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Greatest chess players, ranked
- 1
José Raúl CapablancaThe Human Chess Machine - 2
Emanuel LaskerThe longest-reigning World Champion - 3
Magnus CarlsenThe Mozart of Chess - 4
Garry KasparovThe Beast of Baku - 5
Fabiano CaruanaAmerica's calculating machine - 6
Wilhelm SteinitzThe father of modern positional chess - 7
Levon AronianThe creative Armenian artist - 8
Mikhail BotvinnikThe Patriarch of the Soviet chess school - 9
Alexander AlekhineMaster of the attack - 10
Viswanathan AnandThe Lightning Kid from Madras - 11
Vladimir KramnikThe man who dethroned Kasparov - 12
Hikaru NakamuraSpeed-chess king and online icon - 13
Veselin TopalovBulgaria's fighting World Champion - 14
Vasily SmyslovThe harmony of a positional artist - 15
David BronsteinThe creative genius who nearly took the crown - 16
Sergey KarjakinThe Minister of Defence - 17
Aron NimzowitschThe prophet of the hypermodern revolution - 18
Bobby Fischer11th World Chess Champion - 19
Siegbert TarraschPraeceptor Germaniae — the Teacher of Germany - 20
Anatoly KarpovThe boa constrictor of positional chess - 21
Akiba RubinsteinThe greatest champion who never was - 22
Johannes ZukertortWinner of London 1883 and first World Championship challenger - 23
Howard StauntonThe world's strongest player of the 1840s — and a Shakespeare scholar - 24
Louis PaulsenThe pioneer of patient defence and modern openings - 25
Carl SchlechterThe drawing master who nearly dethroned Lasker - 26
Harry Nelson PillsburyThe American prodigy of Hastings - 27
Max EuweThe scholar who dethroned Alekhine - 28
Mikhail ChigorinThe father of Russian chess - 29
Adolf AnderssenMaster of the Romantic attack - 30
Paul MorphyThe Pride and Sorrow of Chess - 31
Lionel KieseritzkyOf the Café de la Régence - 32
Judit PolgarThe strongest female player in history - 33
Frank MarshallThe great American swashbuckler - 34
Dawid JanowskiThe wizard of the two bishops - 35
Efim BogoljubovTwo-time World Championship challenger - 36
Joseph Henry BlackburneThe Black Death — grand old man of British chess - 37
Richard RétiThe artist of the hypermodern opening - 38
Mikhail TalThe Magician from Riga - 39
Savielly TartakowerThe grandmaster of the chess aphorism - 40
Boris SpasskyThe universal player and Cold War icon - 41
Joseph Blackburne'The Black Death' — the grand old man of British chess - 42
Louis de La BourdonnaisThe strongest player of the early 19th century - 43
Bent LarsenThe great Danish original - 44
Tigran PetrosianIron Tigran, the master of prophylaxis - 45
Donald ByrneAmerican master and teacher - 46
Friedrich SämischOpening innovator and the victim of the Immortal Zugzwang - 47
Sir George ThomasChampion at chess and badminton - 48
Henry BirdThe English accountant who would play anyone, anytime - 49
Edward LaskerEngineer, chess and Go master - 50
Alexander McDonnellEngland's champion of the 1830s - 51
Jean DufresnePlayer, journalist and chess author - 52
Curt von BardelebenThe nobleman who walked out of Hastings - 53
Georg RotlewiA brilliant career cut tragically short - 54
Stepan LevitskyRussian master and one-year national champion
Rankings use historical rating estimates and are intended as a guide, not a definitive ordering. BetterChess is a practice tool — we make no guarantee you'll reach 1800 or any rating.