you're presenting it in a bit misleading manner (though i understand it's unintentional)
it's important to keep in mind that the study is from 2006 and that they used crafty as the engine. god damned crafty! which most likely wouldn't even beat the champions in question!
i understand that the researchers did what they could with the tools they had, of course. the methodology is very interesting so i'd like to see the study repeated with more recent engines and carlsen included.
I only took a read of the title. Objectively/respectfully its Kasparov. Without technology it was Morphy. Of modern times it is Carlsen. And not to mention Bobby Fisch was quite good too. So was Lasker and Capa.
Disclaimer: for the time periods results may vary.
@noob2chess i completly agree with you without technology Morphy would crush anyone :)
Best chess player is my wife. She always loses and doesn't ever get sore. Oh, maybe that makes her the best person ever.
#14 maybe if she got "sore" she could actually win a game.
But maybe, if she started beating you she wouldn't be the best person ever, right?
As for the survey #11 said it all.Ok, they used Crafty (!?) to determine(?!) the quality(??) of play
But even if they used stockfish 7 for example the idea is not very bright.People who tend to play simpler chess will score higher, but this does not take into account the pressure created on the opponent. And of course people playing in the past are being favored.It's another thing to play let's say against Marshal and another thing to play vs So as the latter would create more pressure, and the probability of a non perfect move would rise
TldR; weak idea, still could be mildly interesting with a decent engine
Computers are not objective. The computers, although they have gotten much better, still have problems finding faults in maneuvering moves.
All the great players have made mistakes even in their "field of expertise." Just because the computer can not find these mistakes, does not mean that they don't exist. For example, I have plenty of games where the computer claims I didn't make any mistakes, because the mistakes were after I was up a Queen.