Not necessarily a list of the greatest chess players of all time.
This is a list of MY FAVOURITES.
Yes, they were or are supremely talented, but to try and rank them in order of greatness or to compare players of different eras is so difficult and so subjective, so I won't even try.
Some of them make my list because of their styles of play, their struggles, their personality etc. along with their playing strength. It may be purely because I know a lot about them having read a biography even!
So, in random order:
Mikhail Tal The 8th World Champion and a master of sacrifices. I love his aggressive playing style, especially as it evolved during a computerless era.
Nigel Short The first Westerner to challenge for the World Championship since Fischer in 1972 when he qualified to play Kasparov in 1993. A child prodigy who delivered.
Garry Kasparov The 13th World Champion and regarded by many as being the greatest of all time - held the title for 15 years.
Judit Polgar By a country mile, the strongest female player of all time. A childhood devoted to chess (along with her sisters) makes for an interesting story.
Magnus Carlsen World Champion for 8 year now, Magnus is staking a claim to be amongst the greatest of all time. I love his ability to create complications.
Harry Pillsbury (blog cover pic) Alas, Pillsbury died too young. He could have been one of the greatest following his win aged just 22 in the 1895 Hastings tournament.
Alexander Alekhine The 4th World Champion, he defeated the undefeatable Capablanca in 1927!
Vishy Anand A player as comfortable at Rapid or Blitz as he was at Classical Chess, Vishy was a 5 time World Champion.
Yasser Seirawan Once voted one of Cosmopolitan Magazine's Bachelor's of the Month, he was a 4 time US Champion and a World Junior Champion. An excellent author and has a brilliant voice for instructive videos. Funny as well.
Bobby Fischer All I want to do, ever, is play chess. Alas, not.
