Who is the most underrated World Champion?

Vassily Smyslov is one of the main candidates. He was a great player, an endgame virtuoso with a great positional feeling. He won the Candidates tournament twice in a row. He had a positive score against Botvinnik in their WCh matches, although he was feeling unwell during a big part of one of them. He played well until an advance age, qualifying for the Candidates Final match in 1984, at the age of 63. He composed many beautiful studies after the end of his competitive career, although he was almost blind in his late years. Vassily Smyslov isn't underestimated in Russia and the neighbouring countries, but in most countries he is not as famous as he would deserve.

@ILikeBlitz said ^

Vassily Smyslov is one of the main candidates. He was a great player, an endgame virtuoso with a great positional feeling. He won the Candidates tournament twice in a row. He had a positive score against Botvinnik in their WCh matches, although he was feeling unwell during a big part of one of them. He played well until an advance age, qualifying for the Candidates Final match in 1984, at the age ...

You are absolutely right. Even if he wasn't a world champion, I think Tarrasch is the one whose rights were most denied. Because although most masters thought his sacrifices were better, the best game award went to J. R. Capablanca.

@CG314 said in #19:

.... [Morphy] is [one of the all time legends] of course... But I dont know anyone who thinks differently, so I do not see how he can be considered underrated.

Carlsen-2961 Kramnik-2868 Kasparov-2816 Fischer-2775 Anand-2759 Karpov-2698 Capablanca-2664 Tal-2636 Spassky-2619 Smyslov-2618 Botvinnik-2602 Euwe-2547 Alekhine-2547 Petrosian-2543 Lasker-2498 Morphy-2409 Steinitz-2323
https://www.chess.com/article/view/who-was-the-best-world-chess-champion-in-history

@GeneralChessKing said ^

@Himawari_Nohara
yes mam you r right. i have watched you on TV when i was 9 lol

Making fun of others is strictly forbidden on the Lichess forum. He was just defending his opinion.

wtf did you think he meant

Who was the most underrated World Champion?

There are a few worthy candidates, Euwe, Smyslov, but I think I would vote for Petrosian.

Most people gloss over the matches Fischer swept through on his way to the World Championship with Spassky. Of particular interest is the match he had with Petrosian. First of all it was Petrosian that snapped Fischer's 20 game winning streak against Grandmasters, and a lot of experts thought that Petrosian had built up winning positions in the first 5 games he had with Fischer, but let him off the hook. Anyway he let it his advantage slip away, and then he collapsed in the later part of the match.

His record against Karpov was 1 win, 1 loss, and 12 draws (it figures)
His record against Kasparov was 2 wins, 2 losses, and one draw.
His record against Fischer was 4 wins, 8 losses, and 15 draws.

Petrosian had his flaws. Perhaps he wasn't aggressive enough when he should have been, but overall, he was an extremely tough chess player.

Anyway, for what it's worth, he has my vote.

@ChEsSloVeR15799 said ^

@Himawari_Nohara
yes mam you r right. i have watched you on TV when i was 9 lol

Making fun of others is strictly forbidden on the Lichess forum. He was just defending his opinion.

wtf did you think he meant

yeah bro some people r like that

@Ghost_is_back said ^

@Himawari_Nohara
yes mam you r right. i have watched you on TV when i was 9 lol

Making fun of others is strictly forbidden on the Lichess forum. He was just defending his opinion.

wtf did you think he meant

yeah bro some people r like that

dw the guy who said this to me is not a creep. My username is based on a kids cartoon where a baby girl is named himawari. Very funny cartoon it is, and every indian has watched it. So he is joking abt that

If I had to pick one, I’d go with Vladimir Kramnik.

He beat Kasparov 8½–6½ without losing a game in 2000, defended the title against Leko, and then unified the classical and FIDE titles by beating Topalov in 2006

anyone who underrates a WC needs their head examined

@RuyLopez1000 said ^

@RuyLopez1000 What's your opinion?

I had Max Euwe on my mind when I made the post.

Also Anatoly Karpov, who is usually ranked beneath Fischer, even though he was greater the Fischer. Karpov was either no.1 or no.2 for almost 20 years.

I agree.

Smyslov is also underrated