Who Were The Greatest Players Of All Time?

     Everybody has their idea about who the best players in history are and when I came across a list by Brazilian GM (both OTB and CC) Rafael Leitao I was intrigued. According to him the greatest players of all time are... ​ 

 

10-Lasker ​ 

     One of the best strategist ever. 

9-Botvinnik 

     He made great contributions to chess and his scientific method of analysis and preparation was way ahead of his time. 

 

 

8-Kramnik 

     For more than 20 years he has been one of the top 5 players in the world and has made great contributions to development of chess with hist classical games, usually positional masterpieces. 

7-Anand 

     He has also been the top 5 for more than two decades and is one of the great pure talents of the game. 

6-Karpov 

     Once when Karpov visited Brazil, Leitao asked him who would have won a Fischer-Karpov match. Karpov said Fischer had about a 60 percent chance of winning! According to Leitao, Karpov was cold as ice, had nerves of steel and a difficult to understand style of play. He was the supreme master of prophylaxis. 

5-Carlsen 

     Carlsen has revolutionized chess. Before him, top level chess was dominated by openings analyzed to the death with a computer, with the vast majority of elite GMs studying lines past move 20. Carlsen showed that is not necessary. He almost never wins games due to opening preparation and deliberately searches for less theoretical paths. 

4-Capablanca 

     He was probably the biggest natural talent ever, but this incredible talent made things a little too easy for him and he never had to work too hard. If he had added the discipline of Kasparov or Alekhine he could have been the best ever. But he was lazy. 

3-Alekhine 

Alekhine's contributions were greater than Capablanca’s because he had to work hard. His style was far ahead of his time and he was able to break the laws of positional chess with concrete analysis. 

2-Kasparov 

     According to the numbers he ranks as the best ever. An extraordinary talent, a visionary, he had a style that produced many spectacular games. He was the player with the best opening preparation in the history of the game and he was a brilliant strategist. His contribution to the development of chess is second to none. 

     He showed a superior understanding of positions with material imbalances and with the initiative. Like Alekhine, he sought the most energetic solution from the first move. No other player used so many theoretical novelties. 

1-Fischer 

     There is no doubt in Leitao's mind that Fischer was the best of all time. He was chess fanatic and was able to play and analyze at all times. What he did after 1970 cannot be compared with anything that happened before or after. He thrashed his opponents one by one, beginning with Petrosian in the USSR vs. The World match, then in the Interzonal where he finished miles ahead of the second place finiaher. In the Candidates Match, he crushed Taimanov and Larsen by 6-0 and Petrosian by 6.5-2.5. 

     Then he beat Spassky easily even after losing the first game in a drawn position and forfeiting the second game. He single handily defeated the Soviet chess hegemony, smashed his opponents and then he vanished. 

     There you have Leitao's list. Of Fischer, Kasparov wrote. "If one may judge a player's strength by comparing him to his contemporaries, it seems to me that Fischer's achievement is unsurpassed - the gap between him and his closest rivals was the widest there ever was between a World Champion and other top ranking players...I regard him as a mythological combination of sorts, a centaur if you will, a synthesis between man and chess."

 

     The following is one of Fischer's earlier games; it was played against James T. Sherwin in the 1957 New Jersey Open in East Orange, New Jersey and received applause from the players and spectators when Sherwin resigned. 

     Fischer was the big attraction at the event and only Dr. Ariel Mangarini was able to hold him to a draw. Fischer captured first place with 6.5 points and Anthony Saidy finished second at 6-1, losing only to Fischer in the 81 player tournament. 

     With 5.5-1.5 scores were Arthur Feuerstein (lost to Saidy and drew with Sobel) and Robert Sobel (lost to Fischer). 

     Tied for fifth at 5-2 were Matthew Green (top Expert), Sherwin, Leonard Birns, Mitchell Saltzberg (top Expert) and Leroy Dubeck (top junior). 

     Tied for 10th to 21st with 4.5-2.4 were: Robin Ault (top under 16), Peter Berlow (top Class B), Paul Brandts, Atillio DiCamillo, Boris Garfinkle, Homer Jones, William Jones, John MacDonald (top under 18), Brian Owens, Clinton Parmalee, Philip Selvaggi (top Class A) and James Warren. 

     Matthew Green was awarded the state championship and Rosalie DeSerrano became the state's women's champion. 

      For the record, on the August 1957 rating list Sherwin's name does not appear while Fischer's rating was 2298. On the March 1958 rating list Sherwin was rated a Senior Master (There were only 10) at 2474 while Fischer's rating had climbed to that of Grandmaster (rating over 2600) at 2626.  The only other player in that class was Samuel Reshevsky at 2713.

     You may have seen Fischer's crush of Sherwin before (it's the first game in My 60 Memorable Games), but even if you have, it's worth enjoying again. 

     When he was a high ranking executive officer at GAF Corporation, Sherwin was railroaded by the US government and in particular that rabid Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani.

     Sherwin was arrested by federal authorities on July 6, 1988, and was charged with conspiracy to violate federal securities and anti-fraud laws, securities fraud and wire fraud. He was tried three times. 

     The first trial began on December 21, 1988, but was quickly declared a mistrial after it was revealed that the prosecutors had failed to provide Sherwin with a report regarding possible alteration of GAF files. 

     The second trial was declared a mistrial on March 23, 1989 after the jury was deadlocked. 

     Tried a third time, on December 13, 1989, Sherwin was convicted and sentenced to 6 months in prison. He appealed and on March 18, 1991, a new trial was ordered, but in August the prosecution dismissed all charges with prejudice, meaning the case could never be filed again. These days he is living in England.

Robert Fischer - James T. Sherwin

Result: 1-0

Site: New Jersey Open, East Orange

Date: 1957.09.02

Kings Indian Attack

[...] 1.e4 This decisive game was played in the last round. 1...c5 2.♘f3 e6 3.d3 Back in the day Fischer liked this because he thought white got a favorable position after black played ...e6 3...♘c6 4.g3 ♘f6 5.♗g2 ♗e7 6.O-O O-O 7.♘bd2 ♖b8 Sherwin plays rather passively which even in those early days was a bad idea against Fischer. In My 60 Memorable Games, Fischer noted that Sherwin slid the R over with his little finger "as if to emphasize the cunning of this mysterious move." Ten years later at the Sousse Interzonal, the one where Fischer walked out, Myagmarsuren of Mongolia played the better 7. ..d5 which lead to a balanced position. 8.♖e1 d6 9.c3

9.♘c4 b5 10.♘xd6 ♗xd6 11.e5 ♘xe5 12.♘xe5 ♕c7 13.♘f3 ♗b7 14.a4 a6 15.♗d2 ♗c6 16.axb5 Draw agreed. Smirin,I (2637) -Parligras,M (2588)/Athens 2008

9...b6 Not bad according to Fischer, but he expected 9...b5

9...b5 10.d4 d5 11.exd5 ♘xd5 12.dxc5 ♗xc5 13.♘b3 ♗e7 14.♘bd4 ♗d7 15.♘xc6 ♗xc6 is equal. Chigaev,M (2495)-Kumsiashvili,N (2179)/ Batumi 2014

9...♕c7 10.d4 cxd4 11.♘xd4 a6 12.♘2f3 ♗d7 13.♘xc6 ♗xc6 with equal chances. Schwalen,P-Prescha,F/Germany 1994

10.d4 ♕c7 According to Fischer this leads to trouble and Sherwin should have sought conterplay by opening the c-file.

10...cxd4 11.cxd4 d5 Even though it involves a loss of time 11...Bb7 and ...Rc8 seem better. 12.e5 BUt here white seems to have slightly better chances of initiating an attack.

11.e5 ♘d5 Fischer says black is worse after 11...Nd7 and the best try was 11...dxe5, but after this move, which in the Fritz auto-annotation was awarded two question marks and assigned a negative 4 Pawn value by Stockfish, black is lost.

11...♘d7 Fischer is correct as here the evaluation by Stockfish is almost 3 Ps in white's favor. 12.exd6 ♗xd6 13.♘e4 e5 14.♘h4 exd4 15.♘xd6 ♕xd6 16.♗f4 ♘ce5 17.cxd4 and white is winning.

11...dxe5 Here, too, Fischer is correct. The chances are about equal after 12.dxe5 ♘d5 Fischer preferred 12. ..Nd7 13.♕e2 b5

12.exd6 Fischer did not comment on this move after which Stockfish's evaluation drops to less than a P in white's favor.

12.c4 Maintains a huge advantage for white as the N has nowhere to go! 12...♘db4

12...♘f4 is the preferred engine line. 13.gxf4 cxd4 14.♘e4 dxe5 15.♘xe5 ♘xe5 16.fxe5 ♕xe5 17.♕g4 with a winning attack.

13.exd6 ♗xd6 14.♘e4 cxd4 15.♘xd6 ♕xd6 16.♗f4 White is winning.

12...♗xd6 13.♘e4 c4 According to Fischer this move releases the pressure on the center and gives him a free hand to start his K-side attack. He added that other moves lose material, but he overlooked black's best reply.

13...♗a6 After this move white's advantage is not so great. 14.dxc5 ♗xc5 15.♘xc5 bxc5 16.b3 ♖bd8

16...♘xc3 allows white to seize the initiative after 17.♕c2 ♘d5 18.♘g5 g6 19.♕xc5

17.♕c2 and black's position is tenable.

14.♘xd6 ♕xd6 15.♘g5 Fischer wastes no time launching his attack and at the same time he has threats on the b8-h2 diagonal and he is rewarded by an immediate mistake by Sherwin. 15...♘ce7 This was black's last chance at staying in the game as after this white gets a tremendous attack.

15...h6 This is the best option black has and it appears satisfactory. 16.♘f3 ♗b7 17.♕e2 ♘a5 18.♘e5 ♖bc8 19.♗d2 ♕c7 20.♘g4 ♘e7 21.♗f4 ♕d7 22.d5 ♘xd5 23.♗xh6 f6 24.♖ad1 ♕f7 25.♗e4 This attack looks very dangerous, but according to the engines black can fend off disaster. In practical OTB play that may be another matter! Shootouts using Stockfish resulted in white scoring +0 -2 =3. But, that score didn't look right so I ran another SHootout using Komodo and white scored +2 -0 =3.

15...h6 16.♘e4 Fischer 16...♕d7 After this it seems black can equalize.

16...♕d8 Fischer, but black has better. 17.♕f3 ♘a5 18.g4 ♗b7 19.♕g3 ♘e7 with a promising attack. 20.g5

17.h4 ♗b7 18.♘d2 ♘a5 19.♘f3 ♘c6 It looks like white should have good attacking chances here, but another Shootout )using Stockfish 14) gave a surprising result: white scored +1 -2 =2!

16.♕c2 ♘g6

16...g6 is not much better because after 17.♘e4 ♕c7 18.♗h6 ♖d8 19.♕d2 with the idea of exploiting the dark square weakness black's position is not very promising.

17.h4 Threatening to win a piece with h5. 17...♘f6 This allows a surprising finish, but there wasn't anything that was really better.

17...f6 18.♘e4 ♕c7 and now white can switch his attention to the Q-side with... 19.b3 cxb3 20.axb3 a5 21.c4 ♘b4 22.♕e2 ♗b7 23.h5 ♘h8 24.d5 ♖be8 (24...exd5 25.♗f4) 25.♘c3 with a dominating position.

18.♘xh7 This destroys black's position. 18...♘xh7

18...♔xh7 is even worse. 19.♗f4 Black has no satisfactory reply.

19.h5 ♘h4 20.♗f4 ♕d8 21.gxh4

21.♗xb8 would reverse the player's fortunes! 21...♘xg2 22.♔xg2 ♗b7+ and it would be black who is winning.

21...♖b7 22.h6 ♕xh4 23.hxg7 ♔xg7 This is suicide.

23...♖d8 24.♗g3 ♕h5 25.♖e4 Threatening Rh5 and black has no satisfactory way of defending himself.

24.♖e4 ♕h5 25.♖e3 f5 26.♖h3 ♕e8 27.♗e5+ ♘f6 28.♕d2 ♔f7 29.♕g5 ♕e7 30.♗xf6

30.♖h6 was also good. 30...♔e8 31.♗xf6 ♕f7 32.♗c6+ ♖d7 33.♖g6 ♗b7 34.♗xd7+ ♕xd7 35.♖g7

30...♕xf6 31.♖h7+ ♔e8 32.♕xf6 ♖xh7 (32...♖xf6 hardly improves anything 33.♗xb7 White is a R up) 33.♗c6+ Black resigned.

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