Favorite chess player?

I'm sure this has been a thread before; but I am interested who everyone's favorite chess player is. Maybe I can count up the results and create a poll for the most popular player. It's not limited to chess masters.

Personally, my favorite chess player is former-champion Tigran Petrosian. His defense yet active style is very misleading and creates an air of mystery around his games:

"Petrosian was the Defender in chess. He was the first grand master to demonstrate that almost any position could be defended. He showed that chess is a game with lots and lots of resources. Petrosian’s style was very sophisticated and hard to understand. There was something very mysterious about him…"

So who's your favorite player?

@Masquerade #1

I have no number 1 which is miles ahead of others.

I really like to see chess games by these players :
Tal,Fischer,Bronstein,Jobava,Rapport,Gashimov,Norwood,Reinderman,Bosboom,Granda Zuniga.

Mikhail Tal is probably the player who inspired my insane sac ideas the most, but Bronstein did as well.

I do however also appreciate games by Petrosian, Karpov, Ulf Andersson.

In no particular order what so ever.

Anatoly Karpov - Pure positionalist. He will make you go crazy.
Fabiano Caruana - Opening prep maniac. Nobody can out prep him. Also pretty good at endgames too.
Mikhail Tal - Magic. Nothing else.
Robert Fischer - Lets play a Sicilian and lose in 20 moves or 10.
Mikhail Botvinnik - Rematch anyone?
Magnus Carlsen - I punish all your mistakes.
Garry Kasparov - I can see tactics 30 moves ahead and out prep your opening book.
Tigran Petrosian - Let me have the e5 square and I will strangle the crap out of you until you resign.
Paul Morphy - Spot a knight. Sack a rook. Sack another knight. Take another knight off the board put it on and sack it again. Followed by forced mate in 36.
Jose Capablanca - Double attack and endgame super computer.
Alexander Alekhine - Create an attack out of nothing then checkmate with a bishop and a rook.

Ah cool! I have never heard of Gashimov, Norwood, Reinderman, Bosboom, and Granda Zuniga. I'll have to look into them more. Fischer is also a favorite of mine. Tal's games are entertaining, but most of his sacs were found to be reputable, so I do not have much of an appreciation for bizarre sacrifices. :-D

@noob2chess I like seeing Petrosian on that list :-)

Robert James Fischer.

In terms of raw strength, he was miles ahead of his time. It was fascinating to see a prodigy from America, a country which wasn't well respected in the chess world at the time, grow his way into the top players in the world. His style was something of a hybrid. He didn't aim for brash sacrifices, but his games were never boring.

His personality was intriguing as well. It's an example on how compulsive obsession with something can ruin your life.

'Pawn Sacrifice' was a great movie too. Highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it!

Most importantly, he popularized chess among the masses. I highly doubt the community would thrive as much as it does today, if it wasn't for him!

I chose to study chess, Alexander Alekhine.
I think that is not lost.
His playing was energetic and he loves to attack.
I also appreciate players like Mikhail tal and Garry Kasparov is the attacking players.

My fav players are Capablanca Ulf Anderssen Kramnik Carlsen and Giri

My fav player is @opperwezen. :P

good choice :D @ pranav15