Would Garry Kasparov and Maurice Ashley be competitive today?

I always wondered this, how would Garry and Maurice do if they played the top 10 players today...if they played Magnus etc., would they be competitive?

Kasparov plays sometimes against top players is speed chess. He is still quite good and can beat some top 10 players who are not top 3. But Magnus is #1 and much stronger!
Maurice is very good at beating hustlers in parks. He is just one of many grandmasters. His rating indicates that he would lose to all top 10 players every time.

Garry is still a 2700 strength GM. He would score about 3/10 in an elite tournament at classical time controls. Why do you ask about Maurice Ashley? He was only about 2400 at his peak. He's probably 2300 now. He would be lucky to score a single draw in 10 games against elite players.

I ask about Maurice Ashley, because someone once told me that Maurice actually has a greater chess understanding then even Magnus

is this true?

It is untrue.

Everyone, after checking the engine analysis, has a greater chess understanding than Magnus.

"someone once told me that Maurice actually has a greater chess understanding then even Magnus"

They were making a joke about how Maurice's main job while commentating is to look at the engine moves and report them to the audience. While he is a GM without an engine, it requires little understanding to blindly follow and report engine lines. He is not better than Magnus, and would certainly get crushed if he faced any top 10 player.

While he is a good entertainer, I don't think Maurice would do well at a tournament where the players were 2300 and above. If there were 10 players, he probably finish in 8th or 9th place.

Garry would probably do better (between 3 to 5) depending just how strong everyone else is.

i didn't say he was the better player, just that he had greater chess understanding than Magnus

That doesn't make any sense.