WHO IS THE BEST?

Chess Pieces 22june12Among the most exciting chess players in the game today is Magnus Carlsen. The 21-year-old chess prodigy was in action again last week, winning the 7th Tal Memorial in Moscow, one of the strongest events of the year.

Carlsen’s performances have been the talk of the chess world for several years now and the Norwegian lived up to expectations again, taking the title as the only undefeated player in the field of ten; each of whom could count themselves among the best in the world.

From a slow start Carlsen went on to dominate, taking victory in a tense finale. Five players shared the lead with two games (of ten) to play, including the 19-year-old Italian grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, who led going into the last round only to lose his final match and the title.

That Carlsen has remained at the top of the rankings, despite his relative youth, owes to his capacity to develop quickly and adapt his game, turning his previous youthful aggressive style into a more neutral one better suited to matches against leading players.

It’s a quality that separates the good from the great in many pursuits, with the best poker players measured in a similar fashion. Success in poker is often attributed to longevity, which in turn relies on a player’s ability to consistently change and improve to adapt to new, younger opponents, honing their raw talents on the internet.

It’s often said that the World Series of Poker Main Event is contested by the best players from every home game in the world. It’s a simplistic analogy but a useful one. Just because you can beat friends or even the best in your home town, it doesn’t mean you can compete against the very best in the world.

Right now Carlsen is ranked Number one on the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) list, his peak rating being 2,826, just 25 short of Garry Kasparov, the former World Champion and former trainer to Carlsen.

Without a similar rating system it is difficult to tell exactly who poker’s number one player is. Obvious candidates would include Viktor Blom and Tom Dwan, two extraordinarily gifted individuals who have developed almost supernatural reputations for prowess. Both, like Carlsen, live and breathe the game they love, but there are many others, egos charged, who could lay claim.

The International Federation of Poker will shortly be launching a ranking system that could prove the first step in analysing player performances to definitively say who is best. Until then, while Chess has absolutes, poker fans will content themselves with speculation.