Best Chess Players (relative to their peers)

Up Morphy
Down Lasker

Bobby Fischer - 27
Emanuel Lasker - 26
Paul Morphy - 36
Wilhelm Steinitz - 18
Jose Capablanca - 31
Anatoly Karpov - 26
Garry Kasparov - 22
Mikhail Tal - 19
Mikhail Botvinnik - 19
Vishy Anand - 23
Tigran Petrosian - 18
Francois-Andre Philidor - 24
Howard Staunton - 11
Boris Spassky - 14

The magnificent American master had the most extraordinary brain that anybody has ever had for chess. Technique, strategy, tactics, knowledge which is inconceivable for us; all that was possessed by Morphy fifty-four years ago. – Jose R. Capablanca

In the handling of open positions, nothing new has been found after Morphy! – Mikhail Botvinnik

He who plays Morphy must abandon all hope of catching him in a trap, no matter how cunningly laid, but must assume that it is so clear to Morphy that there can be no question of a false step. – Adolf Anderssen

Morphy - the Newton of Chess

Some people have a problem distinguishing between best player ever and best player relative to his peers it seems. You realise Morphy being 2200 while everyone else being 1800 (btw find me 2200s who can do simuls blindfolded please), it's like Carlsen being 2800 and everyone else being 2500...

Up Morphy, Down Capa. He was great but not that far ahead of everyone else (Lasker could still beat him after he lost the title and ofc let's not forget Alekhine who took it from him :D. Though to be fair he's said to have been a lazy one but as we say "Work is a talent".

Bobby Fischer - 27
Emanuel Lasker - 26
Paul Morphy - 37
Wilhelm Steinitz - 18
Jose Capablanca - 29
Anatoly Karpov - 26
Garry Kasparov - 22
Mikhail Tal - 19
Mikhail Botvinnik - 19
Vishy Anand - 23
Tigran Petrosian - 18
Francois-Andre Philidor - 24
Howard Staunton - 11
Boris Spassky - 14

@Proustino Morphy wasn't a 2200... He was significantly higher rated than that. He was the first player of GrandMaster strength, and nobody else would be until decades after his death.

He would be in the 2600-2700 range even today. His competition was about 1800-2200. If I had a time machine I would have been top 20 players in the world in those days, and Morphy would murder me.

@lurarose Well if i remember correctly Chess.com had made a "study" trying to rate players by comparing their moves to the engine. That's from it that people get their Morphy was 2200.

@Proustino That "study" is incorrect, he was significantly stronger than a 2200.

http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=185010SSSSS3S088959000000111000000000000010100

Chessmetrics says he was about a 2743... However this only because everyone else was so much lower than him that he got to that level. Think of it like if I a 2000 player were to play tons, and tons and tons of 1200-1300 players that have no chance to grind my way up to 2100. That's why the rating was a little fatter than it was. He was so good that he was giving piece odds to top players in the world, and doing blindfold simuls against groups of strong players.

I would be willing to wager that morphy giving pawn odds was still stronger than any other top player of any time in comparison to his next greatest competition.

Fischer was a beast, and he had the potential to possibly be like another Morphy... almost. However because he never defended his title, and went into hiding for much of his later life... Well we will never know. If he were to have stuck it out just a little longer, and defeated Karpov... I'd be saying he was practically Morphy Tier.

Kasparov the other possible contender... I'd make a solid argument for him. If, and only if someone were to get a time machine, and go back, and kick Karpov's mom in the tummy while she was pregnant and remove him from chess history... Kasparov always had his Karpov for much of his time on top, and later on when Karpov was on the decline he had other strong players rising like Anand and Kramnick in his waning days. So although he was at the top, he always had contenders.

@Proustino, I am not aware of the study saying Morphy's level is 2200. I think it is common knowledge that he is not as strong as players today.

@lurarose, Chessmetrics hasn't been updated since 2006 and I think they would change their evaluating if they saw players like Carlsen, Nakamura, MVL, Anand, Karjakin, etc. because what would they put Carlsen at? 3100? Carlsen and the other top players of our time re significantly stronger than Morphy and Morphy was no where close to 2743. Even if he had opening knowledge, I think an IM today might be able to beat him because he is too reckless and too aggressive. It only worked in his time because his opponents were not used to it and they didn't know how to defend. Chessmetrics has many weird evaluations (Zukertort at 2700?) and I don't think it is a true sign of their strerngth.

I do agree that Morphy was the strongest player of his time, though it would've been nice to see a match against Staunton. His opponents were no stronger than 2000-2100 and they could not get over the fact that he kept attacking so they so very quickly. Morphy would not stand a chance today and his strength would probably be ~2300-2375 if he knew opening theory. Without opening theory, maybe ~2175-2250.

@Musicknight123 You are wrong. If Paul Morphy were alive today, and he was properly motivated to be a chess player (In his life he gave up chess for his lawyer profession). He would absolutely dominate the world of chess, and could beat Magnus Carlsen.

Would a Paul Morphy in his prime directly out of a time machine with 0 preparation destroy Magnus? Absolutely not, but he would probably lose more than he won... Magnus has seen 100% of Morphy's games, and Morphy never heard of Magnus, and he is far stronger than anyone he has ever faced. Fresh off the boat... Morphy is toast.

The scenario I would setup is a Back to the Future style time machine. Lets say a 22 year old Paul Morphy comes to our time. Time machines would cost a ton of money, and only a Billionaire would be able to afford one if they were to exist... So who is a billionaire that loves chess? Hmmm Rex Sinquefield would be the ideal candidate to bring him to modern times if a Billionaire were to do so.

So now Rex brings Morphy to modern times... Rex sets Morphy up very nice off in Morphy's home. Morphy is given a new name, and ID, and all that stuff with billionaire money. He is on the down low about who he actually is at this point in time. Don't need un needed attention.

Morphy is given a brand new laptop, and shown how to use it. The laptop is full of a huge database of modern GM games, and historical ones after Morphy's time. There is also a couple of strong engines on this laptop for Morphy to use for practice or analysis. Carlsen has had all of this.

Rex hires Kasparov, and some other GMs to help Morphy progress his game up, for a few months part time. Carlsen has had all of this.

In such a scenario I predict that Morphy would do the following:

GM Title within 1 year
Top 10 GM within 3 years
World Champion defeating Carlsen within 5 years

You must remember to factor in that Morphy was from the 1800s. They didn't have phones, nor electricity, nor very much chess knowledge. If you wanted to play someone strong you needed to travel great distances.

Suggesting otherwise would be like suggesting that if we took Benjamin Franklin, or Leonardo DaVinci and put them in today's world, and then gave them some time, and brought them up to speed... That they would not be among the top minds in the world.

The vote in #100 was not applied to the list ( after stating the vote the list was copied unchanged in the said post ).

After adding the vote in #100 ( Capablanca +1, Morphy -2 ) to the latest available list ( #102 ), the list looks like:

Bobby Fischer - 27
Emanuel Lasker - 26
Paul Morphy - 35
Wilhelm Steinitz - 18
Jose Capablanca - 30
Anatoly Karpov - 26
Garry Kasparov - 22
Mikhail Tal - 19
Mikhail Botvinnik - 19
Vishy Anand - 23
Tigran Petrosian - 18
Francois-Andre Philidor - 24
Howard Staunton - 11
Boris Spassky - 14

Up Fischer, down Morphy, include Ruy Lopez

Ruy Lopez - 25
Bobby Fischer - 28
Emanuel Lasker - 26
Paul Morphy - 33
Wilhelm Steinitz - 18
Jose Capablanca - 30
Anatoly Karpov - 26
Garry Kasparov - 22
Mikhail Tal - 19
Mikhail Botvinnik - 19
Vishy Anand - 23
Tigran Petrosian - 18
Francois-Andre Philidor - 24
Howard Staunton - 11
Boris Spassky - 14