Chess Legend
Laila Berri
Whether you're a fearless attacker or a calm defender, I promise there's a chess legend who shares similarities to your playing style. That is unless your playing style is memorizing 10 moves of theory and then blundering your queen. But I'm sure it's not.
There's no "one size fits all" in chess, and a bloodbath of a Sicilian might be just your cup of tea... or it could turn your stomach upside down. It's true that we see a lot of repeating openings at the highest level, but everybody has preferences, and GM Ding Liren's win in game 6 of the 2023 FIDE World Championship using none other than the London System puts the "Super GMs only play 1.e4 e5, the Catalan, or the Sicilian!" narrative to rest, at least for a little while.
Not so into calculating? Just want to put the pieces on good squares and see what happens? Well, that's an oversimplification of Jose Raul Capablanca's playing style, but as a player repeatedly praised for his intuitive take on chess and positional style, Capablanca makes winning games look easy.
Capablanca was the third World Chess Champion and didn't lose a single tournament game from 1916 to 1924. Neutralizing the enemy attack and simplifying into a more comfortable position meant Capablanca stuck to solid opening choices and didn't take unnecessary risks.
Avoiding messy lines and complications, Capablanca's positional style is clean, and if you're anything like this chess legend then you don't mind going into an endgame. In fact, you know that's how you're most likely to beat your opponent.
If you excel in complicated positions with tactical opportunities, then congratulations... your playing style emulates GM Judit Polgar. Polgar famously broke GM Bobby Fischer's world record for achieving the youngest grandmaster title when she was only 15 years old. Competing with the world top-20 during the peak of her career, Polgar is (so far!) the only woman to cross the barrier of 2700 Elo and join the "super grandmaster" club.
You probably agree that chess is "90% tactics," or at least that's how you win 90% of your blitz games. Leading your opponent outside of their comfort zone into sharp, double-edged positions is your favorite way to play the royal game, and whether you win or lose it's certain to be an interesting battle.
There are two legends that come to mind when mentioning boa constrictors: GM Anatoly Karpov and Taylor Swift. Only one of these, however, is a chess legend. Known for squeezing his opponents like a boa, Karpov is the only one we should be celebrating on National Snake Day.
Infinitely patient over the board, Karpov was the 12th World Chess Champion and gained his title by positionally strangling his opponents (sounds pretty uncomfy if you ask me). Maybe you aren't quite as patient as Karpov. In fact, I know you aren't. But you still show the restraint rare in club players who usually insist on needless sacrifices and on trying to tear apart a position before the time is right.
You love to play against static weaknesses and slowly improve your positional advantage, grinding away in closed-center games and maneuvering your pieces slowly toward a win. If things don't work out in the middlegame, you know your mechanical endgame techniques will come in handy to bring home the W.
The chess idol of a generation, GM Robert James Fischer is the one and only American to attain the title of World Chess Champion. Singular in his obsession for chess, Fischer even learned Russian to better understand how to beat his Soviet opponents.
Favoring sharp lines and proclaiming 1.e4 as being "best by test," Fischer was an all-rounder excelling in openings, middlegames, and endgames, but is remembered as a fierce attacker who was always playing for a win, even in the most seemingly drawn positions.
Unlike Polgar, Fischer stated, "I don't believe in psychology. I believe in good moves." Two great sharp attacking players and tacticians can vary in specific ways, and if you're more like Fischer then you see chess as complete in a world of its own, free from supposed weaknesses of human emotion.
Regarded by many as the greatest chess player of all time, GM Magnus Carlsen hasn't let go of his place as the world's number one chess player since he claimed the spot in 2011. Now, you may not be in contention with Carlsen for this spot, but if you play anything like him, then you are a virtuoso over the board, a solid all-rounder who can squeeze water from a stone.
Carlsen, unlike Fischer, the only other player to have voluntarily relinquished his World Champion title, is not so singular in his obsession with chess. A fan of poker, memes, and general trolling, you're more like Magnus if you truly love chess... but you also love to have a good time. That being said, you have a clear natural talent for the game and a skill level head and shoulders above your peers, so much so that you'll even dabble in quirky openings like 1.f3!
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk is widely renowned as a true chess genius and demonstrates a unique, imaginative style with true ingenuity. However, he is also unpredictable in terms of opening repertoire and results. If you're anything like Ivanchuk, your over-the-board results aren't the most consistent. One day, you'll play a masterpiece, and the next, you'll make a blunder characteristic of a level you thought you'd long since left behind. This is, however, partly the result of going into messy, complicated positions. But isn't that complexity what chess is all about?
Ivanchuk is a player whose love of chess is so absolute that he seems incredibly emotionally tied to his games and his tournament results. In 2009, after an early elimination in the World Cup, Ivanchuk announced his retirement from chess. Totally relatable, right? I've definitely lost a game and thought, "I'm never playing this board game ever again." Thankfully for the chess world, he soon changed his mind.
Our 2023 World Chess Champion, GM Ding Liren, demonstrated to the world that he is a truly universal player capable of rising above the competition. However, it has been noted that Ding is an incredibly accurate player with calculation skills surpassing many of his peers. Like Capablanca, he plays solid openings and doesn't go for unnecessary complications, and like Capablanca, he may sometimes play seemingly "anti-positional" moves, which are just, in fact, the clear best move in the position. Legend has it that Ding's calculation goes deeper than the Mariana Trench (source required).
If you're anything like World Champion Ding Liren, your tournament results are very consistent, and you seldom lose. You'd rather take a draw than risk a catastrophic loss, but you can also play a sharp position like the best of them.
Known by all as the "Magician of Riga," GM Mikhail Tal is the first player who comes to mind when I think of piece sacrifices, king hunts, and a general disregard for what is "correct." Stockfish would hate him! But we all know that when you're sat across a strong opponent at the board, and they are throwing every piece at your king, it doesn't matter what the evaluation bar says. It only matters if you can accurately defend the attack.
Tal was a chess visionary, a brutal attacker who adored tactics and played chess for the beauty of it, proclaiming that the game itself is "art." If you love to play gambits, aggressive openings, and sacrificing material in favor of the initiative, then you're a little bit like Tal. In fact, I can see you now searching YouTube for a GothamChess or Eric Rosen video on "how to CRUSH your opponent in 15 moves".
Whether you're a boa constrictor or a magician, everyone has their own unique playing style. What is most characteristic of your chess games? Which chess legend do you think you are most similar to? Let us know in the comments below, and let us know which other chess legends you think have the most unique playing styles and why.
Paul Morphy was the embodiment of romantic attacking chess, the strongest player of the 1850s and the best player of the entire 19th century. There was no official world championship title during his era, but he was light years ahead of his competition and is recognized as an unofficial world champion.
Morphy taught the chess world about sacrifices, development, attacking, accuracy, and more. His legendary Opera Game is considered one of the most famous chess games of all time and is still studied today. GM Bobby Fischer listed Morphy as one of the ten greatest players of all time.
GM Tigran Petrosian, or "Iron Tigran," was the world champion during 1963-1969 and a four-time Soviet champion. Undefeated the entire year leading to his world championship title (1962), he was known for his defensive prowess and his famous exchange sacrifices. According to GM Daniel Naroditsky, he was one of the "first elite players with a truly universal style."
In 1971 Petrosian was Fischer's last stepping stone before facing Spassky for the world championship in 1972. His victory over Fischer in the second game of their candidates match stopped Fischer's historical and unprecedented 20-game winning streak (although Fischer did win the match).
GM Viswanathan Anand was the FIDE world champion from 2000 to 2002 and the 15th undisputed champion from 2007 to 2013. He lost the Professional Chess Association (PCA) world championship match against GM Garry Kasparov in 1995 and lost to GM Anatoly Karpov in the FIDE world championship match in 1998 (on tiebreaks) before winning the FIDE world championship in 2000.
In 2007 Anand won the double round-robin world championship tournament ahead of GM Vladimir Kramnik and other world-class players and was crowned world champion. In 2008 he defeated Kramnik in a match to become the 15th undisputed world champion. He defended his title by defeating GM Veselin Topalov in 2010 and in 2012 against GM Boris Gelfand. In 2013 Anand was defeated by reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
Alexander Alekhine was the fourth official world champion and held the title from 1927 to 1946 (with an exception during 1935-1937). He was a brilliant and well-rounded player with a special ability for combinational play in complex positions. He also taught the chess world that rules and principles can be broken based on concrete analysis of the specific and unique position.
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