Anand IS the world champion eric......pay attention !
You and I could have that argument all day Reb 
Best Player- Never World Champ.
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Reb wrote: ericmittens wrote: Anand.
How you mean that Eric??
I have problems with Anand being named world champion without beating Kramnik in a match.
Jun 20, 2008
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#25
I thought Keres was always described this way. For my money, I rank them as follows:
1. Paul Keres
2. Viktor Korchnoi
3. David Bronstein
Jun 20, 2008
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#26
ericmittens wrote: I have problems with Anand being named world champion without beating Kramnik in a matchI have problems when i see the names of Rustam and Khalifman as world champions...not bad players of course, far from that, afterall they are GM.But must surely be 2 weaker world champions
I don't think anyone really takes the "FIDE" world champions seriously. We all know that Kasparov was the world champ during the 90s. I don't really see such a big difference with the tournament that Anand supposedly earned his title. Especially since all of the games between the top 3 finishers at the Mexico tournament (Anand, Kramnik, Gelfand) were all drawn. Clearly this is no way to declare a world champion.
Jun 20, 2008
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#28
ericmittens wrote: I don't think anyone really takes the "FIDE" world champions seriously. We all know that Kasparov was the world champ during the 90s. I don't really see such a big difference with the tournament that Anand supposedly earned his title. Especially since all of the games between the top 3 finishers at the Mexico tournament (Anand, Kramnik, Gelfand) were all drawn. Clearly this is no way to declare a world champion.
So what you suggest?
Jun 20, 2008
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#29
While my vote is for Paul Keres, I once heard that "Leonid Stein" is a player to add to the "possible champions" list. Thoughts?
There are several names I am surprised noone has named yet : Schlecter, Fine, Reshevsky, no fans here of any of those 3 ?
anand won i think
Keres.
Korchnoi
I see my choices are all taken, Lenoid Stein, Karl Schlecter, Paul Keres, Akiba Rubenstein, Aaron Nimzowitch. Actually all of the above mentioned I would agree with. I was really hoping to be the first to mention Stein.... but Nimzo beat me too it.
Rather dubiously, I referenced www.chessmetrics.com for an objective view.
In the site's list of "Most dominant players between 1840 and 2005" there are only two titled GMs in the top 20 who were not World Champions:
#17 Géza Maróczy
# 19 Akiba Rubinstein
By comparison, Korchnoi is # 35 and Keres # 42
That said, someone called Serafino Dubois (anyone?) makes the list at #18 which pretty much rubbishes this entire approach.
Any votes for Leko? Ivanchuk? cheater_1? I think for sheer world class raw talent (although I don't think he was ever titled) my vote would go to Mir Sultan Khan.
Someone mentioned Anand, who has been world Champion twice, (Fide champ and current).
I should also add that neither Rubinstein nor Maroczy were ever GMs. The title didn't exist for anyone non-soviets until 1951 except the St. Petersburg top five finsihers in 1914.
I too looked at chessmetrics.
All-Time Standings for average ratings over a 1 year period Who weren't World Champion:
10. Tarrasch 11. Maroczy 12. Pillsbury 13. Korchnoi 15. Korchnoi
The usual susects are here, with the conspicous absence of Keres (#24)
Standings over 2-years for non-Champs:
10. Pillsbury 11. Maroczy 12. Korchnoi 13. Tarrasch 14. Ivanchuk
For 3 years:
10. Pillsbury 11. Maroczy 12. Korchnoi 13. Tarrasch 14. Ivanchuk
5 years:
10. Pillsbury 11. Ivanchuk 12. Korchnoi 15. Tarrasch 16. Maroczy
10:
10. Ivanchuk 12. Korchnoi 13. Pillsbury 14. Maroczy 15. Tarrasch
15:
9. Korchnoi 10. Ivanchuk 15. Keres 18. Najdorf 19. Bronstein
20:
5. Korchnoi 7. Keres 13. Polugaevsky 14. Portisch 15. Bronstein
So you see the same five or six people up until the 10-year averages, then Korchnoi is joined by keres, Bronstein and others, while Maroczy and co. slowly drop away. Of course almost no one can compare with Korchnoi's 60 year career, but it's also worth remembering that these ratings only measure contempouraneous dominance, and there are many modern players who could best, say, Maroczy but never meet his dominance because of the strength of modern competition.
My final list for contenders (In no particular order):
Korchnoi, Keres, Leko, Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Carlsen, Tarrasch, Rubinstein, Marshall, Andersson, Najdorf and, of course, Morphy. And you can't forget Philidor.
ozzie_c_cobblepot wrote:
I thought Keres was always described this way. For my money, I rank them as follows:
1. Paul Keres
2. Viktor Korchnoi
3. David Bronstein
I would agree with that list. Maybe Korchnoi higher but it still is very accurate to my point of view.
Chess_Champion26> Who do you think is the best chess grand master never to be world champion?
Morphy and Pillsbury were never grandmasters (the title was created in 1907).
There are many players who were strong contenders for 1-2 years but were never given a chance to fight the reigning champion. I would vote for Keres and Kortschnoj because they were strong contenders for so long.