The game of Chess is widely renowned worldwide and has attained a status as the game of intellectuals. The board game is quite complicated, which, if understood well, is highly entertaining, engaging, recreational, and enriching at the same time for the players. We all might have played off or at least have heard of this game at different points of time in our lives. Some of us might even have tried to master the game of Chess, while others might find it difficult to understand. Today, this board game is played even online on different platforms and has made a separate fan base of its own. Like any other game or sport, Chess has had some outstanding players in its history who have changed their destinies with this game. Let us look at some of the greatest chess players that the world has seen and applauded.

Viswanathan Anand

There is hardly any field where Indians have not dominated for at least once, and the chess game is no different. This Indian grandmaster and the former world champion, Viswanathan Anand, has had a long career in the field of Chess and has consistently played with mastery for decades. Find his name in the list of some of the greatest chess players of all time, Anand has had an enormous impact on the game and has been instrumental in the rise of computer-aided chess preparation. Becoming the first grandmaster from India in 1988 and becoming the world chess champion five times, Anand is counted in the list of the very few players who have surpassed Elo’s rating of 2800. Anand was also given the name “Lightning Kid” due to his fast speed at the game, even during his childhood. The man has made India proud in the world of Chess.

Anatoly Karpov

One of the greatest chess players in this mindful game’s history, Anatoly Karpov maintained his position as a world chess champion for the good 10 years, from 1975 to 1985. Before conquering the reign as the world chess champion, Karpov was also declared a Junior chess champion in 1969. He further went on to win the 1995 Linares tournament that is touted to be one of the strongest tournaments in Chess’s history. The Russian chess grandmaster was known for his positional understanding in the game, the strategy in which the player gradually improves his pieces’ position. Here the player patiently waits for the opponents’ position to collapse. With his skills and accomplishments that Karpov earned, he could easily be called one of the best chess players ever to live.

Bobby Fischer

It won’t be wrong to say that this Mozart of chess game dominated Chess’s world from 1970 to 1972. Bobby Fischer straight away won 20 games in 1970 and beat Spassky in 1972, becoming the world champion. While Fischer dominated the world of Chess, his reign was quite short. He refused to play the challenger to Anatoly Karpov as he did not like the world championship format. This 11th world chess championship was also known as the chess prodigy as he time and again proved his prowess in the game by first becoming the youngest ever US chess champion at the age of 14 and then becoming the youngest grandmaster till that time at the age of 15.

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov had been a world chess champion for a half decades, starting from 1985 and lasting till 2000. Given his longevity in the career, Kasparov’s list of accomplishments is extensive and gigantic. He even broke the record for the highest rating of all time, having a rating of 2851 until another chess legend, Magnus Carlsen, surpassed the record. Kasparov was known for his aggressive playing style in the chess game and has played a pivotal role in opening preparations. The Russian chess grandmaster also has consecutively won the maximum number of chess tournaments, claiming his victory 15 times. After he retired from professional Chess in the year 2005, Kasparov became a successful writer, commentator, and political activist and is currently serving as a chairman of Human Rights Foundation: a non-profit organization that protects and promotes human rights globally.

Magnus Carlsen

Born in the year 1990, Magnus Carlsen is the current World Chess Champion, World Blitz Chess Champion, and the World Rapid Chess Champion. This Russian Chess player became the grandmaster at the age of 13, the world champion at the age of 22. In March 2014, Carlsen reached a milestone of having a rating of 2882. While in his initial years, Carlsen was more aggressive in his playing style like Garry Kasparov, in recent years, he has attained the playing styles of legends like Karpov and Capablanca. Carlsen also holds the record of the longest unbeaten run in the history of classical Chess.