The Best Chess Players Over Time (Estimated By Accuracy)
23.09.2023
Take a journey through the history of chess and see the best chess players over time. The X-axis represents the year and Y-axis represents Elo estimated by accuracy as calculated by Chess.com/analysis.
This visual representation allows you to see when players like Bobby Fisher, Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen, and Jose Capablanca performed across history.
Data and Methodology:
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#chess #bestchessplayers #bobbyfischer
This visualization does NOT use FIDE Elo ratings which only came into use in 1970. This visualization is created from calculating accuracy (computed in chess.com/analysis) for each player's classical games and converting each player's accuracy to an estimated Elo rating. Our method is described in full here: https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-best-chess-players-over-time
Abacaba has a beautiful video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2DHpW79w0Y) which shows Elo, CMR, and Edo, three different systems which are not comparable across time. By comparing all players to the same standard (computer accuracy), our method provides more comparable estimates of performance for players who played in different eras.
Top 5 of all time: Kasparov, Capablanca, Fisher, Magnus C. and Morphy, in that order.
Nice to see vishy Anand there
In my opinion capablanca and fischer is a standout. during capablancas time chess tournaments much fewer compare today. But bobby fischer abruptly end his chess career while still in his pick. but he already have 2,916 wow amazing.
Lol so the main conclusion based on the comments is that Carlsen is far inferior to all the guys who were playing chess prior to computers and engines, the only reason Carlsen achieved anything is because he was born in a later era with more aids for him. If any of the pre chess engine players were around at the same time as Carlsen he would be soundly beaten.
Or is Carlsen actually good?
Fischer disappeared upscreen🫣
Robert James Fischer; or, Bobby Fischer to his friends in the Chess World, is – to me – the World Chess Champion GENIUS of the world chess champion geniuses – of all time. How come? Why?
Fischer Thinking Chess System embraces
* The combined "prodigious chess thinking" of:
Emanuel Lasker
Jose Raul Capablanca
Mikhail Tal. And,
* The subtle original mathematical thinking of:
Isaac Newton
Leonhard Euler
Carl Friedrich Gauss
James Clerk Maxwell,
GF Bernhard Riemann; and that of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
THEREFORE,
Despite all his faults as a 'human being', he lives in his own human capacity in quest for INNER truth, beauty & goodness of life in the context of humanity of a true world peace to find the heart of true human joy – which to his mind & soul, he could do it humbly in the arts & science of Chess by his own talents & genius – showing to the World he loves that, again, despite being son of broken family, & a high school dropout in his limited capacity to live normal schooling life as much as he still lives at peace with everyone, and to Michael TahL [ who is his chess close friend; and to Philippine Chess Legend. The 1st Asian Chess Grandmaster in 1972, at age: 22 yrs old! And In 2021, Eugene Torre was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame. He served as Bobby Fischer's second in the 1992 match against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia. that is, Eugene Torre is Fischer closest friend in the Chess World, up to the time Fischer sadly expired on January 17, 2008, Fischer & GM Torre had been communicating from hearts of brothers on Earth], yes, despite all these facts & most unfortunate events in his life, still & yet still, it remains that:
Robert James Fischer is the Greatest Chess Champion Genius of all time on Earth
– whose human heart & soul of a child has long been wishing a World of True Peace; dreaming a World of True Humanity – from the core of his heart & greatest innermost dream of his most suffering spirit filled with more than 2,785 WHY's and Why's and why's …
Thank you all; thank you Booby, RIP. Gpw Bernard Bautista Rementilla
I think Carlsen is by far the best player in chess history. He has to compete against high level computer preparation and still manages to keep his elo rating. We can talk how much we want about the genius of players from different eras but the only thing that count is that he has a knowledge of the game that nobody has ever had. Geniuses like Morphy or Capablanca would be literally crushed even by Naka, So, Dubov or Duda for example. Maybe some legends would have become stronger than carlsen with engine, who knows, but the reality is that he is the GOAT. 🤷♂️
There was an unknown satisfaction after seeing Mikhail Tal ❤😢
The best chess player in history is Sakuni Mama from Mahabharat
Prag enters the chat
This music is fuckin horrible
Fisher had his own league that's why he was so much above from his competition as seen in video. He went crazy because in short time he knew there is nothing more to be conquered. Same old openings, positions, strategies and it was lame for his genius.
Love how Bobby Fischer escapes into outer space at 3:39. Truly the greatest.
Wesley So the ultimate choker
Mir sultan khan:the all time 'Legend'
PLEASE UPDATE THIS, MAKE IT 2023!
Sure, I'm impressed but I already knew that Fischer was better than either Karpov or Kasparov. What really stood out to me is how Steinitz could've been so dominant for such a long time. What an incredible guy.
While not a quarter as impressive as Fischer, Capablanca, or Kasparov. Did you see how quickly Ding Liren rose in the last bit?
Yooo this song tho
What’s the name of the audio?
All you need to do is look at fisher’s game of the century where he at 13 yo completely dismantles a chess master. Then just how dominant he was leaving all competition in the dust. He was also the quickest to grow bored of chess because it came to the point where winning was mostly about memorization. Kasparov and Magnussen still haven’t gotten there 30 years later and chess is now just a mental sport that rewards idiot savants with absurd patience and photographic memory. Bobby definitely had the most genius and raw brain power of the great chess players.
Fischer went a mile above them and then just vanished…
As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, the best chess player in America is generally considered to be Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana. Caruana is known for his exceptional talent and achievements in the game of chess. He was born in the United States but also holds Italian citizenship. In 2018, Caruana challenged Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship, narrowly missing out on the title in a tiebreak. However, please note that chess rankings and titles can change over time, so it's a good idea to check for the most recent information to determine the current top chess players in America.
In the chess world: There are 5 goats Garry Kasparov, Fischer, Morphy, Capablanca, and Magnus Carlsen.
And here's the up and coming aspiring greatest players who aspire to be included in the goats of the game: Wesley So, Ding, Hikaru Nakamura.
music name?
Kasparov was way too good, IMHO him and Fischer are the goat
Guy accuracy isnt everything
For example Alekhine has the highest win % of all time out of any chess champion (slightly more than Capablanca) but his highest is like 2500/2600 but for example rubin fines or isaac kashdan and others in that period is highest and he was clearly better than all of them
also acc doesnt do justice to guys like tal
Lasker 27 years being consecutive world champion, it's crazy, Carlsen with more than 10 years in the number 1 position with the highest rank number in history and Fisher's gap with the other was brutal, followed of Morphy and Capablanca, but in my humble opinion Kasparov with more than 18 years ranked number 1, and 15 years in 1985 to 2000 being consecutive world champion, this is insane, no matter the top number in the ranking (before it was not measured, so it is not a good indicator), Kasparov is by far the best chess player of all time. So, Kasparov is still the best of all time even though Carlsen is very close to him, when Carlsen holds for more than 18 years, that means only 8 years aditional, and get more of 15 consecutives world champion, could be considered to displace kasparov for the best in history, it could be totaly possible. IMHO
The fact that Fischer became the 5th most accurate player in the world 3 generations before chess computers became a thing is just scary 💀
Bobby Fischer ❤😢
Anatoly karpov is champion of my heart
Above the chart is Anatoly karpov. Fischer went up to Anatoly karpov.
The gaps over peers that stood out most to me with one quick watch were Morphy, Capablanca, Fischer, Kasparov, and maybe Kramnik, especially Capablanca and Fischer.
morezovich is so underrated holy shit
Anatoly karpov is champion Anatoly karpov is heaven for me also Anatoly karpov must be champion every year if Anatoly karpov doesnt be champion every year almost champion of my heart always every year idol of my life Anatoly karpov is my favorite player from all players Anatoly karpov can be teacher easily about life about everything
Efim Geller, btw, one of if not the only GM to have a winning record against Fischer…
Something else I noticed just now after watching this again a year later. According to this method, Capablanca reached a peak of 2786 around 1919. It wasn't until almost 50 years later that some one achieved a greater accuracy! And Capablanca didn't study chess anywhere near as much (barely at all in fact) as Fischer and more modern GMs!
What, Bobby was that good o.o no computer no much team support (I suppose), ok I'm scared/amazed, wow
Legend says Murphy is still going up in this chart to this day
This Graph really shows everything! I really love to see if all those chess players meet in the same timeline ♟️
song of mirrors – unicorn heads is the song
Judith Polgar is the only woman on top chess player in history? shessh what a queen
I once saw an adjusted ELO grade. It took the average over the top hundred players. That average was taken from the year Bobby Fischer won the world chess championship. After that, the difference in average from year to year was deducted from the ELO grade of the player for that year (it could be a positive). This combatted the inflation effect of the ELO system which of late has bottomed out. Bobby Fischer had the strongest grade of all time.
Gorgeous presentation.
Me thinks you r inspired by Edward Tufte??
i beat them all neg diff with the grob gambit
“Knowing how to play chess is the sign of a gentleman, being a master chess player is the sign of a wasted life time.”
Wtf are you doing with capablanca?!!
1. He never reached 2750+
2. Alekhine destroyed him, and he was undisputed nr1 until his death
took 150 years before people could even touch paul morphy's feet in ELO, what a God.
Now magnus plays at 3900