My 10 favorites in order. I might edit the order.
1. Anatoly Karpov
2. Garry Kasparov
3. Magnus Carlsen
4. Tigran Petrosian
5. Paul Morphy
6. Jose Raul Capablanca
7. Mikhail Tal
8. Viswanathan Anand
9. Bobby Fischer
10. Vladimir Kramnik
Here is a short list of my favorites in order.
1. Mikhail Tal (Intriguing personality, entertaining games, World Champion level skill, best tactical games)
2. John Bartholomew (Loveable, non-competitive personality, entertaining videos, International Master level skill, instructive teacher)
3. Bobby Fischer (Intriguing person, entertaining games, World Champion level skill)
4. Alexander Alekhine (Tons and tons of amazing entertaining games that display great attacking proficiency, World Champion level skill)
5. Paul Morphy (Very interesting games, disputably best player of all time, considered World Champion in his time though it was pre-FIDE)
There you have it, my favorite is Mikhail Tal; I like tactics, but I am a lot better at losing games than instituting them. :)
@Asym Well done what you wrote. You got me interested in Alexander Alekhine. I'm going to study some of his games.
@BobC Awesome! It makes me incomparably happy to see someone getting something out of my ramblings, and he is a truly great player that I recommend highly. I hear he was quite cocky about his ability, but has as much a right to be as any world champion of chess. There are many books written about him, among which one by him, titled My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937. Feel free to message me with your opinion on him and his games, I'd love to hear!
@Asym I noticed we both live in Florida. I live near Fort Lauderdale.
@BobC According to Google, you live about 500 miles from me! I reside in North Florida, but it is cool to see another chess enthusiast from my state regardless of the distance, since I live in a small town where I can trump everyone within ten miles with even my negligible degree of skill.
Paul Morphy, the first undisputed world champion, and never really challenged in his time; his full potential is unknown.
vishy anand...5 time world champion
