Who Do You Feel Is The Greatest Human Chess Player?

[Amstaff]

Bobby Fischer.

[Graham Banks]

Kasparov for me.

[walter koroljow]

Lasker was probably the greatest. He dominated the world for 26 years, and he was still world class at 67! He very rarely failed to take first in a tournament, even if Capablanca or Alekhine were playing.

To me, Lasker was the greatest.

And how about Alekhine?

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

I think the question is meant to signify the greatest player in terms of overall quality of chess.
In this respect I would definitely pick up Fischer.
Fischer annihilated all of his opponents in the 1971-72 streak and would have done so with Spassky, the then world champion, if it had not been for a very relaxed attitude after the match had practically been decided. No one except Fischer has been able to proceed in such a way with the current world champion.

Kasparov's style is definitely more spectacular and deep-running in some respects, but I am sure you will observe a significant quantity of mistakes too, something that was strange to Fischer in his prime. So overall, in terms of quality of the games, I think Fischer stands taller.
That does not necessarily mean that he would have been able to win a match against Kasparov, but that he would certainly score better in a larger pool of players.
Elos are not that important, especially in a historic context, as they get inflated, etc.
What concerns Carlsen, I do not think that he will be the only player to surpass the 2900 elo barrier in the not too distant future (thanks to the help of computers, too).

Lyudmil

[notyetagm]

I never thought any human would be better than Kasparov, but it looks like I stand corrected! Magnus Carlsen ELO 2861

I don't think MC is the greatest at this moment in time, but when he retires at 40+ I think he will be.

Totally agree.