hear perspective from today's greats.

Naka la pirinaka

Steinitz was the first American world champion. He became a naturalized citizen during his title reign.

I agree with the assessment of Morphy, we can only judge players by how good they were compared to their competition. There was a significant amount of separation between Morphy and Fischer from their contemporaries. So I consider them the two greatest.

Carlsen, Kasparov, Tal, Vishy, Caruana, Kramnik, Karpov, Morphy, Fisher, Capablanca (no certain order)

Tal is really hard to evaluate because he was so unique. He also suffered from alcoholism (imagine him not having that disadvantage). Many of the most enjoyable games I've ever seen were Tal's. I'm not saying he's the best, but he is my favorite.

My sides would have taken orbit if #1 was Hikaru with a picture of him making the most smug face.

its always crazy too me that Fisher was only on top for such a short amount of time but is still widely regarded as a top 3 all time guy. If he had a longer career not even 20 years but just a decade I think there would be not debate who would be 1.