Best Chessplayers Never to Win the World Chess Championship

[walterzuey]

Technically, Morphy was the best chess player never to be World Champion because quite simply he was the best chess player ever, and there wasn't an official championship declared until just after his death. But going backwards through thin data is much more speculative. Who would win between Greco and Philidor? I'll leave all that behind and

Comments

[davidjacob]

Good list overall except for the inclusion of Ivanchuk. He's certainly extremely talented but there is nothing to indicate that he ever had the kind of game to display WC level play for more than a few games (and I say this as a big big fan of Ivanchuk).

Reshevsky, Fine, Stein, and Chigorin would all be higher than him on my list, with Fine probably getting the nod - had he gone to the tourney in '48 (and assuming it had been played fairly), he would have likely had every chance to win.

From your secondary list, I don't think Najdorf or Larsen (a consistent top 10 player but never a serious threat - Shirov would be a modern equivalent to me; had his name been Boris Larski I doubt he'd be nearly as memorable) really belong in the conversation. Beliavsky is a serious wtf to me, having only ever even made the candidates once.

Best 3 Chessplayers Omitted from the Above Lists:

[rankest]

Aaron Nimzovich, Adolf Anderssen, Richard Reti.

[jiggery_pokery]

Great post, though my opinion is way too unqualified to comment.

[anonymous]

No comment, no question - Morphy was the best?
You may well be right, but I wouldn't have thought anyone was a mortal lock for the title...
mb